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Intellivision Amico Announced | 10/10/20, <$180 USD, No Ports and Better 2D Than the PS4, XB1 or PS5
- Thread starter Dancrane212
- Start date
A weird initial PR.
It has the Intellivision branding and controllers (in looks), but nothing about even relates to it. There is a vague line about remakes and MP, but that can apply to any game. It even mentions Atari and modern systems.
That's like Sony releasing a new classics system and instead of mentioning classic Sony games, the bullet points state Xbox and Nintendo games are being made.
PGS, it was a big todo about a year ago. You can still preorder it if it comes out
- They will be paying developers to make games for the Amico. There will be 0 financial risk for developers as accepted pitches will be funded by Intellivision (costs will from future royalties).
The worst thing about this is the age restriction on games to make it more kid-friendly. Actually, kids quite like the spectacle of shiny 3D graphics. They would rather be playing Fortnite and Mario Kart than uhh... Atari remakes. If someone was going to be buy it, I would think it's adults, who tend to be more open to 2D games and understand the nostalgia factor they're putting forward. Being able to play M rated games doesn't prevent parents from buying their kids a Switch, 3DS, Xbox or PS4. They're just smart enough to keep them away from mature games and use parental controls.
This just seems so poorly thought out.
This just seems so poorly thought out.
Those folks are already eating up indies like there's no tomorrow.
Right, there are already libraries out there that can make 2D graphics programming about as simple as you can imagine. SDL, for example, is about as straight forward as it comes. And, funnily enough, "3D" technologies like OpenGL are terrific at 2D. Just use ortho projection, and BAM, you've got a really powerful 2D canvas. In fact, using "3D" technologies like this makes it possible to do all sorts of 2D tricks that used to take dedicated hardware to do with ease. The trick is that "3D" hardware has programmable shaders. Pixel shaders, in specific, are like a magic bullet. The long skinny of a pixel shader is that, to a laymen, the end result is that every single pixel on screen that is drawn basically gets it's own tiny program run on it, all of them simultaneously in parallel. Being able to literally write a program that controls how individual pixels work is, essentially, the ultimate power.
Here's proof in the pudding -- this is OpenGL and SDL2 simulating a Sega Genesis VDP:
This is running directly off of a cartridge using a Retrode, doing all the fancy palette shit the Genesis can do in hardware, though a pixel shader in my GPU. Given that I wrote this by directly examining the Genesis hardware, I feel qualified to explicitly say that doing this in OpenGL is way, way easier than it was working directly on the Genesis.
I like the idea of Atari remakes. Not a fan of the controllers, though, as I'd prefer physical buttons.
Its an interesting idea, I wish them luck. I had an Intellivision back in the day. I might get this if it comes out.
Not sure a 2D console can make it in this day and age. Vtech went down a similar road multiple times. V.Smile was their most successful one. V.Flash was their most powerful console aiming for the PlayStation market which failed majorly.
Not sure a 2D console can make it in this day and age. Vtech went down a similar road multiple times. V.Smile was their most successful one. V.Flash was their most powerful console aiming for the PlayStation market which failed majorly.
Although I'd agree that there's definitely a bit of an Ouya vibe around this machine, I think it's worth contrasting, because in many ways there comparison isn't really that favourable for the Intellivision Amico.
The Ouya did a lot of things wrong - I doubt there's anyone who'd argue with that. They made the usual mistake of underestimating the complexity of hardware and had to push back (for retail at least). They oversold their software support to the point where it was lying (or at best sitting on the border between lying and misleading). Their controller was awful. The release was...not ideal, with volumes being too small for a proper retail launch but too big for Ouya themselves to manage, leading to delays. The processor also under-delivered on Ouya's expectations - more Nvidia's fault than Ouya's, but that didn't help the machine.
