Sam's Journey on c64

[carlsson]

Perhaps not everyone in the US moved to NES & PC but a significant amount of the customer base. People would usually not make those remarks unless there was some truth behind them.

 

Just a few numbers from various recently uploaded internal reports:

 

1985 sales

USA: $343.900.000 (43.0%)

UK: $49.000.000 (6.1%)

Germany: $125.400.000 (15.7%)

Rest of the world: $280.300.000 (35.1%)

Total worldwide sales: $798.600.000

 

1986 sales

USA: $240.500.000 (31.5%)

UK: $50.400.000 (6.6%)

Germany: $187.800.000 (24.6%)

Rest of the world: $283.600.000 (37.2%)

Total worldwide sales: $762.300.000

 

The advertising & merchandise budget for 1986 was USA $29.400.000 (12% of sales), UK $2.600.000 (5% of sales), Germany $9.900.000 (5% of sales) and rest of the world $12.100.000 (4% of sales). Treat those numbers as you wish, but clearly Commodore already in 1986 were losing market shares in the US while percentually they still spent most marketing money there. Europe seems more like a self-playing piano in this respect, and I dismiss marginal markets like the entire Asia and South America.

 

In the fiscal year 1986 (or actually in the current fiscal year by Sept 30, 1986) the sales figures looked something like this:

 

C64: USA 13950 units, rest of the world 28998 units

C128: USA 4900 units, rest of the world 7776 units

1541: USA 13200 units, rest of the world 12785 units (*)

1571: USA 4100 units, rest of the world 5542 units (**)

Amiga: USA 4480 units, rest of the world 10815 units

PC compatibles: USA 0 units, rest of the world 18700 units (***)

 

(*) Yes, Europe still was strongly tape based compared to USA.

(**) But apparently those who invested in a C128 preferred to get a floppy drive.

(***) Commodore began selling their own PC's in Europe as a market gimmick, even confirmed in internal strategic plans that is how they considered it, but after a while found there really was a market share to be had.

 

I don't have any numbers for 1987 and onwards which perhaps would be even more interesting to see if the trends continued.

[bradhig1]

That doesn't give them the right to make fun of us in the USA that still like the C64.   It's insults to me.  Were they just using C64s as a game console?   They said once the NES was in every childs bedroom  C64 interest dropped.   Every NES I ever played was in someone's living room not a bedroom till I got my current NES.   I wouldn't insult someone in the US over the C64 if I lived in Europe.

[+OLD CS1]

2 hours ago, bradhig1 said:

That doesn't give them the right to make fun of us in the USA that still like the C64.

They have the right to make fun of anyone they want.

2 hours ago, bradhig1 said:

It's insults to me.

Toughen up.

[bradhig1]

2 hours ago, OLD CS1 said:

They have the right to make fun of anyone they want.

Toughen up.

They do but I don't??  I wouldn't allow anyone to make fun of anyone or anything online.  Toughen Up?  Try getting cyberbulled , harassed , and threatened anywhere online because of a mental illness making you act like a troll ,or because people don't like what you want to talk about.

[+OLD CS1]

15 hours ago, bradhig1 said:

They do but I don't??  I wouldn't allow anyone to make fun of anyone or anything online.  Toughen Up?  Try getting cyberbulled , harassed , and threatened anywhere online because of a mental illness making you act like a troll ,or because people don't like what you want to talk about.

It is literally not possible to be bullied on-line.  While none of your business, I have a condition with which I have dealt my entire life, one which not only allowed me to act in odd ways but also seriously misconstrue things and has often been an impediment to relationships.  In school I got my ass literally kicked, not just called names on-line in attempt to hurt my feelings or make me feel bad about myself, but actual physical violence with blood, bruises, and once a concussion.

 

"Bullying" about which you are talking is NOT the same, and conflating so is killing, absolutely destroying free discourse, both in the real world and on the Internet.  Harassment can be ignored.  Threats can be ignored, or if credible (I hardly think some choad from Glasgow is going to be waiting for me at my local hardware store) then handed off to law enforcement.  Do not give the words of others power over you and they will have none.

