Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore? - Kotaku Comments

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

Khargan — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 07:33:18 MDT

The C64 had the best gamecontroller ever made:

Competition Pro!

How many times I made a working controller out of two broken ones ... .

Khargan

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

ZombieAlmeida — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 06:08:04 MDT

Lol strider, that used to be the thing in my day. As kids we would go into the high street computer shop and type that, except it was "Matty is a wanker!!".

Ahh them were the days. I still have my C64 - though it has a busted spacebar :(. I remember walking into my local computer shop and being blown away by the fantastic soundtracks of games like Commando and Crazy Comets. And no colour clash!! You see I had 48k Spectrum at the time, where the sound only came out of the computer itself and the main game sprite and background could not be a different colour, Lol. So off to mum and dad I ran foaming at the mouth, "Mom, Dad you gotta see the C64!!"

That's when gamers were gamers, where you had to wait 5 mins for a game to load and then it was not always guaranteed. Often you would be hit with a load error and you would have to re-adjust the heads on the cassette player and try again. I developed a strange geek voodoo trying to get games to load; little rituals arose like balancing sweets on the cassette lid and poking the dangly earth lead in a plant pot. ANYTHING to get it to work. So all you youngsters pissing and moaning about loading times think what we had to go through back in the day!

Though it was all worth it in the end with classics like Paradroid, Uridium, Summer Games II, Impossible Mission etc etc. I dread to play them now, as I think many would not have stood the test of time and I want to keep my rose-tinted glasses intact.

...ahh I just remembered I still have a signed copy of Jeff Minter's Iridis Alpha. ooo I bet that would be worth a cool £1.50 by now !!!

ZombieAlmeida

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

Kulor — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 01:13:18 MDT

Oy, those sounded like the fun days of computing. My first computer was a Pentium running Windows 95 and crammed with DOS games.
The only 64 I knew was the N64...but at least I grew up with the SNES, so that wasn't bad at all.

Kulor

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

strider_mt2k — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 22:04:17 MDT

10 print "ha ha"
20 goto 10

strider_mt2k

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

mcpeepants — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:55:34 MDT

a side note - that's an old Australian ad. So that's $499 dingobux™

Commodore is still the better deal =)

mcpeepants

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

NerD!!! — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:48:28 MDT

i give up

NerD!!!

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

MagickBocks — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:17:00 MDT

The ad said that the C64 was about a $700 value for $500. PS3 costs about $800 to make, and, in line with the pricing of the Blu-ray players, about $1000 to $1200 retail value. Sony is losing $200 on each PS3 sold, so PS3 technology in 2006 is on roughly the same level as C64 technology in 1982. This holds true considering that inflation and declining hardware costs have more or less balanced out over time.

Of course, it doesn't come as a surprise that most of the cost of the PS3 is caused by Blu-ray. If the PS3 didn't include Blu-ray, it would likely be priced at $300, maybe even $200 for the 20 GB. I have Blu-ray (my computer came with a drive), and I personally think it's worth it, but if you want to avoid hi-def video altogether, that's when it's not such a good value. Otherwise, it's fantastic.

MagickBocks

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

NerD!!! — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:09:47 MDT

Loading Blue Max on cassette - 45 seconds

Crashing plane on first takoff attempt - 10 seconds.

Rewind, Repeat....

I loved the Commodore.

NerD!!!

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

1dgaf — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:09:39 MDT

Judging from the accent, that was an Australian advert. At the current exchange rate, $499 AU is $378.356 USD.

1dgaf

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

NerD!!! — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:06:01 MDT

load Blue Max on cassette - 45 seconds.

crash Airplane on first take off attempt. - 15 seconds.

Repeat....
HOURS OF FUN!!

NerD!!!

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

Cryptnotic — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 16:04:52 MDT

The Dead or Alive girls have bigger breasts. Advantage: PS3

Cryptnotic

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

greatinsight — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 15:54:07 MDT

Is it just me, or does the voiceover sound Australian or even from New Zealand? If so and the ad is from either of those two countries, then we aren't talking US dollars.

