Intellivision Amico: Remixing Retro Gaming and AR

40 Years of Family Gaming Fun

Intellivision

Back in the late 1970’s the term “augmented reality” didn’t exist and the closest thing was from a galaxy far, far away, when Princess Leia sent a holographic message to Obi-Wan Kenobi.

In 1977, Atari launched the godfather of modern video game systems, the Atari 2600, originally called the Atari VCS, pioneering the home console market. With continued success, in 1978 Atari released more games for the Atari 2600, including Breakout designed by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, engineered by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, who would later go on to found Apple. Atari also launched Adventure, featured in Ready Player One, one of the first video games to have an Easter egg or secret message.

By December 1979, Mattel Electronics launched the very first Intellivision video game console. Intellivision pioneered many “firsts” in the game industry, including the first directional pad on a controller (d-pad), Intellivision’s unique controller featured the first alternative to the typical joystick on a home console — a rotating circular pad that allowed for 16 directions of movement by pressing it with the thumb (similar to the iPod that launched back in 2001). Intellivision was the first console to; allow a game to “Pause” from the controller; give spoken voice in a game (Major League Baseball®).

Once Intellivision entered the market the first Console Wars began; if you like space games you were an “Atari fan,” if you liked sports you were an “Intellivision fan.” Both companies invested in an all out advertising battle packed with comparison ads. Regardless of what gaming system was your favorite both Atari and Intellivision made gaming history and brought the future of gaming and play to families around the world.

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Fast forward to today, video game industry icon, CEO, of Intellivision Tommy Tallarico and team are working on bringing families, friends and generations back together with the Intellivision Amico launching 10–10–2020.

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“At Intellivision, our mission is to use technology to bring family and friends back together by delivering simple, affordable, family-focused entertainment to everyone.” — Tommy Tallarico, CEO

The Intellivision Amico will include two controllers, five games and retail for under $200.00. Games will also be affordable ranging from $2.99-$9.99. Intellivision has thoughtfully designed every game on Amico, to encourage group participation and teamwork through “couch co-op” style gameplay, with single and multiplayer mode options.

Every game on Amico will be rated E for Everyone or E10+. Games will be family friendly, no graphic violence or blood, no bad language, and no sexual content — easy-to-use, positive-reinforcement parental controls are also included. Intellivision Amico will offer an almost endless rage of original titles, retro, party, educational, and table games, so there is fun for everyone.

In anticipation of the Intellivision Amico launch, Intellivision is giving us a sneak peek as to what to expect, with their new app Amico Club available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

The Amico Club app will provide the latest news, sneak peeks, discounts, videos and more.

Intellivision Amico

Launch the Amico Club app, point your camera at any Intellivision Amico logo, and the fun begins. Even if you don’t have AR support on your phone the app will run in full-screen mode without the need to point the camera at a logo. Intellivision will be making updates as they approach their 10–10–2020 launch.

This month the logo animation is followed by a full on gaming demo experience of Moon Patrol: The Milky Way Chronicles, a new and exclusive reimagining of the Moon Patrol game originally released in 1982 by Irem.

This is the first of many AR experiences from Intellivision Entertainment, a glimpse into what we can expect from Amico, it’s easy to use and all around good fun.

Moon Patrol was selected to be the first experience to showcase because it has been a fan favorite, the planets aligned for Intellivision, receiving the rights for Moon Patrol, teaming up with a collaborative developer and game development far enough along to share with the world.

In an email interview with Nick Richards COO/CFO of Intellivision Entertainment, “One of the foundational Intellivision principles is group play. We want to be the best in the world at creating engaging group play experiences. And when we say group play, we mean actual engagement with other human beings — not just online. We are currently exploring AR as one of the tools to enhance engagement. Voice based engagement is another capability we are exploring.”

Intellivision is working to create additional extended play experiences beyond the Intellivision console as they get closer to their launch date, we can expect to see more sophisticated and fun AR experiences.

This week, Intellivision also announced that they will be bringing back Atari’s Breakout, reimagined exclusively for the Intellivision Amico. While Breakout doesn’t have an AR experience the new redesign looks like good family gaming fun.

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Once a rivals in the Console Wars, it’s exciting to see classic games like Moon Patrol and Breakout previously released for the Atari 2600, redesigned and revamped for the Intellivision Amico.

If you want to know what the near future holds for Intellivision, download their new app Amico Club available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

This article was originally published on VRScout December 2019.