 

I have been on-line since 1984.  I have been threatened many times.  I have fallen in love once or twice, and subsequently had my heart broken.  Made good friends.  Made nasty enemies, including a couple who DDoSed the shit out of me.  I had people who made fun of me, my personality, my choice of computer, you name it.  The world is a tough place, and the Internet and on-line services can bring out real hate in people (like Bill Cosby said about cocaine: "Why do you do cocaine? Because it intensifies my personality. But what if you're an asshole?")  I am still alive.  My feelings are not hurt.  The only scars I bear are caused by my own poor decisions, a couple of red-heads,  probably my mother, and the one across my eyebrow caused by Nick Krascoff.

 

Nonetheless, I am alive and so are you.  Now, we both need to stop shitting up a thread about a really nicely done game.  I am open to having a discussion with you, even open to sharing some very personal things if you are willing to do the same, but in PM rather than completely off-topic and in someone else's thread. 

 

BTW, I do not see where anyone said you have no right to pick at others, moreso that what the Europeans say about NTSC, or NES players versus Commodore 64, is nothing over which to take offense or take personally.  Dude, all the Commodore kids made fun of my TI mercilessly!

[bradhig1]

Sounds like you have Austim or aspergers which I have which causes me to misconture things as well as not understanding thing clearly.  I spent a lot time with a Commodore 64 from 1983- 1994 and still use one today.  They were everywhere and people were passing disks around at school. 

[Guest]

On 2/25/2020 at 3:42 PM, motrucker said:

It seems that a lot of people tend to go off "half cocked" these days. Unless you know a subject extremely well, it's dangerous to make assumptions in any situation.

On the whole, people's manners are really bad today. What has happened to us?

The "problem" between PAL and NTSC should be well known by now, since it's a thirty year old, plus, problem.

 

 

 

  Good point Mo, good to see you, mate. ☺️ I'm new over here! 

On 2/25/2020 at 9:42 PM, bradhig1 said:

For years NTSC got dissed on sites like Lemon 64 by Euros calling it Never Twice the Same Colour who also act like everyone here gave up on the C64 when the NES came out.

It's a technical issue people are talking about, and it is correct.

 

Quite a few games has US developed NTSC versions and PAL versions as well, though most NTSC versions were inferior some of them were not.

[Guest]

Also I would like the point out the Never Twice the Same Colour thing isn't anyone having a go at people from the US, but the inferior technology. Commodore was a company from the USA. People in the UK and Europe loved the 64 and Amiga, so what does that say? As a Brit I love America. It has a lot of problems, but a lot of cool stuff, people and things also!

[carlsson]

Anyway, I'm sure the developers of Sam's Journey did all they could to get their game to play on all C64's. To be honest I'm not sure even halving the frame rate on NTSC (*) would have worked, as it would assume there is game code/general calculations running during the period the raster line is in the visible area, time that could be spent on preparing graphic effects and that the game engine could be updated only every second frame.

 

(*) It would've upset American users far more than the requirement to get some kind of REU...

[bradhig1]

Commodore didn't advertise Amiga as much as the vic 20 and c64 in the US which is why it failed while they must have advertised it like crazy in Europe.

[carlsson]

I don't know if they advertised the Amiga "like crazy" over here. If anything, the Atari ST was heading the price rally which isn't surprising as it was lead by Tramiel at that point. But PC compatibles still were crazy expensive throughout most of the time period 1986-1993, and since Europeans in general are known to have lower income, higher taxes and hesitate to spend money compared to Americans, there may have been a bigger market for the ST and Amiga price range than elsewhere where more people were willing to spend that extra $1000 to get a really professional PC that could do everything you wanted.

[bradhig1]

In games like Desert Falcon on the 7800 the yellow desert is green on newer TVs  why?   I was playing bowling champ on  my vic 20 and the background was more pink /purple rather then the orange it is on the emulators.   Is that the Never Twice the Same Colour thing?  I thought it was cause all the sets in the stores on the shelves were different colors ,tnt ,brightness ,etc.