I know that these are $10 games and are not targeted towards hardcore gamers, but this game literally seems like an Atari 2600 game (or Intellivision game, I guess; I have more familiarty with the 2600) given a makeover to have Circa 2008 XBLA graphics. You set up custom games where you pick the winning score and the number of enemies and then drop into a very basic points based single screen arena battle. The environment doesn't really reflect the gunfire, making it sort of look like a Flash game with sprites pasted over a static bitmapped background (though it's a bit more complex than that and at least features swaying foliage and dynamic shadows), and the focus is entirely on score based competition or co-operation.

It doesn't look truly horrible, but it looks like a game I would have downloaded the demo of from XBLA over a decade ago and played for like 20 minutes before deleting it. It would have gotten review scores in the 5-6 range and gotten attacked for a lack of single player content and for its shallow gameplay.

The problem is that the Amico costs $250 and this is all it does. This might work as a game released for a machine that's not primarily about gaming (like an Amazon Fire TV or an Apple TV) but this thing costs just a little less than a Switch or Series S and is designed primarily for gaming.

I have a morbid curiosity about this system but not $250 worth of morbid curiosity. Looking forward to seeing Jeff stream it, though. I hope he plays for at least a couple hours.

The part where the "it's for people who don't play games" pitch breaks down for me is that they're selling a $250 system to play flash/java-level games that anybody who has a PC could find for free. Mobile games look better than this and most everybody has a capable enough phone.

I just don't understand the where they think they're gonna find this mythical segment of people who:
A) don't play video games regularly but have vague fond ideas about old video games
B) don't want to play these games online/on phones for free but want to pay $250+extra for games

I get that not everyone might not know where to play free Unity games or whatever but presumably if someone manages to become aware of an incredibly niche machine like this thing then they are capable of basic Google searches for 'free online tank game'.

This could not be more of a 'wrong place at the wrong time for the wrong price' type of product.

@mach_go_go_go: But what if I told you that a prior version of the trailer apparently had assets taken from War Thunder, World of Tanks and a web site with assets not for commercial use? Would that make it better?

To be "fair" this is not a final build and I'm not surprised they'd use placeholder assets from other games but:

A) You don't show that stuff in your trailer obviously.

B) This game should have been finished like a year ago when the console was scheduled to ship.

There's an irony to Tommy Tallarico, who famously sued Roblox over using an "Oof" sound from Messiah, using stolen assets. That at least was something that users ripped and added into user created content, rather than something the CEO of the company signed off on directly. To be fair Battle Tanks is not a finished game so they can add their own assets before it ships, but to be even more fair it is a violation of copyright to use someone else's IP in your promotional materials even if it doesn't make it into the final product.

Not the best look.

@bigsocrates I know this is a bit of a bump, but it has recently discovered that Tank Battle, one of the Amico's intended "System Sellers," is likely using stolen assets.

I'm not joking.

@zombiepie: Yeah I linked to a video of the assets above but it's good to see the press picking up on it.

This is an early build of the game so I kind of understand what happened and they can fix it but still...it's a terrible look and it was a copyright violation to use those assets in a promotional video regardless of whether they stay in the final game.

The Amico is one of the most fascinating stories in recent gaming. It's the kind of weird and messed up project that you rarely see anymore since gaming is so dominated by megacorps.

I really want one for the novelty value and if they ever make it to market and they get blown out cheap I will definitely pick one up, but in the meantime I find the news about it endlessly entertaining.

Those of us who like to plumb the weird depths of gaming oddities (and sorry, @zombiepie but based on your forum activity I count you as a member of our group) so often have to go back at least two decades to find really strange and kitschy stuff that wasn't intentionally made that way, but here we have a gaming oddity taking form right before our very eyes. It's like we're getting a new Gizmondo or N-Gage in 2021 except somehow even more ill conceived and slapdash. The Atari VCS also came out and is also pretty bad but it's just kind of underpowered for the price and lacking in unique software, which isn't particularly funny. You can put Windows on it and play all kinds of games, and the games it does have aren't these weird train wrecks, they're just ported multiplats. It's maybe comparable to the Ouya, but even the Ouya wasn't all that funny, just kind of not great.

The Amico is a weird and unique vision and a constant stream of embarrassing mistakes and bizarre choices. I love it!

What a... thing this is. Every time I see something on the Amico, Tommy is sounding off like his house, lungs and kidneys are on the line.