Why did commodore went under?

[lsmart]

 The 90's were converging on the PC. [...]
But as I said, even though Commodore management was thoroughly incompetent it made no difference, there was no winning move.

I am not so sure about that. It`s hard to say what would have happened, if Commodore never sold PCs and had a 3D capable Amiga 1200 ready in 1992.

It`s hard to say what would have happened, if Commodore took the other route and abandoned Amiga in favor of x86 in 1988 and introduced a Commodore PC that was capable of running Workbench on MS-DOS and had a good video- and sound interface before Windows, SVGA and Soundblaster 16 would conquer the market.

[gertsy]

Comes down to one thing...the C64GS, or what they should have done with the C64 more precisely. Had they used the talented MOS Technology engineers to create a portable C64 with an option for a monochrome or colour machine to purchase in shops around 1990 they would be alive and well right now trust me.

No.

[motrucker]

This, plus the fact that the Gould and Ali stifled the engineering team wherever possible.  Not investing in/canning AAA, and delaying AGA's release beyond any chance it had of competing with PC video cards etc.

Well, sort of - but having the money stolen from within does all that by itself, doesn't it?
A lot of people point to the book - nice piece of work, but does NOT hit on the real problems at all. Mainly, Gould and Ali, period.

[persia]

Comes down to one thing...the C64GS, or what they should have done with the C64 more precisely. Had they used the talented MOS Technology engineers to create a portable C64 with an option for a monochrome or colour machine to purchase in shops around 1990 they would be alive and well right now trust me.

Gameboy is a disgusting screened machine, sound is tinny even with £100 headphones used with it so pure dirt, graphics are not much better compared to C64 games (play Power Drift on C64 and compare it to the NES crap that looks like Pole Position on a VIC-20 FFS)

And yet if Nintendo could sell such a horrid machine with a screen that makes the games UNPLAYABLE due to vomit inducing pale green/yellow on dark grey super blur-o-vision screen that INSTANTLY BLURS ALL MOVEMENT ON SCREEN (Galaxian is a real joke cartridge for GB, you might as well disconnect the screen for all the good it does when playing that game!). It sold on the quality of the games, however as C64 absolutely rips GB a new one in every genre I'm sorry but even C= couldn't fark up such a genius machine with all the fruits of talented people who produced games on the C64 from 1982 to the early 90s.

So....they did something even worse, they never even thought of it....instead they spent millions re-tooling for high MBit carts for the C64GS and building a C64 console which can't use 99% of the amazing C64 software catalogue it had built up in the thousands since 1982.

If anyone ever read the Computer and Video Games magazine console guide take on the situation you would know what I am talking about. In summer 1990 C+VG when reviewing SNES/Megadrive/PC Engine/GX4000/NEOGEO/Gameboy/Gamegear/Lynx etc also reviewed the C64GS (Commodore 64 console with no keyboard but suspiciously the same height width and depth as Commodore 64 computer case) they said that they wouldn't recommend this machine BUT they did tell people to go and buy a C64 instead and play 100s and 100s of excellent games. Say what you want about me but when it comes to computer games expertise only one magazine in the world ever had the right to give an opinion and that was UKs CVG magazine, they were there when home computer/console gaming was born and they lasted right to the end of the last console generation and DirectX9 XP PC games. Commodore did nothing with their most envied possession, the Commodore 64 back catalogue of games. The C64 has more excellent games than EVERY console or computer produced from the start to the current day. Because Amiga games were such badly programmed sh1t like Outrun or Afterburner and only a handful of Shadow of the Beast quality games were made it doesn't even come close to matching the C64 experience.

1982 technology home computer being recommended to people reading reviews of Sega/Nintendo 16bit game consoles? Would EDGE tell you to go out and buy an Atari Jaguar instead of an Xbox 360? That's the technological gap we are talking here, the games really were that good according to the king of games magazines from 1980 to this century!

So there you have it, not slitting medhi ali's throat on his second day of employment at Commodore and not making a C64 gameboy rip-off = FAIL! :roflmao:

(medhi ali doesn't deserve capital letters on his name)

[slaapliedje]

I know that those machines failed but mayby that is why i collect them :-) but yes a falcon could be cool to have

Ha, I have an Atari Jaguar as well, and have always wanted a Falcon.  They were pricey when they came out, were very much like when the Amiga was first announced, with a lot of sweet features.  I've try looking up to see if I can get a hold of one every once in a while, but no one ever wants to part with them.  It's very much like Amiga users, they don't ever part with them, unless they decide to charge more than it'd cost to get a generic PC and emulate 'em.

I do need a Falcon and probably an A1200 with an A500 to round out my collection.  I don't have a C64, but I was never a fan (I did love the Atari 8-bits though, which really with Jay Miner being the father of that... it's probably more related to the Amiga anyhow)

slaapliedje

On Topic;  I recall when it happened that everyone had said it was due to management going to the Bahamas all the time and spending the money frivolously.

[lassie]

Ha, I have an Atari Jaguar as well, and have always wanted a Falcon.  They were pricey when they came out, were very much like when the Amiga was first announced, with a lot of sweet features.  I've try looking up to see if I can get a hold of one every once in a while, but no one ever wants to part with them.  It's very much like Amiga users, they don't ever part with them, unless they decide to charge more than it'd cost to get a generic PC and emulate 'em.

I do need a Falcon and probably an A1200 with an A500 to round out my collection.  I don't have a C64, but I was never a fan (I did love the Atari 8-bits though, which really with Jay Miner being the father of that... it's probably more related to the Amiga anyhow)

slaapliedje

VRXbPw
On Topic;  I recall when it happened that everyone had said it was due to management going to the Bahamas all the time and spending the money frivolously.[/QUO


cool what kind of games do you like for the jaguar :-) have you noticed you can buy many jaguar games new and sealed?

[Haranguer]

In two words? Moore's Law.

Commodore had heard of Moore's Law, but wanted no truck with it.