This looks like another Ouya, giving you the ability to play smartphone-caliber games on your TV. I don't see a market for this. Who is going to pay $2.99 to $7.99 for what are essentially smartphone games? It's hard to compete with games that are free. Also, is there any real nostalgia for the Intellivision? If you ask me, the Intellivision was a terrible console. It may have had better graphics than the Atari 2600, but the controllers were atrocious, and most of the games were a joke because they were two-player only. So if you had no one to play with you, you were sunk.
Today you need billions of dollars to launch a new game console. Atari simply doesn't have the money to do this which was obvious when they took the crowdfunding route. Why anyone would be dumb enough to pay $250 up front for the promise of a console is beyond me. This thing will never come out.
Mortal Kombat is an example of how the 16-bit generation went wrong. The gore and complicated combos turned off a lot of people. The NES was played by people of all ages, but in the 16-bit era, gaming became less accessible and started to appeal only to teenage and college boys. The Wii was so great because it was a successful attempt to correct this and make gaming popular again with people of all ages.
I don't see this thing ever being remotely successful. What is the point of having a touchscreen on the controller? Nintendo already tried this with the Wii U. Many games won't utilize the screen in any meaningful way. The touchscreens will dramatically increase the cost of the console without any tangible benefits. Also, the Intellivision controller may have been the worst game controller ever made, so why in the world would you want to emulate it? And is anyone really nostalgic for the Intellivision? Most of its games were a joke because they were 2-player only. Without a single-player option, these games won't be any more fun to play today than they were back then (And as for playing them online, the install base will never be big enough for that to work).
This is nothing more than a nostalgic cash grab. Anyone foolish enough to pay hundreds of dollars up front for this console is going to get exactly what they deserve.
It's interesting that Bayless is blaming the failure of the 32X on the marketing. If only the marketing had been better... In reality, the lesson to learn from the 32X is that hardware add-ons cannot work. The reason for this is that software developers will always opt to make their best games for the larger install base because that's where the best potential for profit lies. The 32X never got great games, and I doubt the rushed launch was the only reason. It's a lesson that Microsoft failed to learn with the Kinect. You should never split your install base.
Comments 6
Re: New Game Footage Suggests The Intellivision Amico Will Struggle To Pull Families Away From Switch
This looks like another Ouya, giving you the ability to play smartphone-caliber games on your TV. I don't see a market for this. Who is going to pay $2.99 to $7.99 for what are essentially smartphone games? It's hard to compete with games that are free. Also, is there any real nostalgia for the Intellivision? If you ask me, the Intellivision was a terrible console. It may have had better graphics than the Atari 2600, but the controllers were atrocious, and most of the games were a joke because they were two-player only. So if you had no one to play with you, you were sunk.
Re: Atari's Attempt To Relaunch The VCS Has Just Hit Another Brick Wall
Today you need billions of dollars to launch a new game console. Atari simply doesn't have the money to do this which was obvious when they took the crowdfunding route. Why anyone would be dumb enough to pay $250 up front for the promise of a console is beyond me. This thing will never come out.
Re: Feature: How Mortal Kombat Defined The Console War Between Sega And Nintendo
Mortal Kombat is an example of how the 16-bit generation went wrong. The gore and complicated combos turned off a lot of people. The NES was played by people of all ages, but in the 16-bit era, gaming became less accessible and started to appeal only to teenage and college boys. The Wii was so great because it was a successful attempt to correct this and make gaming popular again with people of all ages.
Re: There's A New Intellivision Coming, And A Trio Of Former Nintendo Staffers Are Helping Launch It
I don't see this thing ever being remotely successful. What is the point of having a touchscreen on the controller? Nintendo already tried this with the Wii U. Many games won't utilize the screen in any meaningful way. The touchscreens will dramatically increase the cost of the console without any tangible benefits. Also, the Intellivision controller may have been the worst game controller ever made, so why in the world would you want to emulate it? And is anyone really nostalgic for the Intellivision? Most of its games were a joke because they were 2-player only. Without a single-player option, these games won't be any more fun to play today than they were back then (And as for playing them online, the install base will never be big enough for that to work).
Re: Atari Comes Under Fire For Seemingly Knowing Very Little About Its Crowdfunded VCS Console
This is nothing more than a nostalgic cash grab. Anyone foolish enough to pay hundreds of dollars up front for this console is going to get exactly what they deserve.
Re: Hardware Classics: Unpacking The 32X, Sega's Most Catastrophic Console Failure
It's interesting that Bayless is blaming the failure of the 32X on the marketing. If only the marketing had been better...
In reality, the lesson to learn from the 32X is that hardware add-ons cannot work. The reason for this is that software developers will always opt to make their best games for the larger install base because that's where the best potential for profit lies. The 32X never got great games, and I doubt the rushed launch was the only reason. It's a lesson that Microsoft failed to learn with the Kinect. You should never split your install base.