That C64 app has since been removed, due to the accessibility of the emulator's built-in BASIC system, according to Pocket Gamer. While dire, it appears that one shouldn't abandon all hope.

The developer, Manomio, is apparently hard at work on addressing that little problem, so don't be surprised if the app quickly makes a reappearance. If you were lucky enough to secure a digital copy, consider yourself lucky.

Hopefully Manomio will make it worth your while to upgrade to a newer version — say, with a copy of International Karate, as previously teased? Yeah, don't count on it.

C64 taken down from the App Store due to BASIC glitch [Pocket Gamer]

Touch Arcade points out that "a number of apps in the App Store" already violate that provision, including:

[...] CHIP-8 emulators, programmable calculators and, of course, Frotz, a Z-machine interpreter. In fact, Sega's Golden Axe and Sonic iPhone games are nothing more than emulators packaged with the original game ROMs.

The app was denied last week; no word on what the next step is for the developers. But since they went to the trouble of signing a proper deal with the license owners for the Commodore 64, it's a good bet they won't give up the first time they're told no.

Otherwise, there's always Cydia. Make it happen, guys. I dig that old school keyboard and Wico stick interface.

Here's a video of the emulator in action.

Full Commodore 64 Emulator Rejected by App Store [Touch Arcade via Joystiq]

Yes, the clues in last week's Wii Update led us to one inevitable conclusion: Commodore 64 games were coming to North America. We just didn't realize it would be so soon. Three C64 titles drop this morning on the Virtual Console, each ringing in at 500 Wii points a pop. Battle it out ferociously as The Last Ninja, or grab International Karate if you prefer your martial arts in a more formal setting. If kung-fu fighting isn't your bag, there's also the high-speed excitement of Pitstop II, featuring six of the world's top tracks rendered as only the Commodore 64 could - poorly.

For those of you craving something new, this week also sees the release of Hudson's first-person shooter Onslaught for WiiWare (1,000 points), which features online play for up to four players as the forces of the Elite Interstellar Strike force battles evil insectoid aliens.

Check out the full game descriptions below, along with an explanation of the clues from last week's Wii Update. I don't know if I will be picking up any of the C64 titles, but at least they kicked things off with the appropriate amount of ninja goodness.

WiiWare

Onslaught (Hudson Entertainment, 1-4 players, Rated T for Teen-Animated Blood, Violence, 1,000 Wii Points): Onslaught is an FPS that puts you in the middle of a futuristic war between humans and insectoid aliens. Become part of the Elite Interstellar Strike Force and fight against an overwhelming onslaught of alien life forms. Enjoy the rush of mowing down wave after wave of aliens with machine guns, grenades and more. Feel your heart pound as you battle gigantic boss aliens. Beyond the normal game, Onslaught includes additional modes that let you play with rivals from around the world using Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Team up with as many as three other players in Free Battle mode, or compete on special maps to see who can get the most points by killing enemies before time runs out in Ranking Battle mode. (Router and broadband access required for online play. For more info, go to www.nintendo.com.)

Virtual Console

The Last Ninja™ (Commodore 64, 1 player, Rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older-Animated Blood, Mild Violence, 500 Wii Points): The evil Shogun Kunitoki has long envied the powers of the Ninja brotherhood and would do anything to acquire their knowledge. To this end, he has sworn an oath to their total destruction. Once every decade, all Ninja must travel to the Island of Lin Fen, where they pay homage to the Shrine of the White Ninja and receive further teachings from the Koga Scrolls. Seizing the opportunity, Kunitoki summoned forth all the spirits from the depths of the Nether World and flung their full force against the amassed Ninja. None escaped the wrath of Kunitoki. Word of this unnatural disaster soon reached Armakuni, the last Ninja. Gathering all his courage, he has sworn to wreak a terrible revenge on the Shogun and all his followers. What unforeseen hazards await him?

INTERNATIONAL KARATE™ (Commodore 64, 1-2 players, Rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older-Mild Violence, 500 Wii Points): INTERNATIONAL KARATE is a simulation of a karate tournament in which one person can play against the computer or two players can compete against each other. During the game, you'll fly to various locations around the world. In all stages of the game, a wise old judge will watch over you and award you either a half-point or a full point, depending on how successful a hit has been.

Pitstop II™ (Commodore 64, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone, 500 Wii Points): Pitstop II was the first game that brought serious auto racing action to the computer screen-the thrill of battling an opponent, the excitement of fighting for the lead out on the track, and the suspense of struggling to be the first out of the pits. Third-person graphics and a split-screen display allow one or two players to experience the challenge of car racing head-to-head. Six of the world's toughest tracks are waiting, from Brands Hatch and its hairpin turns to the mile-long straight of Vallelunga. You can practice against the computer, but nothing will compare to the fun of racing against another person. Indeed, Pitstop II proves that car racing was never meant to be a solo sport.

