Ten Commandments of Gaming?

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VideoGameCritic
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Ten Commandments of Gaming?

Postby VideoGameCritic » June 30th, 2021, 6:08 pm

So for the upcoming Intellivision Amico console, Tommy Tallarico established this list of rules for making games for the system. What do you think?

Image

The full article is here, but the way:
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/06/ ... ers-hints/

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JustLikeHeaven
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Re: Tenn Commandments of Gaming?

Postby JustLikeHeaven » July 1st, 2021, 9:03 am

Nothing about this system inspires confidence. I think it’s going to either never come out or fail spectacularly.

Something like this would have been novel maybe 10 years ago. However, now that indie games are an essential lifeblood of modern consoles it’s really a moot point.

The market for people that want Intellivision remakes isn’t going to be enough to keep this thing afloat. And if you’re targeting simple, fun, gaming for everyone…you’re smack dab in Nintendo’s market. Good luck with that.

I always hope things like this turn out to be successes because more competition is a good thing to me. However, my gut tells me that this thing will be DOA.

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ActRaiser
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Re: Tenn Commandments of Gaming?

Postby ActRaiser » July 1st, 2021, 9:13 am

This actually looks like fun for families with young kids.

My daughter only really likes to play Feeding Frenzy on our arcade. It's pretty simple to play and she has fun with it. Anything else and she needs help with. If the controllers are easy for small hands I could see this being a hit. What I don't understand is how you'll get four players to play with only 2 controllers. I've never seen an option to buy additional controllers.

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LoganRuckman
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Re: Tenn Commandments of Gaming?

Postby LoganRuckman » July 1st, 2021, 9:15 am

@JustLikeHeaven Yeah, honestly been feeling the same way. I already have a Switch which has an Eshop with a ton of great indie games, and Nintendo has dominated the family-friendly and local multiplayer niches for ages now. Also tons of retro games and old school style modern games. Not too much more expensive than the Amico, and with a much larger library that already has all the good stuff that the Amico promises.

I guarantee you games like Earthworm Jim and the new Ecco aren't going to be Amico exclusives for too long.

Tbf, a lot of the games look fun, but I just don't see this being a big thing when it launches, if it even launches.

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Retro STrife
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Re: Tenn Commandments of Gaming?

Postby Retro STrife » July 1st, 2021, 5:04 pm

Yeah. The system is already going to struggle to pull in consumers and have mainstream success. Apparently the goal is to push away developers while they’re at it. These rules sound pretty authoritarian, while emphasizing high quality but low profit. That’s not achieveable for most systems, let alone one that won’t have the sales numbers to justify the effort. It’ll be interesting to see what they do to incentize developers. If they can’t, these rules won’t last long. And neither will the Amico.

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DrLitch
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Re: Tenn Commandments of Gaming?

Postby DrLitch » July 1st, 2021, 7:25 pm

Seems like Tommy Tallarico has been listening to the burning bush.

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Re: Tenn Commandments of Gaming?

Postby VideoGameCritic » July 1st, 2021, 7:27 pm

DrLitch wrote:Seems like Tommy Tallarico has been listening to the burning bush.


I just hope this new system will stay away from the light!!

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Re: Tenn Commandments of Gaming?

Postby ThePixelatedGenocide » July 2nd, 2021, 2:19 am

Like the quality control. And it'll be a unique library, at least.

But.

This couldn't be further away from the values of the original Intellivision.

The project should be called "Better Semi-Casual Mobile Games."

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Re: Tenn Commandments of Gaming?

Postby LoganRuckman » August 6th, 2021, 11:22 am

Retro STrife wrote:Yeah. The system is already going to struggle to pull in consumers and have mainstream success. Apparently the goal is to push away developers while they’re at it. These rules sound pretty authoritarian, while emphasizing high quality but low profit. That’s not achieveable for most systems, let alone one that won’t have the sales numbers to justify the effort. It’ll be interesting to see what they do to incentize developers. If they can’t, these rules won’t last long. And neither will the Amico.



https://web.archive.org/web/20210310223 ... FX301/Full

Yeah, check out this interview. Thankfully, some awesome person decided to archive it after the original post was deleted. Just look at some of the insane decisions.

Intellivision gets a whopping 50% of profits from any 3rd party game. FIFTY. FREAKING. PERCENT. Other companies have been heavily criticized for way less, including Apple and their 30% cut. I'm sorry, but the actual programmers, artists, composers, testers, etc who worked hard on their art always deserve a higher cut.

Games must be less than $10. Regardless of budget. That, combined with the whole 50% cut nonsense plus whatever cut the publisher is going to get, is going to make it very hard for devs to make a decent profit. Why would any 3rd party want to make games for this, when they can get higher profits elsewhere and have more creative freedom as well? And that's not even mentioning that ridiculous "must be exclusive" rule, limiting the audience and screwing the devs even more.

Can only be E or E10+. You probably won't see very many fighting games or chaotic run 'n guns and bullet hell shmups on here, considering many games in those genres are rated T or even M. So much for old school arcade appeal.

Tommy literally admitted Intellivision has complete control over all games, in this very interview. So much for artistic freedom, am I right? He should change his name to Tommy Gun the way he keeps shooting himself in the foot.

No DLC, even if it adds to the experience (like Shovel Knight, which had amazing DLC).

Games must have local multiplayer. So worthwhile single player experiences are a no go. No point and click adventure games, no 16-Bit style RPGs, certainly no text adventures. All of which would be perfect for a console that tries to appeal to retrogamers. But only certain types of retrogamers, right?

No 3D? So '90s style arcade racers and 3D collectathon platformers aren't gonna have a home on this console. There are a lot of people nostalgic for that style of game.

Now to be fair, with many of those, you could say "but Logan, that's the whole point." And that's true, but maybe the point is flawed? And for being a console that prides itself on its retro aesthetic, it sure is ignoring a large part of the retrogaming community. Retrogaming is more than just the '70s and early '80s ya know. The restrictions to the types of games you can play are downright bizarre. This is only going to appeal to a ridiculously specific and niche portion of the retrogaming community.

I was actually quite hyped when this was first announced, but after looking into all the strange design philosophies, and with how downright scummy and unethical some of their business practices are and how horrid they're trying to treat 3rd party devs (when you said authoritarian, you weren't being hyperbolic in the slightest), as well as the steep price and numerous other problems, my interest has effectively dropped to zero. I could not care less if it bombs, and chances are, it will.

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Re: Tenn Commandments of Gaming?

Postby VideoGameCritic » August 6th, 2021, 3:01 pm

I would hope the "must have local multiplayer" rule would only apply to multiplayer games! I really dislike when console games try to tack on some half-ass multiplayer mode just for the sake of doing so.


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