Intellivision Amico announced, boldly claims that it'll have better 2D graphics than the PS4 or XB1

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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.
 

Foxi4

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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.
It sure is to the human eye. There's a reason why we've abandoned tile maps - there's absolutely no point in using tiles when we have an abundance of memory available. The only reason why "2D graphics" used that model in the past was to squeeze more complex graphics onto the screen in a smaller memory footprint. Nowadays you can feasibly address every single individual pixel on the screen *and* have loads of memory left to spare, in the past we had to use tiles and palettes, effectively restricting what could be displayed. Of course displaying something in this way would be silly since just plopping your pseudo-sprite onto a quad is a zillion times easier and makes transformations seamless. I also vehemently disagree with the idea that 2D is inherently different than 3D - everything you display on a screen ever is 2D, it's virtual space displayed on a 2D pixel matrix. It makes zero difference to the eye, one method is simply better than the other. If you can think of a possible limitation of 2D graphics on a modern machine, do tell what it is and where's the demand for it. As far as I'm concerned, you can feasibly plop a pseudo-sprite on a model of any desired complexity, transform it however you want, apply any effects you want, resize at will, the world is your oyster. There's no "better 2D" over the horizon, there's nothing to improve.
 
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This isn't the 90's anymore, outrageous claims that probably aren't true definitely won't fly these days and they'll most definitely be called out on it.

If it does end up being true, well then I guess they're fucking revolutionaries in the console industry.
 

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By the time this releases it will probably already become depracated by the PS5... It's not a really good idea to compare it like that for now. Plus, "best 2D graphics"? how would this work? Isn't it quite easy to pull off really good looking 2D imagery?
 

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The only reason why "2D graphics" used that model in the past was to squeeze more complex graphics onto the screen in a smaller memory footprint.

There is also the cpu time required to move those pixels round. If memory was cheap in the 1980's then the NES would still have used tilemaps, because the 6502 was too slow to move all those pixels around itself. This console will almost certainly have some form of GPU to accelerate drawing.

There's no "better 2D" over the horizon, there's nothing to improve.

The output resolution can always be improved. Neither the X1 or PS4 can output greater than 4k.

For the cost the cpu and gpu are obviously going to be less capable, but outputting 8k with accelerated 2d could be what they mean as better. They may even have gone back to multiple layers and hardware sprites.

Don't forget it's not going to come out for another 2 years & they are saying it's better than consoles that will probably have been replaced by the time it comes out.
 
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Foxi4

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There is also the cpu time required to move those pixels round. If memory was cheap in the 1980's then the NES would still have used tilemaps, because the 6502 was too slow to move all those pixels around itself. This console will almost certainly have some form of GPU to accelerate drawing.
Surely you're not going to make that argument in 2018, right? Moving an image on X/Y planes is not a huge feat anymore. We're not talking about the NES, a lot can change in a couple of decades.
The output resolution can always be improved. Neither the X1 or PS4 can output greater than 4k.
Yeah, and neither do most modern displays. If resolution is your only proposed improvement, that's not a 2D-specific issue, it's a matter of graphical standards. 8K is around the corner, but talk about diminishing returns. I can't wait to play some retro-styled indie 2D game on a hipster console, now in 8K. Y'know what would've made Undertale a much better game? If it ran at 8K. Obviously there are *some* limitations out there, but they're technological, not specifically 2D-related.
 
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Surely you're not going to make that argument in 2018, right?

I was pointing out that it wasn't the only reason and the processing ability was also important.

Moving an image on X/Y planes is not a huge feat anymore.

It depends on how much processing power you have and how many layers of parallax scrolling and how many sprites you have on screen.

If resolution is your only proposed improvement, that's not a 2D-specific issue, it's a matter of graphical standards.

How is it not a 2D specific issue? If you have a console that can do 2d at 8k, but not 3d at all & a console that can do 2d & 3d but only at 4k. Then the 8k console has better 2d than the 4k console. You might think it's not worth having the 8k console, because you want 3d. But they couldn't honestly claim it had better graphics, without putting the caveat that it only applied to 2d.

Of course it depends on what they mean by better and this thing isn't out for another 2 years. Maybe they've gone back to sprites and tile maps and by better they mean easier to program. Until we know more it's just conjecture.

I'm disagreeing with the "there is no way that what they are saying makes any sense" argument, because there are ways that what they are saying makes sense.

They are targeting parents who don't want their kids to play violent games, they aren't targeting us.
 
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A lot of bold and stupid calms being made lately. First Huawei with their extremely bold and stupid claim that their phone was better than the Switch, only to be followed by this bold and extremely stupid claim.
 
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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.
Oh dear, that went WAAAY over your head didn't it...:lol:

Quality read, gave me a good laugh ...almost made me interested in buying one hehe!
 

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What if I told you that you can make beautiful 2D games in Unity already? What a joke.

You're not telling anyone anything they don't already know. It also doesn't say anything about their claim.

All they've said is that they are releasing a system in two years time and it's 3d won't be as good as the ps4 or x1 but it's 2d will be better. Meanwhile the PS5 will be out with better 2d and 3d support.

How good Unity is on the PS4 is irrelevant.
 
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They must have forgotten that the PS4/Xbox One was released in 2013. It darn right BETTER have better 2d graphics than the PS4/Xbox One, especially in 2020.

Regardless of that, I think this company is trying to create hype by using PS4/Xbox One's name.
 

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I was pointing out that it wasn't the only reason and the processing ability was also important.



It depends on how much processing power you have and how many layers of parallax scrolling and how many sprites you have on screen.



How is it not a 2D specific issue? If you have a console that can do 2d at 8k, but not 3d at all & a console that can do 2d & 3d but only at 4k. Then the 8k console has better 2d than the 4k console. You might think it's not worth having the 8k console, because you want 3d. But they couldn't honestly claim it had better graphics, without putting the caveat that it only applied to 2d.

Of course it depends on what they mean by better and this thing isn't out for another 2 years. Maybe they've gone back to sprites and tile maps and by better they mean easier to program. Until we know more it's just conjecture.

I'm disagreeing with the "there is no way that what they are saying makes any sense" argument, because there are ways that what they are saying makes sense.

They are targeting parents who don't want their kids to play violent games, they aren't targeting us.
But even if they hypothetically add 8K output, that still makes no sense. Next to no displays support it, and most 2D games are upscaled for higher resolutions anyway, even on modern consoles, usually because of art style decisions. Hell, imagine a fully animated true 8K 2D game - the amount of space you need to store the sprites alone and the work to create sprites that high resolution would be insane.
 
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