A new Commodore 64 computer and gaming handheld are coming via Indiegogo

[Keatah]

They don't use the Commodore name or logo anywhere on the product, and they don't even call it a C64. From their website:

 

From their "sizzle reel"..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH_hEplhOMg

 

Sure as hell looks like a real C64 with authentic real BIOS. And they say, "The best selling home computer of all time is returning.." That automatically and unarguably means the Original Commodore 64 is coming back. They show the "boot screen" and the Commodore 64 was indeed the best selling home computer of all time. The fact that it is "returning" means the product of yesteryear is now being recreated today.

 

Except that is isn't an accurate recreation by any stretch of the imagination.

Edited April 15, 2016 by Keatah

[+save2600]

 

5- form factor obsolescence isn't a big deal. How you get information from the developers into the device *IS* obsoleted rather quickly these days.

 

Right! Was universally including that when I say "form factor". I/O ports including display, power requirements, etc. Basically the entire architecture of the board I'm referring to, not just its size or what position mounting holes are in.

[Keatah]

I don't like how they are continually referring to Commodore's history. This isn't a Commodore 64 they're producing.

 

 

Edit:

http://www.commodore.ca/commodore-products/commodore-64-the-best-selling-computer-in-history/

Edited April 15, 2016 by Keatah

[carlsson]

I agree. In particular as Galax just quoted, they swear free from having anything to do with Commodore, yet they keep referring to it.

[+wongojack]

Yeah, I'm not going to give away my money for something like this unless it already exists. $20 to kickstart a game is one thing, but this is totally different. But we've already been down this road recently. . .

 

 

Am I the only one who isn't interested in a portable C64 (or any 16 or 8 bit computer). I don't really play the arcade style games enough on the C64 to justify a stand alone portable. Heck, I don't even really use the emulators for those computers on the handhelds I already have.

[Keatah]

Am I the only one who isn't interested in a portable C64 (or any 16 or 8 bit computer). I don't really play the arcade style games enough the C64 to justify a stand alone portable. Heck, I don't even really use the emulators for those computers on the handhelds I already have.

 

Nope. Not alone. There is little need for a portable classic computer. It might look cool and be wondrous to experience it for a few moments. A novelty. A curiosity. The ability to rationalize a stack of rotted floppies and clunky hardware converted into a handheld. But beyond that, no.

 

If there is ever a need for portable 8-bit machines, and I can't fathom one at the moment, you can always slap an emulator on a laptop. Or rig up real hardware with a battery and modern display. Consider this. With an emulator, all the HARDWARE and SOFTWARE development is complete. All that remains is for you, the budding systems integrator, to bring the two together.

[+wongojack]

If there is ever a need for portable 8-bit machines, and I can't fathom one at the moment, you can always slap an emulator on a laptop.

 

Exactly - a laptop is a portable 8-bit computer that probably does better emulation than this thing. Plus you get the keyboard that you need to run 80% of the software.

[amiman99]

I have the DTV64 that I hacked and it works well, so why not use that as a base to build a fully functional C64, why reinventing the wheel???

Here is my video:

The video is old and I used DV camera to record it in 640x480.

 

Buy the rights to it and improve it.

 

As far as the portable, it's useless. Most games require some kinda keyboard button to be pressed before or during game, or press a fire button in joy1 or joy2 port.

I have C64 emulators on some of my portables, and are the least used emulators of all systems. It's just not practical.

[+GoldLeader]

At least this system knows what it wants to be when it grows up.

[AtarinDave]

I actually find a fond interesting in a portable C64. But as amiman99 has stated, a lot of the games require keyboard play, so I'm curious to see how they will work that out. If somehow it does work out, I have my eyes on that portable.

 

 

Also, is this going to be another thread full of over 8,000 replies?

Edited April 16, 2016 by AtarinDave

[Keatah]

The proper portable was the SX-64.

[bugs]

When is somebody going to get a sweet sweet vapourware 800xl crowdfunded reimagined reproduction scam going?

 

Where is the Atari love?

[phoenixdownita]

Also, is this going to be another thread full of over 8,000 replies?

It depends on them, not us.

[leods]

 

Also, is this going to be another thread full of over 8,000 replies?

 

Nope. They are on the campaign already. They already have 22k dollars sitting on the IGG, and it's going all straight into their pockets once this ends. And then they don#t have to come here explain anything to anyone, or beg anyone for understanding or anything at all. They can just do whatever the hell they please with their money, and that's that. No potential for 300 pages.

