The C64 is a full-sized Commodore 64 reboot, coming December 2019

dgz

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It's almost as if we're getting older and various companies are realizing they can make good money repackaging their old stuff. Now, where did my rose-tinted glasses go? Ah, here they are. Let's see:

The C64 is back, this time full-sized with a working keyboard for the dedicated retro home-computer fan.

Featuring three switchable modes – C64, VIC 20, and Games Carousel.

Connect to any modern TV via HDMI for crisp 720p HD visuals, at 60 Hz or 50 Hz.

An updated joystick, now featuring micro switches, companions the hardware making the included games even more fun than ever.

The Games Carousel has 64 pre-installed games including classics such as California Games, Paradroid and Boulder Dash, with new additions like Attack of the Mutant Camels, Hover Bovver, Iridis Alpha, and Gridrunner.

Topped off with the recently released shoot ’em up Galencia and text adventure Planet of Death to let you relive the glory days of true keyboard gaming!
Plus, THEC64® allows you to load and save your own files and games via USB stick (including multi-disk titles) and program in C64 or VIC 20 BASIC.

 
yeah, but this time it will be cheaper to make and have a higher price tag.

They don't even tell you the specs - not a good sign, At least the previous model was up-front about that.

It's not like you need more than an entry-level Atom to emulate a C64, so they will probably do the same thing they did last time, and still have the guts to charge you $600.

Even though you can buy Atom systems with Windows for under $200.
 
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I went to Hull last week to the 8 bit symphony. Listening to c64 music performed by the Hull Symphonic Orchestra. I love retro music. However, the old games, while having great nostalgic value, are rarely worth playing for an extended period of time. And if you do want that, you can always get an emulator and play them on your pc.

The music though. Still fantastic. :)

 
C64C > C64 anyway.

I always preferred the breadbox model. Back in those days, I liked the computers having their own unique looks and wasn’t a fan of Commodore making the 64 look similar to the 128. The breadbox look is iconic and when people think of the C64, that’s what they remember.
 
meh, its just not a C64 without the noisy 5¼ floppy drive. Fun seeing all those old games again, one of my favorites was Sid Meier's Pirates.


Ah, the load times from C64 FDD...ample time to fix a three course meal.

Pirates was awesome. I still play the remake on GoG to this day.

Good to see Paradroid in the mix, too!

Now where did I put those Impossible Mission ROMs...
 
Ah, the load times from C64 FDD...ample time to fix a three course meal.

Pirates was awesome. I still play the remake on GoG to this day.

Good to see Paradroid in the mix, too!

Now where did I put those Impossible Mission ROMs...

I started with a Vic 20 and the Commodore Datasette (that’s a cassette recorder for you young guys) back around 1981. I got a C64 in early 1984 but was stuck with the Datasette until later that year, when my parents bribed me with a 1541. I will never forget how blazing fast the 1541 seemed in comparison! I still have all of that original equipment though for the life of me, I don’t recall where I put the Datasette.
 
"Stunning HD Graphics !!!!" ... :LOL::censored::love::ROFLMAO:

I guess a re-release of the C64 is good for those who want to use one for a while and then go back to their current rig to experience the WOW factor us older folks had many years back as the hardware improved (in leaps and bounds; was nothing like today's experience)
 
Ah, the load times from C64 FDD...ample time to fix a three course meal.

A friend who had a c64 wanted to swap systems for a week so he could use my atari back in the day.
I called him insisting I did something wrong with / possibly broke the c64 floppy - things were taking forever to load! What did I do wrong, how do I fix it? He laughed at me for a long time, just said "you get used to it".
 
It was the cassette unit that was slow. Choplifter took 45 minutes to load.

The floppy drive was a godsend if you could afford one.
 
It's almost as if we're getting older and various companies are realizing they can make good money repackaging their old stuff. Now, where did my rose-tinted glasses go? Ah, here they are. Let's see:





I avoided the whole C64 scene. My first computer, that I didn't build myself, was an Amiga. Boy did I like it at the time, graphical interface, multitasking, 4096 colors and good sound. It was way ahead of the competition back then. Unfortunately, Commodore screwed the pooch in regards to marketing and support.
 
I always preferred the breadbox model. Back in those days, I liked the computers having their own unique looks and wasn’t a fan of Commodore making the 64 look similar to the 128. The breadbox look is iconic and when people think of the C64, that’s what they remember.
I was the other way. I had a Vic20 and thought the C64 a lame update ascetics wise.

Ohh, new color :p

I jumped all over the C64C and the 1541-II / 1581 drives when they were released.
 
I remember my first system was a zx81, then had an Atari 2600. We had the C64 next, but I was jealous of a friend that had the rockin amiga, all for the game called dragons lair.
 
Yeah I don't think so. I'll run an emulator and flip them the finger, I paid for my C64 already about 3 decades ago.

I played quite a few things on the C64, pretty much all the Ultimas (until 5, after that don't think the graphics could handle it), all the Epyx games, and one of my favorite games that I never saw done on any other platform and really wish there was a newer highres version of that, Mail Order Monsters.
 
ludophiles-barbarian-c64-head-chop-gif.gif


Back when every game was good for 10 minutes, tops....but you went back every day for those 10 minutes :)
 
I avoided the whole C64 scene. My first computer, that I didn't build myself, was an Amiga. Boy did I like it at the time, graphical interface, multitasking, 4096 colors and good sound. It was way ahead of the competition back then. Unfortunately, Commodore screwed the pooch in regards to marketing and support.

