Intellivision throws their hat into the new console ring
Do you really miss your Intellivision? Well, fear not.
It seems as though every day now comes complete with a console name that's possibly not even from your father's generation coming back, with promises of reviving old glories and providing an experience that all ages can enjoy. It's a land of extremes -- Yesterday saw the very successful launch of the Atari VCS crowdfunding campaign, and tomorrow will assuredly see the final nail in the coffin for the ZX Spectrum Vega+, but today has seen Intellivision announce that they're coming back with a new console. Yes, Intellivision.
To be more specific, the company in question here is Intellivision Entertainment -- Tommy Tallarico, the veteran game music composer, is their president, and he's apparently managed to gather quite a few of the people who worked on the original Intellivision together to make a new console that, rather like the Atari VCS, is going to try and mix old with new. Said console is in very early stages indeed -- there are no pictures, and it doesn't even have a name. But a Facebook Q&A conducted today has revealed a few tidbits; Tallarico has indicated that 10 new games will be available at launch (whenever that is), alongside an emulator that will play all old Intellivision games.
Aside from that, you can probably guess some of the other details -- yes, there will be HDMI. No, there will most likely not be a cartridge slot. It sounds as though Intellivision are going to concentrate more specifically games as opposed to the Atari VCS's attempts to be a full-on media box, and have indicated that it will ship at a cheaper price point. However online play is certainly being considered, and yes, the joystick will include a number pad for maximum authenticity -- although what is to be done about all those overlays remains to be seen. Not much of this sounds particularly out there when it comes to these console revivals.
Still, we have precious little to go on indeed -- it's likely that this is just about all we will have until a planned industry event on October 1st, which will presumably include some sort of reveal on exactly what Intellivision's plans are, what the machine's going to look like, details on any crowdfunding campaigns that may be forthcoming and what have you. We are in the early days here, so a healthy dose of skepticism is not unwarranted -- not necessarily due to thoughts of insidiousness, but because roughly 1,001 things can potentially go wrong with the launch of a new console in the year of our lord, 2018. For those who really love their old Intellivison and can't get enough of the woodgrain, it's perhaps best to not consign it and your well-worn copy of Tron: Deadly Discs into the scrapheap just yet until this project reveals something more tangible.