 

What will probably happen is, they're going to ask some china factory to do this keyboard for them, a small board to interface the cartridge, and deliver that with a raspi in or whatever off the shelf part they chose to include, and will be able to claim they fulfilled the project.

 

The handheld is probably something some of these chinese factories already have in production, they'll just change the software in it, maybe chose a different color scheme and done. You could just buy any generic android emulating machine and put a comodore 64 emulator in there and have the same result. But this one is officially not officially supported by the original company. So that might justify you paying a premium for chinese off the shelf parts.

 

It gets to a point where I think IGG should be held responsible for letting this crap happen. They take a cut of the money. They're taking a cut of scam profits as a business model? seriously. Even kickstarter is kinda weird. But IGG with it's compete lack of quality controll and policies to protect the donators goes much beyond.

[7800fan]

The proper portable was the SX-64.

 

Accompanied by a chiropractor

 

I am tempted to get SX keyboard and slap in a Pi to make portable C64 emulator using real C64 keyboard. But a working Sx keyboard isn't cheap.

[TMR]

Accompanied by a chiropractor

That's why i've got two SX64s, one for each side.

 

This thread is depressing; the Coleco Chameleon has utterly urinated on the chips of everyone else regardless of how likely they are to bring out an actual product and everybody appears to have already judged this as a con without any evidence of wrongdoing. Indiegogo was possibly a bad choice, but folks are still taking one hell of a leap from there to assuming that everybody using it is a thief regardless of prior track record...

 

But hey ho...

[carlsson]

Well, if they had more or less clear specs and reasonably instant answers to questions, I would be far more assured than the "ASAP" business that has dominated the first few days. Buying yourself time in order to come up with an answer, or hope that the party asking questions will forget they did, doesn't seem too promising in my book.

[akator]

This thread is depressing; the Coleco Chameleon has utterly urinated on the chips of everyone else regardless of how likely they are to bring out an actual product and everybody appears to have already judged this as a con without any evidence of wrongdoing. Indiegogo was possibly a bad choice, but folks are still taking one hell of a leap from there to assuming that everybody using it is a thief regardless of prior track record...

 

But hey ho...

 

Many in this thread (myself included) are jaded by crowd funding in general. This disillusionment is not the direct result of the RVGS / Chameleon but instead from many funded projects that have not delivered. There simply isn't enough (if any) accountability.

 

The RVGS / Chameleon is now the poster child for overambitious crowd funded projects making lofty promises without the slightest chance of delivery, but that doesn't mean the skepticism about crowd funding is undeserved.

 

Repeating what I said pages ago, I am still waiting for several funded projects to deliver on their pre-orders. These weren't just funding perks, these are actual pre-orders made after the projects were fully funded. My attitude is based on my experiences in not receiving a single product that was crowd funded. For each of the glorified successes like the Pebble Watch, there are thousands of phantom products that were funded. Even if we aren't going to get our money back, at least some of those behind the campaigns should face fraud charges and be rewarded with a criminal record.

[Lost Dragon]

I had a perfectly fine C64 emulator on my PSP a good while back, whilst it was fun for a few hours looking back at so many games i once loved, none captured my attention to any real degree and i was a huge C64 fan in my youth....so i'm also firmly in the camp of wondering why on earth we need a dedicated handheld for the C64?.

I probably spent more time trying out the A8 emulation on PSP as i'd not touched A8 games for years and then Amstrad CPC emulation, as that was a system i had little personal experience of, as a nipper.

It just seems to be someone saying here is a solution to your problems, yet there really are no problems to really speak of.

[Bill Loguidice]

This thread is depressing; the Coleco Chameleon has utterly urinated on the chips of everyone else regardless of how likely they are to bring out an actual product and everybody appears to have already judged this as a con without any evidence of wrongdoing. Indiegogo was possibly a bad choice, but folks are still taking one hell of a leap from there to assuming that everybody using it is a thief regardless of prior track record...

 

But hey ho...

 

I don't agree. We're being critical because there is minimal info provided, period, so there's nothing to feel confident about here. The taint and timing of the Coleco Chameleon is just coincidental.

[R.Cade]

I think I would buy the unit in the picture for 150, even if it's just a case for the Pi. However, I won't prepay for this on Indiegogo. Just make them and take the risk like normal...

 

Heck even if you just want to take orders and we pay only when it's done, that's fine too.

[TMR]

Many in this thread (myself included) are jaded by crowd funding in general. This disillusionment is not the direct result of the RVGS / Chameleon but instead from many funded projects that have not delivered. There simply isn't enough (if any) accountability.