As promised, here's a list of the Commodore 64-related clues that were embedded in last week's newsletter:

• In the second paragraph, each sentence contains exactly 64 letters and numbers (not counting spaces or punctuation).

• U.S. Route 64 runs from Arizona to North Carolina.

• The third sentence ends with a comma and the word "door," hinting at the name Commodore.

• "Brick House" was a hit for R&B group The Commodores.

• The athletic teams of Vanderbilt University are known as the Commodores.

• Pennsylvania's Route 286 passes through a town called Commodore.

• The phrases "birthday greetings" and "who could ask for more?" are found in the classic Beatles tune "When I'm 64."

With over 18 Commodore 64 titles already released on the European Virtual Console, it's a safe bet that we'll get a good idea of what's in the works simply by looking at what Europe already has. They've seen a steady stream of releases since March 28th of last year, when Uridium and International Karate made their debut, since then adding such classics as Jumpman, Boulder Dash, California Games, and the Last Ninja series.

Despite having been heavily immersed in Commodore culture back in the 80's, I am honestly hard-pressed to name any large Commodore exclusive titles, having played mainly ports of games that were created with other PC systems in mind. Add to that the fact that many of the games I played back then were text-based adventure titles, and the list narrows down even further.

When it comes right down to it, there really aren't that many Commodore 64 titles that you can't just find floating about the internet somewhere, so I'm not sure I can see myself forking out $5 for a Commodore 64 game, as novel as the idea might be.

Take a look at Wikipedia's gigantic list of Commodore 64 titles and see if any of them tickle your fancy, or at least stir the sort of fond memories that are worth 500 Wii points.

It was a Commodore 64 — the greatest personal computer of its generation, and one of the greatest ever — hooked up to an 11-inch black-and-white TV with a hoop UHF antenna, a gate-latch 1541 5 1/4-inch floppy disk drive, and a 1526 dot matrix printer. The spitting image of my childhood desktop. It took me straight back to rainy Saturdays I spent with Dad, inputting programs from the back of the old Compute!'s Gazette magazines.

I'd be sitting at the desk, 11 years old, by this time a touch-typer after learning first on the VIC-20 Dad bought my brother and me for Christmas in 1982. And Dad would be on the twin bed to the side, with a long pillow under his legs because of his bad back, holding up the folded-over magazine and calling out the programming for some game I wanted to play. Oil Tycoon. The Enchanted Journey. Baghdad. Beekeeper. The Frantic Fisherman. The Freeze Factory. Canyon Cruiser (or, as my brother called it, Intestine Flyer).

Think about that. For those of you who are pushing 35, like I am, like Dad was that year, think about giving up a Saturday afternoon to help an 11-year-old with data entry. For BASIC programs, we had a checksum auditor that tipped us off to syntax error; for machine language we had an assembler that was a bit more on the ball. But both of these, mind you, had to be programmed in BASIC themselves. And they only caught problems at the line level, saving you from entering the entire program, typing RUN and being left to wonder what the hell was wrong. For every typo I made or, God forbid, error in the code printed in the back of the magazine, Dad and I would still have to go back and read through the code, parsing every character for clues. Any number higher than 255 was a giveaway.

The video games were tedious enough, but nothing like our grandest project. One weekend we buckled down, from mid-morning Saturday and carrying into early evening Sunday and entered, literally by hand, the word processor that I used up to my sophomore year of college, the one that truly nourished my love of writing. SpeedScript was its name.

Dad called out the code and I entered it. I swear I can still hear him now: "127 ... 099 ... 086 ... 254 ... 181 ... carriage return."

"Check."

"Next line: 101 ... 211 ... 050 ... 245 ... 112 ..."

Thank you Dad. Happy Father's Day, and I love you. And to everyone reading Kotaku, Happy Father's Day to your dads, too. Show them some love in the comments.

Compute!'s Gazette Index: July 1983 to April 1987 [Classic Computer Magazine Archive]

My Steampunk Papercraft [Boing Boing TV]

Remember Shredz64, Toni Westbrook's Guitar Hero retro port to the Commodore 64? What was once nothing but a fun concept is now a reality, with a playable C64 version of Harmonix's rhythm game that uses a standard guitar controller. It doesn't play stock tunes, as you might expect, but SID files, which Westbrook demonstrates in the above clip. The tune? The Legend of Zelda Overworld Theme, something that only makes us pine for Nintendo remixes in future Wii versions of Guitar Hero.

For more, without all the exposition, check out the second clip.

The only thing that could possibly make this better is a cease and desist from Activision. We know you want to, Activision legal team, so let's just get it over with. Thanks!

Bala Keilman, CEO of Commodore Gaming, commented, "The massive impact the Commodore 64 had on video-gaming is still evident today with many gamers remembering the computer and its games with great fondness. By working with Nintendo of Europe, we are ensuring that future generations of gamers can play some of the best and most popular titles that kick-started the computer games revolution and so keep the C64 legacy in gamers hearts."

