Posts Tagged ‘c64’
Podcast: The Keyboard is the Computer
Microcomputers were a significant part of gaming in the world for the better part of the 80s and early 90s. In the United States, they were more of a hobby at lower price points or only for those willing to shell out large sums. That all changed in 1982 when the Commodore 64 hit the market. In other countries, the C64 was present and significant, but not quite to the degree as in the US. In a time when the console world was crashing, the C64 became the go-to gaming platform for the early to mid 80s. Special guest Eric Bouchard from Everyday Gamers joins Fred to discuss their childhood microcomputer with a plethora of great games.
Podcast: Ready (Blinking Cursor)
This week Fred is joined by two special guests: EZ Mode Unlocked hostess Dana (@canadiandana) and listener Xenocore to discuss the illustrious Commodore 64, the only microcomputer to truly catch on the United States. After a few stories of everyone’s introduction to the C64 they go on to discuss the development, history, and of course mountain of innovative and unique titles available for computer/console hybrid.
Hardware Profile: Commodore 64
Release Date: August 1982
Manufacturer: Commodore
Retail Price: $595.00 (approx $1400 with inflation rates today)
Units Sold: Over 12 million (conflicting reports of 12-17 million)
Not So Humble Beginnings
Before personalized computers were called “PCs” (or MACs for all you Apple people), they were better known as “microcomputers”. The name derives from the relatively small size and price of a computer with a microprocessor as the CPU and the same basic input/output structure for data and information. Much like PCs of today, this allowed software and game programmers to design a title all around one basic data flow and configuration and then optimize each specific microcomputer release for the specifications of that computer. American consumers even today are used to much lower prices than other countries and were slow to embrace the cost and concept of a microcomputer. That is, until the Commodore 64. At the time of its release the only major competitors in the US were the Apple II and Atari 800, boasting hefty price tags of $1200 and $900 respectively. With most game consoles priced at the time around $200 and some, like the ColecoVision, having computer add-ons for $400, the price endured for a microcomputer was restricted to certain households of higher income (and this doesn’t even include the cost for a monitor and desk to put it all in). Commodore had a different plan and thanks to vertical manufacturing and two strong chips to handle graphics and audio, the company went about making a microcomputer that could compete with the Apple II and less than half the price.
Gaming History 101 