I remember going to a local computer store in 1985 and seeing the Amiga for the first time. I have never been that blown away by a computer - not up to that point or since. The Amiga was arguably about a decade ahead of the closest competitor and in some areas, maybe even more. I didn’t get my first Amiga until 1989 (Amiga 2000) and I still have it. I also bought an Amiga 3000 a few years back and rebuilt it.
 
- My first computer was a TRS-80 in 1979 (I worked for Radio Shack then), then went Ti99/4 briefly.
- Then bought an Apple II in Japan in 1981 and remember spending $499 for a floppy disc drive and still envied people who had two...
- Then went C64 in 1984 because the Commodore Users Club on Clark AB had about 50 members vs the Apple Club's just 4 or 5.
- Upgraded to the C128 in 1986 and later had an Amiga 500 briefly in the early 90's, but quickly went PC thereafter and stayed. Oddly, even with the C128, you needed to keep at least one 1541 around because sometimes discs written on a 1541 wouldn't read/write properly later on a 1571 drive

/what a long strange trip it's been
//gave my C128/Amiga stuff (3 big boxes) to my ex back in the 90's and wish (often) that I still had the stuff :/
///I had all of the SSI Gold Box, Avalon Hill and SPI RPG/Strategy games, not to mention Bard's Tale I-III
////slashies
 
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Nostalgia is a funny thing. I spend many, many hours banging away on the keys (upgraded keyboard) of a Atari 400. In 1981, it was truly something amazing. But this ain't 1981 and if I had a Atari 400 it wouldn't hold my attention for very long. But what I remember most was high school and the girls I pined for but me being a complete nerd; I never had a chance.
 
Family had the Texas Instruments 99/4a with the huge expansion box and voice synthesizer.
Don't think it was as powerful, but it did the job.
 
Loved my C64 and how much fun you could have swapping games with friends with some blank floppies
played bards tale III for about a year and was so powerful when I got to the end boss fight it was over in about 30 seconds.
 
I avoided the whole C64 scene. My first computer, that I didn't build myself, was an Amiga. Boy did I like it at the time, graphical interface, multitasking, 4096 colors and good sound. It was way ahead of the competition back then. Unfortunately, Commodore screwed the pooch in regards to marketing and support.

They actually had a render farm using 24 Amiga 2000's with a Video toaster graphics card to render the Early Babylon 5 TV show. cutting edge stuff back then! 6000 frames of CGI per episode.
 
Family had the Texas Instruments 99/4a with the huge expansion box and voice synthesizer.
Don't think it was as powerful, but it did the job.

The problem with the Ti 99/4a was the fact that Texas Instruments wouldn't let anyone know the technical inner workings of the machine, making it difficult to code for it. It was also a very powerful machine that was gimped by it's 16 to 8 bit multiplexer, one of the first 16 bit machines if memory serves me correctly?

I love my C64 and Amiga's.
 
It's almost as if we're getting older and various companies are realizing they can make good money repackaging their old stuff. Now, where did my rose-tinted glasses go? Ah, here they are. Let's see:




This blew my mind.
I just came across my old C64 while cleaning up the basement a few weeks ago. The floppy drive must weigh 5lbs and twice the size of the computer. Over the years I've played old C64 games on emulators, but was really surprised to see an actual rebirth. Going to pick one up this xmas, if anything other than having that stadium keyboard. I loved it.
 
This blew my mind.
I just came across my old C64 while cleaning up the basement a few weeks ago. The floppy drive must weigh 5lbs and twice the size of the computer. Over the years I've played old C64 games on emulators, but was really surprised to see an actual rebirth. Going to pick one up this xmas, if anything other than having that stadium keyboard. I loved it.

I can understand your love for the keyboard. The games, though? Not really
 
I was the other way. I had a Vic20 and thought the C64 a lame update ascetics wise.

Ohh, new color :p

I jumped all over the C64C and the 1541-II / 1581 drives when they were released.
Same here. I got the Vic-20 when I was 12. Cassette drive. I thought it was awesome.
I miss the old BBS days. I still have WG 3.1 and some games. How things have changed!
 
I can understand your love for the keyboard. The games, though? Not really

I love the games!

That SID sound and VIC-II graphics, sidescrollers with sprites and adventure games...

It was an era of wonder, these new fandangled 'computers' that we all now take for granted in our daily lives - That's the nostalgic attraction today. Sadly computers have become so commonplace that along the way we lost that sense of wonder.
 
I can understand your love for the keyboard. The games, though? Not really

I’ve been playing video games for 40 years, with Space Invaders being the game that sent me down this path. I’ve owned several consoles (Atari 2600, various Xboxes, various Playstations) and went from a VIC 20 to a Commodore 64 to a Commodore 128 and then to an Amiga 2000 before I switched to PCs. Over all these decades and systems, no other system meant more to me than the Commodore 64. The games were amazing and engaging in ways games today just can’t match. As a matter-of-fact, I’ve pretty much given up on modern gaming and am seriously thinking about pulling my Commodore machines (yes, I still own them) out of the garage and setting them up.

As someone earlier said, it was a magical age and a great era to live through. I grew up in the 70s and 80s and I believe that was truly the best time to be a kid.
 
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