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Commodore 64 turns 30: What do today's kids make of it? [BBC : VIDEO]

G

Gowans

Member
Commodore 64 turns 30: What do today's kids make of it?

It is 30 years since the Commodore 64 went on sale to the public.

The machine was hugely successful for its time, helping to encourage personal computing, popularise video games and pioneer homemade computer-created music.

The $595 (£399) device took its name from its US maker, Commodore International, and the fact it had 64 kilobytes of RAM memory.

The firm noted that made it substantially cheaper than other personal computers on the market offered by IBM, Apple and Atari.

Commodore highlighted the fact that since it had designed and manufactured its own chips it had been able keep costs down - and the advantage helped it become the best-selling model in North America.

In Europe it faced competition from two cheaper eight-bit rivals released over the previous year: the BBC Micro and Sinclair Spectrum.

The Commodore's ability to display 16 colours, smoothly scroll graphics and play back music through its superior SID (sound interface device) chip - even while loading programs off tape - helped win over fans, but it did not become the market leader until the late 1980s.

Debates continue to this day about which was the superior system - but what would today's youth make of the C64?

BBC News invited Commodore enthusiast Mat Allen to show schoolchildren his carefully preserved computer, at a primary school and secondary school in London.
Click to expand...

Source/Video [4:43]: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19055707
 
S

SMT

this show is not Breaking Bad why is it not Breaking Bad? it should be Breaking Bad dammit Breaking Bad
Should be on par with their interest in Leapfrog.
 
Oppo

Oppo

Member
It's kind of silly that he tried to demo it with the data casette, I mean no one really used those fucking things. It was all about that 1541 drive man. Then you were only talking 1-3 minutes to load stuff.

Also his games selection is shite. Show them Olympic Games or something FFS. Topical!
 
C

Chairhome

Member
Load "spoiledkids", 8, 1

I haven't watched it yet.

Nerfgun said:
It's kind of silly that he tried to demo it with the data casette, I mean no one really used those fucking things. It was all about that 1541 drive man. Then you were only talking 1-3 minutes to load stuff.

Also his games selection is shite. Show them Olympic Games or something FFS. Topical!
Click to expand...

How dare you. It was called Summer Games/Summer Games II/Winter Games/World Games. :-D
 
W

WickedCobra03

Member
I am surprised more kids are not into this kind of stuff. Modern games just do not give me those sounds I am looking for. I love that low bit rate sound, the graphics, the look and atmosphere of those games. Maybe it just plays for me because I came out of the 1980's and 1990's.
 
R

Router

Hopsiah the Kanga-Jew
Awwwh Yeaaah

tumblr_m7w0rcPNcD1qikcuzo1_500.gif
 
N

Nyx

Member
Had SO much fun with this machine, hundreds of floppy discs with games, and so many spare hours to play them.
 
cyberheater

cyberheater

PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 Xbone PS4 PS4
Uriduim. Still one of the finest and hardest arcade games ever. Braybrook was a programming god.
 
D

Dirtyshubb

Member
SmokyDave said:
I can't watch this. Seeing modern day yout-dem disrespecting a C64 would put me in an early grave.
Click to expand...

LOLOLOL Couldnt have put it better myself :)

Was a fun watch though and they clearly picked the smart/nice kids because i was expecting a lot worse ;)

Still have my C64 at my parents house, have a box full of hundreds of games too. It was my first home games console/computer and had a bunch of great games.

Some of my top games were:

Flimbo's Quest
Raid over Moscow
Dizzy series

and many more *sheds a single happy tear*
 
Danny Dudekisser

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
I'm hella into retro games and even I don't give a shit about the C64, so it should be fun to watch kids dis it.
 
A

Acosta

Member
British English is the superior English.

British children are adorable.

Watch it without fear, no disrespect at all. Very nice to watch.
 
W

watership

Member
It's in deep storage but I still have mine. And it's still the computer/game system I have the most fond memories of.
 
C

Currygan

at last, for christ's sake
puts some faith in our younglings :)

Commodore 64, where waiting for the game was basically better than the game itself
 
J

Jburton

Banned
Nerfgun said:
It's kind of silly that he tried to demo it with the data casette, I mean no one really used those fucking things. It was all about that 1541 drive man. Then you were only talking 1-3 minutes to load stuff.

Also his games selection is shite. Show them Olympic Games or something FFS. Topical!
Click to expand...

Nonsense!

Loads of people used the tape deck, aww the memories ...... You could literally go and make a sandwich and come back.
 
T

ToxicAdam

Member
It's kind of sad I will never recapture that magic I felt playing Pool of Radiance on the C-64.


I'm like a druggie. I've been chasing that high for the past 2 decades.
 
J

JustAnotherOtaku

Member
Brilliant video! :)

I got a C64 25 years ago, when I was 3. Completely responsible for hooking me into games and to a certain extent, making me the person I am today. Hearing the music from Fantastic World Dizzy is almost enough to make me shed glorious, happy tears all this time later.
 
N

nocode

Member
Nerfgun said:
It's kind of silly that he tried to demo it with the data casette, I mean no one really used those fucking things. It was all about that 1541 drive man. Then you were only talking 1-3 minutes to load stuff.

Also his games selection is shite. Show them Olympic Games or something FFS. Topical!
Click to expand...


Fast Load Cart man!!

Loved my C64 so much. I had soooooo many half designed/half "coded" games! Fucking syntax errors were the stuff of nightmares to my younger self.

Also, Skool Daze is the first open world game ever IMO.
 
R

radioheadrule83

Banned
He should have let them play Last Ninja instead of buggy boy... I'm happy they actually kind of respected how good it must have been for the time!
 
F

forrest

formerly nacire
Absolutely loved having a C64 growing up, though we never had the tape deck. All of our games were on floppy discs that my dad would get copies of from his co-workers. He probably brought home 100+ games over the time we had that thing. So essentially my dad was contributing to software piracy in the 80's.

I remember my uncle giving us his intellivision and I thought that was pretty cool as well. Had dungeons and dragons on it!
 
E

ElectricBanquet

Member
I want to get a C64 one of these days. My family had one when I was a kid. I didn't play a lot of games on it, but I remember playing Ms. Pac-Man and some game called Tooth Invaders that I guess was supposed to teach good dental hygiene. It sort of just got abandoned by my brother and I when we got an NES. I'd like to get one and play the few games I remember and try out a bunch of the ones I never played.
 
Pimpbaa

Pimpbaa

Member
Jburton said:
Nonsense!

Loads of people used the tape deck, aww the memories ...... You could literally go and make a sandwich and come back.
Click to expand...

Everyone in my small town in canada had a floppy drive, even the poor kids. I think people in the UK used the tape deck more for whatever reason.
 
A

andylsun

Member
International Soccer on cartridge with Kempston Competition Pro joysticks is where it's at. Mine was blue with white buttons and still is at home somewhere.
 
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