80s video game lovers rejoice as the Intellivision console is making a comeback. Tommy Tallarico, a veteran video game developer and musician, is spearheading the relaunch of the Intellivision brand. The company is now called Intellivision Entertainment and they are currently working on a brand new Intellivision console. While it won't be a re-issue of the original, in the way that Nintendo has capitalized with the NES Classic, this is certainly exciting news for retro gamers. Here's what Tallarico had to say about it.

"Our target is the non-gamer, the family. We want simplicity. There is no system where young and old and non-gamers can play together in the home. People play on mobile, but it is still a very solitary experience."

Tommy Tallarico, head of Video Games Live, a concert company that travels the world and plays orchestral music from video games before live audiences, says, "We will be focused. We will not try to compete with Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. That would be insane, and we would need $1 billion." At launch, the new Intellivision console will have 10 games. Plus, the new console will run an emulator so that the old Intellivision games can be played via the new system. Xbox came up with something similar in order for their users to be able to play Xbox and Xbox 360 games on the Xbox One. He also says the system won't be gunning for the 3D market and won't run Netflix or other video apps. This will be purely for gaming.

The original Intellivision console launched in 1980 and actually gave Atari a run for its money for a chunk of time. Intellivision was a very innovative system, becoming the first 16-bit home console, the first system to feature downloadable games in 1981, the first to provide real-time human voices during gameplay and, surprisingly, was the first system or home computer to offer a synthesizer keyboard. Tommy Tallarico promises that this new version will be innovative, but they will be innovating for those who aren't hardcore gamers, not early adopters.

"I'd play it with mom and dad and brother. We could all understand it. We didn't have to read a manual or play 50 hours to finish a game. It was always my favorite system because the games were cutting-edge yet fun and simple to play, so our entire family could enjoy them together. I find those important elements to generally be lacking from our industry with the current modern gaming consoles. Our goal is to change that by focusing on bringing all age groups and levels of gamers and non-gamers together while introducing new generations of people to the legacy success of the Intellivision brand."

Some of the people who helped make the original console what it was are on board the creative team at the new company. Intellivision Entertainment chairman Steve Roney and Intellivision Entertainment vice president of technology Bill Fisher have been involved with Intellivision since 1981 and are aboard the new project. Also on board is Game Design & Development Group Leader David Warhol, vice president Emily Reichbach Rosenthal and longtime Intellivision contractor Paul Nurminen as the vice president of product development.

This is just the latest in retro gaming comebacks. Atari is also going to be launching a new console in the near future for the first time in decades and Nintendo has done retro versions of both the NES and the SNES, with some evidence suggesting they may have an N64 version on the way soon. Currently, there are no details available on the new Intellivision console, but the company says they will be made available on October 1. This news comes to us courtesy of Venture Beat.