However those criticisms often make it easy to overlook that Ouya did a decent amount of things right. They launched for Kickstarter backers at about the time when they said they would (chaotically, but they made it). The campaign set out the specifications of what would be in the box and the final machine matched that. They also gave a specific price, and met that price. The render was a realistic portrayal of the console. The model for developers was never particularly attractive but was fairly clear from the start and there were no limitations other than what the machine itself could run.
Some of those are fairly basic things that Ouya don't deserve a whole lot of credit for getting right, but they're also things that the Intellivision Amico is getting wrong. We have a release date but it's years from now. We have no idea what's in the box and the only thing they've told us about the hardware is nonsensical. We don't have a specific price, only a range. We don't even have a render, only a drawing, and of course the model for developers is hugely questionable and dubious.
So I can understand where the comparisons with the Ouya are coming from, but overall I think that the Ouya team got much closer to an accurate, useful presentation of a real, deliverable device than we're seeing from the Amico team.
2D focus makes it semi interesting as a concept. I doubt it'll get anywhere still but at least it's not another repackaged mobile chip thrown out with little care for what it has to offer. I think it's still too expensive though, at that price you can get a 3DS for example and have tons of 2D and 3D games. Ok, none of that will be in glorious 4K or whatever (if this has high res capabilities, but from the talk about it, it should) but it at least has first and third party hits galore. Maybe by next Christmas at a close enough price you'll be able to get a Switch or other relevant platform with the same kind of hit-filled library to compete against it.
A legitimately great feature I would love to see implemented on the next Xbox and PS5
TBH modern consoles can do 2D pretty well. I really don't see what this console can offer in terms of 2D performance that will be better than next gen systems. Hardware price wise it probably will be better (specialized 2D chip) but the end result will be the same so consumers will not see the difference. Also the CPUs of next gen systems will probably be vastly superior to this.
That being said... cheapo good 2D games are always welcome. So I will not judge this machine negatively.
Here's the Press Release - https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/fb1de7_c9b4346bc0784a8689ed35d4adb67e73.pdf
Not a fan of the controller :|
Not a fan of the controller :|
Is this thing on the controller a dial?
Anyway, thinking about it, this is the perfect controller for card games, right?
And the dream of a screen controller that doesnt suck lives on.
Anyway, thinking about it, this is the perfect controller for card games, right?
And the dream of a screen controller that doesnt suck lives on.
now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time
God I miss the Zune. Great sound quality on them.
It's fun that both Atari and Intellivision are making brand new game consoles at the same time. For comparison, here's Atari's new game console:
Here's the thing about Intellivision's box: it actually does have a lot of good experienced people listed in the end of the video. Admittedly, some of them were listed as just "advisor", but even so. Whatever crazy ideas Tommy Tallarico has for the device, he is very serious about bringing it to reality.
Wait, I just noticed someting...Tallarico...Amico... that's why they used that name!
Here's the thing about Intellivision's box: it actually does have a lot of good experienced people listed in the end of the video. Admittedly, some of them were listed as just "advisor", but even so. Whatever crazy ideas Tommy Tallarico has for the device, he is very serious about bringing it to reality.
Wait, I just noticed someting...Tallarico...Amico... that's why they used that name!
Oh man Intellivision Amico Vs Atari VCS. The console war nobody asked for
You forgot about the (scam) Coleco Chameleon. It would have been interesting to see all 3 racing towards bankruptcy like it was 1984.
There is actually an FPGA-based Coleco console being Kickstartered right now. And it advertises brand new games - but they are being realistic, the new games are Colecovision games made in modern times, some taking advantage of an add-on that doubles memory and sound channels.
CollectorVision Phoenix
It kind-of is what the Coleco Chameleon promised to be (in fact, if I remember right CollectorVision was one of the companies hoping to have games on the Coleco Chameleon before it all went to hell).
There are technical limitations and it boils down to the same issues animation studios moved from drawing shit as much as they used to relying on 3d programmed models to cut corners.
If they had an actual solution they would be selling their tech to Disney or Japan's biggest studios.
What flummoxes me is this
Obviously they won't be funding too many projects, but how much money can they burn this way?