Is the Intellivision Amico a Scam? A former lawyer/accountant's take.

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Published 2022-02-22
The Intellivision Amico is now on its fourth round of public fundraising and looks doomed to failure. At this point, it's starting to look like a scam. Beware.

Patreon: www.patreon.com/CDavis_Games
Discord: discordapp.com/invite/67tDGrr
Twitter: twitter.com/cdavis_games
Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/chrisdavis
Paypal: www.paypal.me/cdavisgames

Ars Technica reporting: (1) arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/06/what-the-hecks-an-i… (2) arstechnica.com/gaming/2022/02/debt-stricken-intel…

Intellivision offering memorandum: www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1909726/0001665160…

Intro - 0:00
What is the Intellivision Amico? - 1:01
A History of Lies - 4:30
Fundraising - 16:12
Scam? - 24:06

#Intellivision #IntellivisionAmico #Amico #RetroGaming

All Comments (21)
  • @feylezofriza
    Chris, if your channel is "a failed business" then it is one of the best failed businesses. I really appreciate your content. I know many others do as well. Of course that might not pay your mortgage but I wanted to share it nonetheless.
  • @NinjaKittyRetro
    Sadly the history of lies section could of been three times as long and you would still be able to find more lies that could be added into it.
  • @thewayfarer8849
    I like when someone like you takes it apart, because you're very methodical. Makes a lot of sense that you were a lawyer/accountant. All the best, hopefully this boosts you up further, and less people get robbed.
  • @ludoergo
    They never marketed the console to customers. They marketed the idea of the console to investors.
  • @ludoergo
    They only seem incompetent until you realize they took in 17 million and get to walk away scot-free.
  • @Jenovi
    There’s certainly no way forward that doesn’t include acquisition or bankruptcy. It’s an unfortunate disaster in its current state.
  • This is an excellent summary of this situation, well supported by observable facts, no guessing, and what I like most of all, no both-siderisms. Only Intellivision is asking for anyone's money, but they pretend as if they’re doing the world a favor and expect skeptics to bear the burden of proof.
  • @stinkbanana2522
    They made a shitty android phone that can run flash games. Wow.
  • 14:45 that's Twin Peaks actress Amy Shiels pretending to be a mom with an American accent. She's from Ireland and a friend of Tommy Tallarico. Remember, Intellivision claims that their ads don't have actors. Google it.
  • @ChrisDreher
    Minor correction: original retail price was stated as $140 - $180. The $250 price came later.
  • @e.treacy7724
    Multi-classing as a Game Reviewer and Lawyer certainly gives you an edge. I do hope this is an avenue to explore. You are underrated and very good at your job(s).
  • At this point, are there any independent voices that think that investing in this is a good idea, or that it even has a reasonable chance to succeed?
  • @_no1mad765
    Tommy, Tommy, Tommy. Always trying to stay in the lime light, whether it's a bad , good, or just plainly stupid.
  • @jasonhamre4832
    Actually, as far as blast processing goes for the Mega Drive/Genesis, you are very much correct by stating it was a real thing. Since the Super Nintendo/Super Famicom debuted between 2 and 3 years later than Sega's 16 bit system (depending on the specific market you look at), most of the SNES's "out of the box" technical specs were quite superior. With one notable (somewhat baffling) exception: the CPU processing, or clock speed, of the Genesis/Mega Drive was noticeably faster than the Super Nintendo/Famicom. Sega's 16 bit CPU speed was 7.67 MHz, while estimates for the SNES CPU vary between 3.58 MHz, to as low as 1.79 MHz, with an average clock speed sitting at around 2.68 MHz. This difference in clock speed made games like Sonic the Hedgehog, whose whole conceit was a blue hedgehog in sneakers running like gangbusters from one end of a level to another, run much more competently on the Sega hardware. Similarly, genres like space shooters, or certain types of sports games, performed better on the Genesis. Advertisers at the time knew that 90s kids wouldn't give two hoots about "clock speed". But "blast processing"? Now you have something! Genesis does what Nintendont! (And I say this as an aging Super Nintendo nerd. :-).)
  • Good to see someone who clearly knows his stuff calling this out for what it is and has been for a long time now. Great video.
  • On Republic, it says "9,411 Investors in 2 campaigns" - given Republic was an extension of the Fig campaign, does the Republic $11m include the Fig $7m in its total? Also, the Fig money of $5.7m is reflected in the 2020 accounts under "Prepaid Development". However at least some of the 2021 actual debt (not the Fig money) is listed elsewhere in the filing and is about $4-5m when you look into it.
  • @casualtr4sh
    It was honestly a shock seeing tommy pop up because all I ever knew him from was the electric playground
  • This video has aged remarkably well, this situation has only become an even bigger dumpster fire.