Virtual Console On Wii Expands Into A Commodore 64 Gaming Universe

Commodore Gaming teams up with Nintendo of Europe to bring classic C64 games to the Wii!

Already a firm favourite with Wii owners, Virtual Console is once again expanding its catalogue, this time with the addition of a whole new games format. Later this year, Wii owners will be able to enjoy classic titles from the best selling personal computer of all time, the Commodore 64. These titles join classic gems from the likes of Nintendo, SEGA, Turbografx and NEOGEO already available via the Wii Shop Channel.

The release of the Commodore 64 in 1982 was an historic moment for the computer and video games industry. According to the Guinness Book of World Records it remains the best selling single computer model of all time, with an estimated 22 million units sold. Its immense popularity saw an unrivalled collection of over 4,000 rich games titles released through its production lifetime (1982-1994), helping to establish the C64 as a 'gamers favourite'. Now, some of the greatest Commodore 64 titles will be made available for Wii owners to download and play via the Virtual Console service.

Bala Keilman, CEO of Commodore Gaming, commented, "The massive impact the Commodore 64 had on video-gaming is still evident today with many gamers remembering the computer and its games with great fondness. By working with Nintendo of Europe, we are ensuring that future generations of gamers can play some of the best and most popular titles that kick-started the computer games revolution and so keep the C64 legacy in gamers hearts."

Laurent Fischer, Managing Director of European Marketing & PR of Nintendo Europe adds, "We are extremely pleased to be working with Commodore Gaming to provide even more retro hits for Wii owners to choose from on Virtual Console. With over 184 classic titles now available to enjoy, Virtual Console on Wii is a great way for users to access a breadth of classic retro games. We hope that this great choice of games will bring nostalgia to our gaming fans, while an entirely new generation of video game players can experience a host of classic games for the very first time."

Among the first titles from Commodore 64 which will be made available on Virtual Console are International Karate and Uridium. These great titles will be bolstered by regular updates to the line-up from the Commodore 64 back catalogue.

Virtual Console games from Commodore 64 will be available from the Wii Shop Channel soon and can be downloaded for 500 Wii Points each. Currently these titles will only be available on the European Wii Shop Channel.

It seems that Toni Westbrook thinks so, as he's fashioned the PSX64 controller adapter to work with a Guitar Hero guitar controller—the PlayStation 2 type—and is hard at work on the C64 port of the game.

Lo-fi hacking at its best!

Shredz64 [The Shredz64 Project via Waxy.org]

Commodore is back. Make that, Commodore the name is back. The brand has risen from the ashes, and a new Commodore PC geared for PC gaming will launch in Germany at the CeBIT show on March 15th. Commodore Gaming CEO Bala Keilman says that the new gaming PCs will provide "what gamers need and want." Which is...? Brian Ashcraft

New Commodore Coming [Boing Boing]

How darling! Insert Credit points to Jason Winters and his Commodore 64 palmtop. Backstory: Jeri Ellsworth created a line of C64 plug 'n plays that were sold to Walmart and the like. The interesting part was that she put the entire thing on a chip, making it possible to create devices like this truly cool C64 palmtop. Nice work. Brian Ashcraft

The C64 Palmtop [Insert Credit]

Details are few and far between. Alls we knows is that this is a giant Commodore logo with a monitor and working C64. Cool, but where the hell ya supposed to put it? Brian Ashcraft

Big Ass Commodore Thingy [Cathode Tan]

To put the PS3 price in perspective, it costs just as much as a Commodore 64 did almost two decades ago. And that's not even taking inflation into account. But a PS3 doesn't include four swell programs, including Teach Yourself Basic, nor — I guess — two luscious blonde twins sliding down a water slide in their pink bikini tube tops. So I think the Commodore 64 was still probably a better value. Florian Eckhardt

In the most recent issue of Nintendo Power, it has been reported that the Commodore 64 will join the NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis, MSX and Turbografx 16 as one of the available platforms for the Wii Virtual Console.

Gamasutra's re-reporting of the Virtual Console update says that no game titles are specified but that "indications" are that classic Epyx titles, games like California Games, Summer Games, Impossible Mission, and Jumpman, may make an appearance. We'll wait for an official announcement and keep our fingers crossed for a downloadable version of M.U.L.E. Michael McWhertor

Report: Commodore 64 Titles Join Virtual Console [Gamasutra]

UPDATE: User Ferry wrote in to say that the Nintendo Power editors were speculating that C64 games will hit VC Land and that a handful of Epix games were being "reworked" for the Wii. From his e-mail: "A Nintendo Power editor merely speculated the announced C64 games would come to the Virtual Console, when in fact two are being remade for the PSP, DS, and Wii. To quote: 'System 3 will release Impossible Mission on PSP & DS in January 2007, 3 weeks later it will come to Wii, with California Games for PSP & DS in May 2007, and again 3 weeks later it will come to Wii.' Hope this helps." Thanks for the info, Ferry!

Hardball And Summer Games Beadwork [Aeropause]