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Earlier this year, we were teased at the existence of an upcoming Intellivision-based retro throwback system, and five months later, more information about the curious piece of hardware have been unveiled. This system now sports the name of the Intellivision Amico, with a few notable features and details. Firstly, the Amico will retail anywhere in the range of $149 to $179 dollars, when it launches two years from now, in 2020. A bold claim also states that the power within the system will offer "the most advanced 2D sprite-based graphics the world has ever seen", also putting above what either the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, or according to them, a 'PlayStation 5' could ever reasonably output in terms of 2D visuals. Games for the system are set to have prices from $3 to $8 apiece, with the available titles only being 2D-based games and capped at most at an E10+ rating due to the heavy "family focus" the system has. Its controllers are small, with a touchscreen built into them, while the system itself will have WiFi features, as well as an HDMI port. Games both old and new will be coming to the Amico, and will have updated visuals, multiplayer, and achievements. Development kits are due out in Summer 2019.

 

[Naendow]

Sounds interesting imo. But I don't think that this is something most people would buy.

 

[Chary]

Ah yes, I'm glad Intellivision will finally bring about revolution with its amazing pixel art games that'll totally have better graphics than the PS5 will. Sony fans are quaking in their boots.

Thinking realistically, I'm sure this'll be a neat little addition to the NES Classics and Super NTs already out there, but they seem to be trying too hard to oversell on this little product.

 

[Naendow]

I haven't looked on the controller before. What can you do with a touchpad and one button today?

 

[Deleted User]

I haven't looked on the controller before. What can you do with a touchpad and one button today?

the entirety of the android play store and ios app store only use a touchpad and no buttons

 

[Naendow]

the entirety of the android play store and ios app store only use a touchpad and no buttons

True. But we're not talking about mobile games. And except for that, smartphones have a display with touch capabilities, not a touchpad.

 

[tech3475]

At first I thought it said 'better 3D graphics'.

Makes me wonder what games they'll have to justify that claim and to entice sales for what feels like a niche product, particularly at that price and with the age restriction.

So far it doesn't fill me with much confidence.

I haven't looked on the controller before. What can you do with a touchpad and one button today?

I suspect the round button in the d pad and they'll use the touch screen for everything else.

The controller alone makes it a poor console in my book.

 

[Naendow]

That is also possible. But that would still he really weird to play with.

 

[Song of storms]

With that claim, they probably meant 2D graphics with a lot of details. Something that technically wasn't that much explored, as indie devs will usually play with big sprite tiles. Take Stardew Valley, for example. A beautiful game but you just know that it could have been better.

The current gen consoles have been out for enough time to draw conclusions about the state of 2D sprites in the gaming industry and I agree with them. Let's hope that they can actually deliver. I feel like developers have gone the extra mile with 3D models improvements but have never touched 2D games' graphics complexity with that same passion again. But that's not up to Intellivision, rather to the developers that will choose to develop on this system. What's stopping from developers to simply put the same portings on their console?

If the project won't be canceled, it will be interesting.

 

[Nyteshade714]

This just in: the world doesn't understand sarcasm

 

[Deleted User]

True. But we're not talking about mobile games. And except for that, smartphones have a display with touch capabilities, not a touchpad.

literally the same thing, just one displays something at the same time

 

[Arras]

With that claim, they probably meant 2D graphics with a lot of details. Something that technically wasn't that much explored, as indie devs will usually play with big sprite tiles. Take Stardew Valley, for example. A beautiful game but you just know that it could have been better.

The current gen consoles have been out for enough time to draw conclusions about the state of 2D sprites in the gaming industry and I agree with them. Let's hope that they can actually deliver. I feel like developers have gone the extra mile with 3D models improvements but have never touched 2D games' graphics complexity with that same passion again. But that's not up to Intellivision, rather to the developers that will choose to develop on this system. What's stopping from developers to simply put the same portings on their console?

If the project won't be canceled, it will be interesting.

That's almost always a software thing though, not hardware. I have absolutely no idea what they mean with that graphics comment.

 

[gman666]

*Looks at date* April fools is really far away hmmm.

 

[Song of storms]

That's almost always a software thing though, not hardware. I have absolutely no idea what they mean with that graphics comment.

As I wrote in the post you just quoted, yes.

 

[Foxi4]

That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. There are no limitations in 2D graphics, there are zero devs in existence who don't have enough resources for their 2D games.

 

[spinal_cord]

I haven't looked on the controller before. What can you do with a touchpad and one button today?

It isn't, the round bit is a 16 direction d-pad, and the touch pad might well be one, but originally it was a phone style number pad, where you would slide an overlay in that showed what the buttons do.

There are no limitations in 2D graphics

Hardware-wise yes there are. A textured polygon is not the same as 2d hardware.

 

[Deleted User]

I was thinking of learning to make a 2d platformer, perhaps I should make one for this.

 

[Arras]

It isn't, the round bit is a 16 direction d-pad, and the touch pad might well be one, but originally it was a phone style number pad, where you would slide an overlay in that showed what the buttons do.



Hardware-wise yes there are. A textured polygon is not the same as 2d hardware.

But when you can push millions of textured 2d polygons, what's the practical difference?

 

[Reploid]

3D would be more bold

 

[smf]

That's almost always a software thing though, not hardware. I have absolutely no idea what they mean with that graphics comment.

I assume they mean it has an 8k video output, but using a cheap gpu with weaker 3d.