I don't know what the exchange rates at the time were, but a quick google reveals that at todays rates that $400 equals about $300 US if we're talking Aussie, and about $260 US if it's Kiwi.

greatinsight

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

mAAddog — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 15:53:08 MDT

Hi Kotaku ^_^

Ahehe long time reader, first time poster. Actually that's the Aussie ad, I remember when it first came out ! I was so wrapped to get my C64, it was an upgrade to my Vic 20.

Trivia : I think the waterslide was the Mount Druitt water works, went there on a school trip around that time.

Interestingly enough.. the PS3 will be an upgrade to my PS2 , The C64 was a massive upgrade and had a giant impact on the market It remains to be seen if the PS3 can do the same.

Also I will be in Akiharbara for the PS3 launch so if you guys want some info or pics happy to oblige.

Yay first post, hope I am allowed to make some more.

mAAddog

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

astroglide — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 15:39:07 MDT

Don't point that joystick at me!

astroglide

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

Manya47 — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 15:34:43 MDT

That's an Australian ad. So $499AUD hardly equals PS3's price of $999AUD. And the box has $199 written on it, which is probably the US price.

Manya47

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

Manya47 — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 15:22:06 MDT

That's an Australian ad. so $499AUD hardly equals PS3's price of $999AUD.

Manya47

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

Manya47 — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 15:21:25 MDT

That's an Australian ad. so $499AUD hardly equals PS3's price of $999AUD.

Manya47

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

EnigmaNemesis — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 15:07:11 MDT

"What the hell do the girls sliding down a water slide have anything to do with a commodore?"

Well you know, anything to make something else looks superior to the PS3.

EnigmaNemesis

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

Mav — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:56:00 MDT

And what's up with that manky one-finger salute they keep giving?

Mav

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

DannoHung — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:44:36 MDT

I'm a sprightly young-un compared to you guys.

My first computer was a 486 running Windows 3.11

For all the use I got out of the piece of shit that it was, I think a Commodore 64 would've been better to have.

Of course, this was 92, so I'm not sure if they were selling them then.

DannoHung

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

Djinnocide — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:33:58 MDT

"Are you keeping up with Commodore, 'cause Commodore is keeping up with you"

O_O

*looks over shoulder*

Djinnocide

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

Gaz — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:28:26 MDT

I loved my commodore

POKE781,96:SYS58251

Gaz

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

KPrecise — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:25:00 MDT

What the hell do the girls sliding down a water slide have anything to do with a commodore?

KPrecise

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

Adam In Texas — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:19:31 MDT

johnhummel
You remind me of this quote from Malibu's Most Wanted (and yes I know it's a sucky movie)

Tec: Hey, yo, that was ill. Hey, where'd you learn that from?
B-rad: Grand Theft Auto 3.
Tec: Word? Can I borrow that?
B-rad: You got a, uh, Playstation 2?
Tec: Nah, I got GameCast.
B-rad: GameCast? Well, there's GameCube and then there's Dreamcast. Which you got?
Tec: Well, I said I got Gamecast, man. Damn! I can't afford it!

Adam In Texas

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

BionicCommando — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:15:49 MDT

I had a Vic 20. I never heard of the Chuck Norris game! I would have loved to have seen that back then. I was pretty young though so it was kinda hard to keep up with the times.I think I was about 6 or 7 when I got it.

BionicCommando

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

SuicideNinja — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:10:55 MDT

Commodore64/Amiga FTW!

Um, the C64 is still a better value than the PS3. I mean, you could totally use GEOS. Who needs that fancy cross-whatever interface.

C64 gaming hours > gaming hours on every console ever. =D

SuicideNinja

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

Abel — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:06:12 MDT

I was playing current game systems through my Commodore 64 monitor till a few years ago. That thing was so before its time and lasted me forever and would probably still work today had I not tipped it over the edge of my local dumpster.

