When I went on my hunt for this list, I needed a theme, so I settled on "Easter Eggs I have actually observed." Having missed most of gaming in the 1990s thanks to work, college, and not owning a PC - and because you know about all the cool recent Easter eggs - we'll have to reach way back to antiquity.

Of course, commenters are invited to share with us the oldest Easter egg you can recall finding. Or just any old cool Easter egg you remember, video game or otherwise. In fact, the coolest Easter egg I can recall is the one my brother and I painted to look like Jesse Helms back in 1984. Had glasses and everything. Then Fletch smashed him against a tree.

Where was I? Oh yeah, old Easter eggs.

Smurfette Topless (Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle, Colecovision)
Yes, Smurfette porn long, long predates the discovery of Rule 34. This was a redraw glitch available on the final screen of Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle (in which Gargamel makes no appearance.) If you walked off the screen to the preceding one, then back very quickly, the slow redraw would leave Smurfette topless. The topless Smurfette Easter egg - with the false urban myth that she remained topless and would slap the Smurf out of your Smurf - was all the rage in fifth grade. I wouldn't discover it until I bought a ColecoVision off of a seller on Usenet (yes, really) my senior year of college.

RF (Missile Command, Atari 2600) Warren Robinette's secret room in Adventure is probably the most notorious Atari 2600 Easter egg. This one is a close second. I forget where I first heard how to do this, but it increased my neighborhood cred a thousandfold when it went off, as described, the first time. Select difficulty 13, and fire off all of your missiles without scoring any points. At the end of the game, the initials of the programmer, RF, pop up from the ruins of the rightmost city. The coder's name? Rob Fulop, who also wrote "Demon Attack" for Imagic, and was Billboard Magazine's 1983 Programmer of the Year.

"FEEL DESTRUCTIVE "(Pirate Cove, VIC-20) Pirate Cove was a cartridge text adventure for the Commodore VIC-20, and one of the first pieces of software Dad bought me and my brother for our first ever computer. Pirate Cove's command line was brutally unsophisticated. Two words at most, verb and object (sentence diagrammers, the subject was always implied to be "you.") For a nine year old trying to figure out how to get past the goddamn crocodiles, without any visual assistance, it was hard to imagine any solution other than "KILL CROC." But commanding the game to KILL anything brought up this peace-love-dope reply: "I'm sorry, I can't do that. I don't feel destructive." You know where this is headed; I typed FEEL DESTRUCTIVE. Came the reply: "OK, POOF! The game is destroyed!" And Dad nearly herniated himself laughing at me.

HSWWSH (Yars' Revenge, Atari 2600) Another less-publicized set of initials. These are for programmer Howard Scott Warshaw. You had to wait for the Qotile to go into swirl mode, then hit it in mid-flight with the cannon. During the explosion animation, a black line would appear in the midst of the radioactive cloud. Hovering over it brought up the initials and ended the game.

Ghostbusters Scam (Ghostbusters, Commodore 64)In Activision's original Ghostbusters game, you earned money from mundane ghost-busting missions to buy equipment and vehicle upgrades. You started the game with a pitiful sum, barely enough to buy the Ecto-mobile. But in the new game screen, where you create a "bank account" to start the game, punching in "BELLIN ADAM" - for programmer Adam Bellin - and the number 12345 got $954,000 dumped in your account. Then you could go out and buy the Porsche, the mobile ghost detention unit, and every other high dollar gadget you needed.

Indiana Jones and the Extra-Terrestrial (E.T., Atari 2600) Howard Scott Warshaw was so proud of his role in the cartridge that would destroy Atari (the first time) that he upped the self-referential Easter eggs to two: the pieces of the phone were his initials, and there was another way to get the letters up on the screen. You could also summon other Steven Spielberg IP. After collecting all the phone pieces and giving Elliot seven pieces of candy, reviving the flower turned it into a Yar. Doing it a second time changed the flower into Indiana Jones, as represented in the 2600 Raiders of the Lost Ark game. Doing it a third time brought up Warshaw's initials beside the score, so you knew whom to credit blame for this masterpiece.

Foldskool Heroes [Marshall Alexander]

And yes, that Portal fan mod can sling its hook too. The Commodore 64 remake 'Shotgate' has rendered both games utterly pointless.

Yes, it's a Portal clone for the C64. No, it's not in 3D and - yes - it does look quite like that Flash tribute from last year.

This little fella was made in just 4K of C64 assembler for the Mini Games Comp 2008. If you like the look of it, the programmer is actually selling it in C64 cartridge form in a limited edition run of 20. Buy now to avoid/ensure disappointment.

Shotgate [Quernhorst.de]

Min er mindre enn din [NRK, via Boing-Boing]

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]

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]