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.

Shredz64 [The Shredz64 Project via Waxy.org]

It's the wonder computer of the 1980's! Or at least so says William Shatner in this old commercial for the Commodore Vic-20. Not only does he think it's great, but even takes a jab at good old Atari and Intellivision. After all, Atari and Intellivision don't have a real computer keyboard! And it's under $300 which according to the inflation calculator would be about $800 today. A true bargain.

More Dutch bashing over the interweb as Commodore is releasing the sale of their new box-thing dedicated to PC gamers. As of today, those living in Great Britain and Ireland who want to shell out from $1,759 GBP ($3,500 US, baby) can order it online at the Commodore Gaming site.

From BBC News:

The first four PCs in the Commodore range sport Intel Core Duo or Quad processors, have up to 4GB of RAM, two video cards and hundreds of gigabytes of hard drive storage. All the machines run Windows Vista...

Commodore also has a library of almost 100 designs that consumers can have painted on the case of their machine. Eventually it hopes to encourage customers, artists and others to submit designs that can be painted on PCs.

As most of you know, I'm Mac scum, so I'm not shelling out my Euros for this. However, as a visitor in their country, I want the Dutch to do well, so show us "IT IS POSSIBLE"! Kim Phu

Commodore Gaming releases high-end PC [Joystiq]

From 64k to 64 bit

Commodore Gaming Launches Range of Gaming PCs

CeBIT, March 14th 2007: A new breed of gaming PCs with the highest specifications available for gamers and featuring a level of personalisation never before seen is launched tomorrow at CeBIT 2007 by Commodore Gaming. The new range includes four different models from an entry level gaming PC to an extreme specification model which is optimised to the highest level.

Bala Keilman, CEO for Commodore Gaming, commented "The all new Commodore range of PC's will allow gamers of all levels to enjoy the best that PC gaming has to offer. From beginners to professionals, Commodore Gaming ensures that only the very best components are provided to deliver the ultimate PC gaming experience. We also wanted to bring something new to the market, in the spirit of our Commodore heritage, and have worked hard to design a fully personalised product".

Uniquely, each gaming machine can be artistically customized to match personal taste, with Commodore offering specially selected art including street art, photography, PC game artwork (such as that of GRAW 2) and many other licensed images. Using a revolutionary painting process, the exterior of the Commodore Gaming PC becomes an open and inviting canvas just waiting to be experimented with. Fans and artists alike are requested to present their creative works to become the next limited edition C=kin.

This focus on design and personalisation can even be seen in the small details: two multicoloured LED lights inside the fans can be independently controlled to change or enhance the mood with an ambient glow. Meanwhile, a new Ice Cube cooling system provides extreme levels of cooling, reducing the core temperature by up to seven degrees and ensuring optimum efficiency.

These new gaming beasts are titled the Commodore Cg (entry level), Cgs, Cgx, Cxx (extreme level), each running Microsoft Windows Vista 64 bit operating system including the new gaming interface - DirectX 10. To provide full flexibility, each model can be customized from a range of high-end components before undergoing a full burn-in test prior to shipment to meet our quality commitment. Meanwhile, gamers can expect their systems to come equipped with only the best peripherals available from respected gaming brands including Raptor keyboards and Logitech speaker systems.

The new range of optimised Gaming PCs are now available to see for the first time at the CeBIT show in Hannover, Germany, offering people the chance to play the high performance purpose-built machines with the latest PC games, including graphics-heavy blockbusters such as Supreme Commander and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2.

All Commodore Gaming PCs come with a full two year service and parts warranty.

For an example product specification of the Cxx please see below. Full product retail and online availability to be announced during CeBIT.

Visit Commodore Gaming at CeBIT- Hall 21, Stand D08.

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]

Around the time old man Crecente got his first gray hair (1982), the Commodore 64 was released. The gaming PC eventually died out in 1993, but Crecente's gray hairs kept coming (hence, his mysterious trip "abroad").

Good news, the Commodore is back! Sort of.

Thanks to a new partnership, Commodore Gaming has been resurrected. What will the company be creating? No clue, but apparently mobile games are involved.

"Gaming is one of Commodore's key historic competences, and the conclusion of this agreement emphasises Commodore's strategy to build on the strengths of the rich Commodore heritage," said Commodore important person Ben van Wijhe. "Now that the license agreement is concluded, Commodore Gaming will continue to create new types of game experiences and interactions."

Way to cash in on nostalgia! This will be great—just like when a buncha New Yorkers bought Atari. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Eurogamer]
Previously: Commodore Comeback? [Kotaku]

You can tell you're at the losing end of the home video game market when even Captain Kirk can't sell talking points like "It has a keyboard" or "It plays Gorf" to an armada of geeks. - Florian Eckhardt

I just had the hugest sense of deja vu after coming across this. Pazzazz Games just released a game for Palm and Pocket PC devices called Moonfighter!, in which you pilot your spacecraft around lunar terrain collecting energy spheres to keep your mission going. It's a side scroller, which makes it pretty darn close to a title called Jupiter Lander for the Commodore Vic 20. I can't remember much of 8th grade because I played that stupid game for hours on end, and daydreamed about it when I wasn't home.

Must ... resist ... buying ... Moonfighter....

Your planet needs you - Moonfighter! [Press release]

Why can't they just let the Commodore brand rest in peace? According to TMCnet, Yeahronimo Media Ventures has bought the brand and will try to exploit the zombie company's reputation for games and multimedia to make a new batch of products, including a home media center, portable GPS unit (what the ...?) and media player.

If my precise count is correct, this is the 1,273rd time that someone has bought the Commodore brand to try to bring it back to life. What is it about Commodore that makes business people think they can "really do it this time, really"?

Is Commodore poised for a comeback? [TMCnet]