Amico: The Intellivision Returns!

If you don’t know what an Intellivision is, it’s probably because A) you didn’t watch The Angry Video Game Nerd or B) You weren’t born in the 1970’s. The home console was released back in 1979 and meant to compete against the Atari 2600. Tommy Tallarico promised to revive the console for the modern age. It’s called the Amico. 

The Amico will be released on October 20, 2020. It will sell between $149 – $179. The games will range from $2.99 – $7.99 but the console will have built-in games. Games will be sold via through online store and are rated E for Everyone. There are games from Intellivision, Atari, Imagic, and more and they’ll be remastered to include better audio, image quality, and controls. New exclusive games from the Amico are going to be developed by people who have experience with older consoles.

The Amico will have Bluetooth controllers and people can use their phones to play with six players. Each controller will have a color touchscreen, a circular directional pad and tactile buttons along the left and right side. A gyroscope and accelerometer will allow for motion control. Polygon.

How will it Compete?

In the previous article, Tallarico stated the Amico wasn’t meant to compete against modern consoles but be a gaming console for “casual players” or for people who want an easy entry to gaming.

 “We see a world where everyone is interested in playing at home and with friends, but this isn’t currently possible because the barrier to entry is nearly impossible for a non-gamer due to the complexity of the controllers, intricacy of gameplay, expense of the hardware and software and steep learning curve with an unbalanced fun factor for the beginner. Our goal was to create a console that both gamers and non-gamers are able to have fun with and play together. The Intellivision Amico is our answer to this gaping hole we see within the current video game industry” – Tommy Tallarico

I am unsure how the Amico will do. Many parents buy gaming consoles based on their children’s interest. If kids don’t know what the games are, parents may not look at the Amico either. It will also have to compete against mobile games. The mobile gaming industry is valued over a billion dollars and has ease of access. It’ll be interesting to see whether it will fill “the gaping hole” in the gaming industry.

Sources:

Polygon

Author: blitzen34

Hello, my name is Benjamin Le. I am an avid gamer whose passion resides in Marketing for the Video Game Industry. This site is for people to read about gaming news and how the industry works. Please feel free to reach out to me at lebenjaminj@gmail.com for any questions. View all posts by blitzen34