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UPDATED: Intellivision Amico Tank Battle Deep Dive Video Mired In A Plagiarism Controversy

{*Full disclaimer the Intellivision Entertainment CEO Tommy Tallarico has appeared on video several times expressing hate and or contempt for myself and my website due to the in-depth and critcal nature of my coverage of the Amico. Despite this I still have a pre-order for the console, bought the 8-pack Limited Edition Boxed set, and won a charity auction for a signed Amico shell.}


[Article Updated on 11/23/2021]

The thrice delayed console has once again found itself in the middle of a fiasco of their own making, one that may have actual legal repercussions. On Thursday November 18, 2021 Intellivision Entertainment uploaded a Battle Tanks deep dive video to their official YouTube channel. Within hours of it going live eagle eyed viewers were able to recognize a myriad of assets that belonged to other sources.(1, 2, 3) Shortly after this discovery was posted to Reddit the video was unlisted from the official Intellivision YouTube channel. As fans and critics discussed the suspect assets the video was re-listed, however shortly after that it was completely deleted from YouTube. All Tweets, FaceBook posts, and Reddit threads made by Tommy Tallarico leading to the Battle Tanks video were quietly deleted leading to more speculation among those curious about the Amico.

During this time some individuals looked further into the assets used by Intellivision and it was discovered that at least one asset "borrowed" from World of Tanks was part of a licensing deal between World of Tanks and the Brad Pitt movie Fury. This would be a huge partnership if Intellivision Entertainment did pay for the license, as a few Amico super fans were suggesting, but CEO Tommy Tallarico was silent on all of this as it was unfolding. This is in direct contrast to when Tommy Tallarico was quick to say he had a license to use Apple's Emojis in the Amico Emoji Charade game.

This would not be the end of the fiasco because in the middle of the night, with no promotion, Intellivision Entertainment  uploaded a Tank Battle Deep Dive video. Once again this video would only be live for a brief time before being privated. Of course this only fueled more speculation as to what exactly was going on with the game assets and what Intellivision Entertainment would do to rectify the situation.

On Friday November 19th 2021 Intellivision Entertainment put up yet another Tank Battle Deep Dive video and CEO Tommy Tallarico finally spoke out about the situation. The following is the exact copy paste of the statement from the CEO in regards to the controversy.

Hi,

 

In case anyone may have missed the description of the Amico Deep Dive video, it reads:

Work in progress. Footage shown does not represent final materials. Graphics and features subject to change.

Intellivision continues to provide unprecedented access to the development process of both our hardware and games. With this core belief of openness comes certain challenges. Our game development partners commonly use placeholder graphics as they work towards finalizing all art assets prior to final publishing. Placeholder graphics were identified in the current unpublished version of the Intellivision tank game presented in this video. Intellivision is in contact with all parties involving both final assets and placeholder assets as we work with our development partner towards final publishing of this game.

We are also doing a shorter cut which will be sent out to the mailing list on Monday with some other very cool news.

❤️
The language Tommy Tallarico used seems very deliberate and very unlike the loose and outrageous style he is known to use in his many hours long YouTube interviews. Some people began to question whether or not the current disclaimer was on the original video and they may have simply missed it so they used a Bing cache to answer the question. Unsurprising, the original video did not include any sort of disclaimer and even had a "TM" symbol attached to the Battle Tanks name. Additionally the "placeholder" graphics were present in the August 5, 2020 Special Event video uploaded by Intellivision Entertainment to their official channel.(1, 2) Further scrutiny of the Tank Battle video led some to notice it shares an identical font with another game called Tank Battle Heroes. Additionally at least one asset in the footage of Cornhole is from the same PngWing site that some of the tank images were located on.

As of the writing of this article there has no response from any of the parties who had their assets used by Intellivision Entertainment. Due to the niche nature of the console and the lack of any hype beyond a small audience it is quite possible they are simply unaware of everything that has transpired. We will update you if they do respond of if Intellivision Entertainment makes further statements on the matter. Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Youtube for all your geek and gaming news.

UPDATE:
On 11/23/2021 Intellivision Entertainent removed their Tank Battle Deep Dive video and uploaded an edited version of that video. In this new version of the video the "placeholder" assets are blurred, obscured, and edited out of the video. Despite this, Intellivision Entertainment still features the borrowed assets in their Aug. 5, 2020 video and the Oct. 10, 2020 video. It should be noted that in both the Aug. 5, 2020 and Oct. 10, 2020 videos the main splash image tank still has "FURY" written on the barrel while this was edited out for their Deep Dive videos.

Comments

  1. The game looks like shit anyway and so DATED, its unbelievable they release that in 2021.

    ReplyDelete
  2. His statement is nonsensical, he blames the developers, but gives them a pass... I call BS on that.
    I bet the "borrowed" 'placeholder' art was put there by intv. ent. internal team...

    If it was truly placeholder art it would have said it, ie 'Intellivision® Amico™ - Pack-In Announcement' video.

    ReplyDelete

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