Abel

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

Devil — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:55:01 MDT

At this point the only thing I'm trying keep up with is the PS3 price tag.

Devil

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

vishusdelishus — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:52:48 MDT

I used to love buying books of code at a computer store and programming my own games. Once you got the hang of it you could customize everything.

The 1st one I used was a Breakout clone, but you could then edit the program to change 'physics' and performance values.

vishusdelishus

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

GOLD5 — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:51:57 MDT

I had a Vic20... Chuck Norris was awesome! Best licensed game ever!

GOLD5

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

KineticOnline — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:51:07 MDT

I always prefered my Amstrad CPC6128, it had disks! and a tv tuner (but then again thats about 5 or 6 years after the c64 first came out in the US)

KineticOnline

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

Mansteak — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:48:11 MDT

"That girl" being your wife, john? ;)

Mansteak

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

johnhummel — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:44:40 MDT

I never had a commodore 64. My parents, when it came to anything computer/console related, always went with the crappy knock-offs.

Did we have an Atari? No, we had the Magnavox Oddysey 2.

Did we have a Commodore 64? No, we had the Texas Instruments - thing.

A Nintendo? No we had - well, jack squat. I didn't even know what a Nintendo or Super Nintendo was until I was 22 and *married*. By then, there were at least emulators so I could figure it out.

If nothing else, at least I got to play some Apple II games, like "Karateka". Karateka - man, I must have played that game 20 times before I figured out how to make that girl not kill me.

johnhummel

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

Ecks — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:41:29 MDT

I like the "Commodore Salute" that the kid and teacher do, something everyone should greet one another with.

Ecks

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

EnigmaNemesis — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:37:00 MDT

"Thing is the price for electronics has gone down since then not up especially if you take inflation into account."

True, that is why the PS3 costs the same as the C64 did almost 30 years ago. And has 10,000times the tech in it.

/wink

EnigmaNemesis

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

Matters — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:33:41 MDT

I mean even if you take inflation into account, not especially.

Matters

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

Matters — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:32:52 MDT

Thing is the price for electronics has gone down since then not up especially if you take inflation into account.

Matters

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

Handles25 — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:30:48 MDT

That is classic. A quick flash of what you wont be getting/seeing/doing before the shot of the nerd in front of a computer dorking it up.

Handles25

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

iameleveneight — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:30:33 MDT

Plus the Commodore wasn't explicitly designed as an attempt to keep afloat yet another proprietary (aka future failure) SONY format, blueray discs.

iameleveneight

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

Ape.of.Gods — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:27:15 MDT

"Because the commadore is keeping up with you"

They did invent it to take over the world!

Ape.of.Gods

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

SuperPope — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:27:07 MDT

Ooh, I forgot to make a "FTW" comment. Gotta have FTW in your comment these days.

Koala Pad FTW!!!one!11!

SuperPope

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

spicylunch — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:23:39 MDT

I think the load times will be faster on the C64.

I remember wasting many a afternoon on the C64 version of Yie-Ar-Kung Fu.

spicylunch

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

EnigmaNemesis — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:23:35 MDT

"Yeah, the Commodore also had a KEYBOARD (or was one, more like it). If the PS3 is a supercomputer, why doesn't it have one of those hi-tech devices. Edge: C64."

I dunno, the PS3 does have BlueTooth, and USb ports. That is a toughie there.

EnigmaNemesis

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

EnigmaNemesis — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:22:51 MDT

I loved and still have my C64 with over 250 games.

EnigmaNemesis

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

Brendar — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:22:04 MDT

Yeah, the Commodore also had a KEYBOARD (or was one, more like it). If the PS3 is a supercomputer, why doesn't it have one of those hi-tech devices. Edge: C64.

Brendar

Are You Keeping Up With The Commodore?

SuperPope — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:18:16 MDT

It was worth every penny. Kept me out of the sun for something like four years and made me the man I am today.

SuperPope