As promised, Intellivision Entertainment is rising from the ashes with a new game console. Sort of.
The upcoming Intellivision Amico is a new product that pays homage to the e classic game system. It’s being developed b what seems to be a new company with the rights to the Intellivision name. And it’s not expected to hit the market until October, 2020.
We’ll see if people are still going gaga for retro-style consoles by then.
The Amico isn’t meant to compete with the latest Sony or Xbox game consoles in the high end or even Nintendo’s lower-power devices like the Wii U or Switch. Instead it’s going after the kind of folks who are buying devices like the NES Classic and SNES Classic and playing decades-old games.
Titles for the Amico will sell for between $3 and $8 and the console will only be able to play 2D games. The goal is to only allow family-friendly titles (with a rating of E10+ or lower).
There will be new versions of old games including Lode Runner, Pong, and ToeJam and Earl as well as support for some newer games if developers want to make any for the platform.
Not every feature will be retro-inspired. The Amico is expected to an HDMI port so it can connect to modern TV sets. It’ll have WiFi for online features (including the ability to download games from the internet and see high scores in leaderboards for each game).
The system will also use Bluetooth game controllers with microphones, vibration motors, speakers, and a 3.5 inch color touchscreen built in. The controllers will charge automatically when you place them on the console.
There’s no word on the specs, no plans to make this basically a gaming computer like the new Atari VCS, and…not much reason to get the excited, really.
The Amico is expected to sell for between $150 and $180 when it hits the streets… in two years.
Update: Intellivision has posted a teaser video:
via DualShockers
“There will be new versions of old games including Lode Runner, Pong”
Do they seriously think people are going to pay $200 for a console and then even more money for games this primitive? You can play a billion games more advanced than this for free on any number of online gaming sites like Kongregate, Newgrounds etc.
For the price of this thing and several of its games you could get an actual console with modern games.
You could buy a cheap laptop or a Raspberry Pi or a SNES Classic or a second-hand last-gen console.
You could emulate a million different titles better than these. you could build a cheap PC for $200 and emulate them on that.
And if parents want an educational games console they could get a V-tech and games for less than this.
This thing is dead in the water.
People of Brad’s age will lineup for this on day one. Camping styles. Apple styles. The target market for this device have a solid life of earning money which will be spent on one (or two) of these. In a way, you can say the older folks have been saving a lifetime for a chance to get one of these again. Hashtag sarcasm.
Is this going to break in the first 10 days like the original? I find the price tag of this thing laughable, and then some.