…that the new Intellivision console to hit the market is NOT the one that was promised all those years ago, but rather one that is a remake of the original console released by the current incarnation of that console’s main rival in what is now known as the “first console war?”
I came home from a quick round of errands when I noticed a brown box by the door. I picked it up and after taking care of some affairs, opened it up to reveal the new Intellivision Sprint console that was released in December. For those who don’t know, Atari acquired the rights to the Intellivision name and software line… and decided to develop a mini console of sorts much in the same vein as their Atari 400 mini platform; has about 45 games built in, but with the option to include other games through other means.
As of this moment, I haven’t tried the console out yet… though I did film some unboxing bits for a future Gimmick Table down the road. Still, I sit back in awe as I look at this spiffy new Intellivision console that I didn’t think would ever be a thing… if only because the only thing that came to mind when the phrase “new Intellivision console” came to mind was that piece of vaporware called Amico.
I haven’t touched much on the Amicovision business ever since it became a thing. I was intrigued by its early pitch and its desire to develop a console without resorting to crowdfunding means – basically the opposite of what then-current Atari was doing with its Ataribox device… which, by the way, did see release and was eventually forgotten about by all but a few hobbyists. After a while and all the bad press that came about, I decided to veer away from that mess and focus on more tangible things.
When news broke that Atari had purchase Intellivision (but not the Amico), I figured that any hope of that project coming to fruition would be deader than dead. I’m sure there are a small, minute number of devotees who still believe in the cause, but it’s hard to hold out hope when most of the games that were pushed as the main draws of the console (that Finnegan Fox game that caused that one guy’s jaw to hit the ground and the Cornhole game) are appearing on other platforms. Let’s be real here; once the new Earthworm Jim makes its way over to Switch 2 and other things, any and all reasons for wanting an Amicovision will have gone out the window… not that there was much reason to begin with.
It’s unfortunate that things turned out the way it did. Do I think Amicovision would have amounted to much had it saw release? Probably not; it’d be a nice little novelty for the hobbyists and collectors, but not much more than that. Still, it’d be more than what any of the backers got so far, which was empty promises and a whole lot of fuck alls. Maybe some day, Amico will see the light of day… but maybe it’s time to just call it quits and move on. Tommy Tallarico sure as hell did.
Anyhoo… that’s my five cents on the matter. Let’s move on to bigger and better things… but first, I need to go to the bathroom.
Later.
dtm666 