Intellivision Levels Up
Tommy Tallarico discusses the Amico with us
Tommy Tallarico gets us all excited about the upcoming Intellivision Amico
There’s been a lot of noise about the return of Intellivision, and you largely have Tommy Tallarico to thank for that. The renowned musician and creator of Video Games Live is behind the exciting new project that promises a return to the classic games of old and he was only too keen to give us a little more insight as to what we can expect when the Amico console launches in October 2020.
How will the Amico stand out from other systems?
One of the biggest differences is that the focus of the console is based around couch co-op and the ability of people with all skill levels to be able to play the system and compete against one another. There hasn’t been a system like this since the Nintendo Wii over 13 years ago.
The other big difference is that everyone has a screen on their controllers. This makes for a lot of new game design that hasn’t been able to be accomplished in previous systems. Another difference is that all of our games are either 2D or 2.5D. We don’t want to do any open world 3D games… everyone else does that and doing those types of games shuts out most casual gamers.
Why did you decide to focus on local co-op?
Because it’s sorely lacking in the videogames industry right now… especially for casual players. The issue with casual gaming is that it’s all pretty much played on mobile devices, and aside from the financial predatory nature of ‘free-to-play’ gaming, the other issues is that the controls suck, there is no curation of the games on offer and the biggest thing is that all mobile and casual games are solitary! Just one person with their faces buried in a small screen.
The reality is that anyone who grew up in the Seventies, Eighties or Nineties always played games with their friends or family. We’ve lost that human contact that made gaming so much fun. I bet that anyone’s best memories of videogaming was when you were in a room of other people playing together. Those days are pretty much gone. Sure there are exceptions, but those exceptions are typically with hardcore games.
What can you tell us about those intriguing-looking new controllers? Each controller has a 320x240 full color touchscreen, speaker, microphone, Wi-fi and Bluetooth, big tactile shoulder buttons with a 64-position tiltable directional disc, gyroscope, accelerometer, wireless charging, interactive LED lighting on both the buttons and the disc, force feedback and built in RFID. They each have their own CPU and memory as well. We’ve basically created a mobile device with tactile controls (but without the cellular service). They are really amazing. No one has ever done anything like this for a home console.
Are the Blue Sky Rangers involved with the Amico?
Yes! We actually have four members of our current team that started at Intellivision in 1981! Two of the biggest include Bill Fisher (VP of technology) and Steve Roney.
How long has the Amico been in development?
We’ve been working on this for over two-and-a-half years. Aside from our internal team that has brought tons of products to market and have been down this path numerous times, we also partnered with the amazing Avnet who is one of the world’s largest distributors of electronic components and embedded solutions. We’ve built an absolutely incredible team.
The announcement video for the Amico, mentions ‘affordable gaming’. What does that mean to you?
High-quality game experiences all for under eight quid and with no loot boxes, in-app purchases or in-game ads that interrupt gameplay. Add in up to eight-player games (without having to buy eight expensive controllers), five premium games included in the system… and all for around £150.
The value that we are offering is unprecedented in the games industry.
The featured games appear to be remakes of older Intellivision games. How is your team reimagining them?
Actually, only 25 per cent of all the games on launch are what we consider ‘retro reimagined’. It’s not just Intellivision games like Shark! Shark!, Astrosmash and Utopia, but the biggest games that Atari has, such as Asteroids, Missile Command, Centipede and Tempest. All of our versions will be exclusive to the Intellivision Amico, even Atari won’t be able to put these versions on their own new machine.
Another 25 per cent will be sports and recreational games like Soccer,
Baseball and Billiards/pool and 25 per cent will be original IPS that really make use of our unique controllers!
The final 25 per cent will be beloved board, card and dice games, as well as other casual games such as match threes, crosswords and word games.
Why do you have games that are completely exclusive to the Amico? Because of the way we are creating the games with the controller and with couch co-op. Most of the games we’re making can’t be done on any other system just because of the way we are designing them. The games being made are very unique and offer different experiences than most people have been used to. We also need to differentiate ourselves from all the rest. Everyone knows that exclusives are what sell a console.
It’s time for a bit of a shake up in the industry, time for another successful hardware company to create an alternative to what everyone else is offering. We are looking forward to presenting Amico in 2020 and showing people a new and unique way to play games. Together again… with family and friends.
Most of the games we’re making can’t be done on any other system
Tommy Tallarico