We may have mentioned a few (hundred) times that gamers love nostalgia. Just witness the blitz of Mario-madness this year celebrating the 25th anniversary of “Super Mario Bros.” But when it comes to computer hardware, they can be downright fanatical.
The Commodore 64 debuted in 1982, in the infancy of the home computer revolution. It was a beige brick of 8-bit awesomeness that outsold both Apple and IBM on its way to becoming the best-selling computer model of all time. It was priced competitively, boasted thousands of software titles and really introduced mainstream America to the possibilities of home computing. And someday we hope to be able to forgive it for pushing our beloved Texas Instruments TI-99/4A out of the market.
Though the Commodore 64 ceased production in 1994, a massive base of enthusiasts keeps the memory alive. Hobbyists create programs for the C64, hunt for old game cartridges, talk about it on dozens of popular Web sites and play the old games online in software emulators. Its legendary sound chip even lives on in the flourishing chip music scene.
And now it’s back! Sort of! Commodore has rebuilt the classic “breadbox” – this time as a modern computer. It’ll look very much like the old C64, but it’ll have a dual-core processor, the latest Nvidia chipset and 2GB of ram. You’ve got to give Commodore credit for knowing their audience: according to their site, “The keys are the exact same shape as the original and are color matched. No expense has been spared. This is the ultimate hackers keyboard on which to wield your key-fu.” Sold!
You’ll be able to run C64 games either from the familiar blue-screen boot menu or from within its Workbench 5 operating system.
And if that’s not exciting enough for you: Commodore is doing the same thing for the Amiga. Drool. To tide you over until the not-yet-priced not-yet-dated release of the new C64, check out the classic commercial below.
Tags: Amiga, Commodore 64
Posted in GAMES PEOPLE PLAY
