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Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga News and Community Announcements => General Internet News => Topic started by: SilverSurf on October 30, 2007, 03:47:11 AM

Title: A History of Gaming Platforms: The Commodore 64
Post by: SilverSurf on October 30, 2007, 03:47:11 AM
Not directly Amiga related, but interesting information on Commodore Business Machines and the predecessor to the Amiga, the Commodore 64.

A History of Gaming Platforms: The Commodore 64 (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1991/a_history_of_gaming_platforms_the_.php)
Title: Re: A History of Gaming Platforms: The Commodore 64
Post by: XDelusion on October 30, 2007, 05:23:33 AM
Wasn't it the Atari 8-Bit that was the predecessor of the Amiga?
Title: Re: A History of Gaming Platforms: The Commodore 64
Post by: Zac67 on October 30, 2007, 07:30:41 AM
Actually the Amiga was initially developed without being based on anything. When C= bought the project, it eventually became the C64's successor in the home computer market. A direct legacy e.g. are the CIAs that were just changed a bit and reused (8520s can even be used as 6526s in a 64).
Title: Re: A History of Gaming Platforms: The Commodore 64
Post by: Vulture on October 30, 2007, 11:25:05 AM
correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't C64's most common mode for games the 200x160 and not the 320x200 one like the article says?
Title: Re: A History of Gaming Platforms: The Commodore 64
Post by: Piru on October 30, 2007, 11:34:48 AM
Surely you meant 160x200?
Title: Re: A History of Gaming Platforms: The Commodore 64
Post by: Vulture on October 30, 2007, 12:06:13 PM
yeah, that! :)
Title: Re: A History of Gaming Platforms: The Commodore 64
Post by: Ral-Clan on October 30, 2007, 01:25:42 PM
Technically speaking (if I'm not misktaken  :getmad: ), it's the C-128 that's the direct predecessor to the Amiga.  It was the last of the 8-bit Commodore line.  Even the case design was slightly modified and used for the Amiga (the Amiga 1000 closely resembled the C128D and the Amiga 500 closely resembled the C128 wedge shaped unit).
Title: Re: A History of Gaming Platforms: The Commodore 64
Post by: UncleSpam on October 30, 2007, 02:30:15 PM
Actually, a very nice article.

It took me back in time to the first day I got my C64, back in 1983.  Left me with a smile on my face.

I just purchased a minty SX-64, a few months ago, for nostalgia's sake!

Bogdan
Title: Re: A History of Gaming Platforms: The Commodore 64
Post by: SamuraiCrow on October 30, 2007, 02:50:17 PM
@vulture

Most C64 games used a text mode for their games by reprogramming the character set to be graphical tile maps.  As the authors of the C64 version of the Great Giana Sisters found out, you can actually mix high-res and multi-color characters on the same display depending on the color selection of the character.
Title: Re: A History of Gaming Platforms: The Commodore 64
Post by: Kronos on October 30, 2007, 03:47:01 PM
@ral-clan

But wouldn't that mean that someone had to fly the C128D back in time to father the Amiga1000  :-o
Title: Re: A History of Gaming Platforms: The Commodore 64
Post by: Zac67 on October 30, 2007, 06:48:45 PM
Quote
echnically speaking (if I'm not misktaken  ), it's the C-128 that's the direct predecessor to the Amiga.


Of course you're right technically speaking since apart from the CIAs (which were pretty common in C= hardware) the Amiga inherited nothing from the 64 - fortunately.

But the 128 never glimpsed at gaining the popularity of the C64, the A500 was more into that as the gaming machine of its time - this I was trying to refer to. In addition, the Amiga became C='s money cow when 64 sales dried up.
Title: Re: A History of Gaming Platforms: The Commodore 64
Post by: ajlwalker on October 30, 2007, 07:11:34 PM
@Zac67

I've often seen people saying how unpopular the C128 was.

Relatively speaking any computer is unpopular compared to the C64.

The C128 sold over 4 million units!  That is an astonishing number.
Title: Re: A History of Gaming Platforms: The Commodore 64
Post by: NorthWay on October 30, 2007, 11:25:05 PM
Yes.

The hw specs of both makes that imminently clear. Clock up, go 2x wide on memory, add DMA frontends to the hw functions, and make smarter stuff and there you are.
No, it is not a straight "upgrade" but you can easily see how the same thinking lies behind both. (I've heard that much of the C= 64 crew followed Tramiel to Atari and that the ST shares a number of quirks in the VIC-II chip.)
Title: Re: A History of Gaming Platforms: The Commodore 64
Post by: weirdami on October 31, 2007, 04:29:44 AM
@Zac97

Quote
when 64 sales dried up.


The way I heard it, the 64 was still selling like gangbusters when they just up and stopped making them.
Title: Re: A History of Gaming Platforms: The Commodore 64
Post by: amiga1260 on October 31, 2007, 06:52:41 AM
They stop to produce the C-64, because they can't make the chips for the 1541 cheaper. I read it in a magazine.
Title: Re: A History of Gaming Platforms: The Commodore 64
Post by: Zac67 on October 31, 2007, 06:52:54 PM
@weirdami

Looking for real figures I found this (http://www.wowdailynews.com/pegasus/total_share.html) - while I don't really think they're 100% correct, they show that you're right. Lemme change that to 'when 64 sales declined'.  ;-)
And as amiga 1260 pointed out, they were making more profit with Amigas then.
Title: Re: A History of Gaming Platforms: The Commodore 64
Post by: fx on November 01, 2007, 12:43:30 PM
Sound 3.0 ??!?!?!?i9imk omg