But that still doesn't automatically equate to this project being bogus in the same way the Sinclair Vega or Vega+ wheren't despite being Indiegogo campaigns.

 

I had a perfectly fine C64 emulator on my PSP a good while back, whilst it was fun for a few hours looking back at so many games i once loved, none captured my attention to any real degree and i was a huge C64 fan in my youth....so i'm also firmly in the camp of wondering why on earth we need a dedicated handheld for the C64?.

The Vega+ recently raised twice as much funding as being asked for The 64 for a handheld ZX Spectrum so the idea that a handheld C64 doesn't seem too far into the realm of fiction...? Plus it's not just a handheld system, there's a DTV with a keyboard too.

[akator]

But that still doesn't automatically equate to this project being bogus in the same way the Sinclair Vega or Vega+ wheren't despite being Indiegogo campaigns.

 

 

The Vega+ recently raised twice as much funding as being asked for The 64 for a handheld ZX Spectrum so the idea that a handheld C64 doesn't seem too far into the realm of fiction...? Plus it's not just a handheld system, there's a DTV with a keyboard too.

 

The Sinclair Vega is definitely cool, but that's another one of those unusual amazing stories like the Pebble Watch and the Ouya. These don't vindicate crowd funding in general.

 

For example, one I'm waiting on is the Hook home automation device. This project was funded on Kickstarter in August 2015 and supposed to ship in December, then February, then March, then April, now May. After the Kickstarter they kept taking money, raising another $46K in pre-orders with a separate campaign on IGG. In total they raised well over $100K. Yet there are many, many people like myself wondering WTF the actual devices are. In February they publicly admitted that they didn't even have a database to fulfill orders, not even to track where someone might be on the list to estimate production and delivery times. They have a backlog of at least hundreds of devices still to produce and deliver, yet they are still taking new orders on IGG and their separate website. Unlike The64 project, the Hook had working prototypes and software. There were 3rd parties involved in beta testing. It completely looked legit and properly planned -- but some serious stuff went wrong between the funding and getting the devices out the door.

 

Another example is the 90s Arcade Racer. The game was successfully funded but turned into a Wii U project, a priority not even high on the campaign list. The PC game that was funded simply disappeared. Even the Wii U game wasn't finished, instead he sent out a coupon to backers for another Steam game he made instead. Adding insult to injury, the other game wasn't even a racing game.

 

Both of these examples had something to show, prototypes and betas. The64 doesn't have anything real to show us and they haven't answered questions about hardware, software, or product details.

 

I want The64 to succeed. I want there to be many more retro computing and gaming products for me to buy and enjoy. But I no longer believe that crowd funding is going to provide me with those products. Above all, I will wait until a finished product is available for retail purchase before more money leaves my wallet.

Edited April 17, 2016 by akator

[Keatah]

This thread is depressing; the Coleco Chameleon has utterly urinated on the chips of everyone else regardless of how likely they are to bring out an actual product and everybody appears to have already judged this as a con without any evidence of wrongdoing. Indiegogo was possibly a bad choice, but folks are still taking one hell of a leap from there to assuming that everybody using it is a thief regardless of prior track record...

 

But hey ho...

 

Maybe. Maybe not. I simply prefer real life products I can just buy outright and be done with it.

 

I would also prefer to support a product's evolution by buying a new improved and expanded version every few years.

[TMR]

The Sinclair Vega is definitely cool, but that's another one of those unusual amazing stories like the Pebble Watch and the Ouya. These don't vindicate crowd funding in general.

But at the same time, the negative examples don't damn it in general as a model either. i get that you don't trust crowd funding but damning this project based on that previous experience isn't entirely fair on the people behind it... that's like blaming everyone who sends email because that bloke from Nigeria wasn't really a prince.

 

Maybe. Maybe not. I simply prefer real life products I can just buy outright and be done with it.

Yup and i think everyone else would too, but that's not a realistic way to approach something like a Vega or The 64. The people who manufactured the various DTV units were relying on it being cheap to build and having a $20-30 price tag because those sell on being a nostalgia-fueled impulse purchase, a more complex beast with a $150 or thereabouts retail price is a much harder sell without a crowd funded demonstration of interest.

 

Don't back it if you're not happy with crowd funding sure, i'm not saying you or anyone should. But wouldn't it be more fair to damn the people behind The 64 if things go wrong rather than assuming from day one that it's vapourware, some kind of con or whatever?