Captain Kirk’s Favorite 80s Commodore Computer Returns For Retro Glory With THEVIC20

[0078265317]

Just popped up on my phone.

 

https://hothardware.com/news/commodore-computer-returns-retro-glory-thevic20

[wierd_w]

 

I love how the marketing people get geek cultural icons all wrong like this...

 

Too bad he has it near a big sunny window. (especially since this is supposed to be San Francisco!)  Poor thing.. Over 300 years old, and probably retrobrited so many times by now... Getting a massive dose of UV like that.  

 

Then again, maybe it's NOT his favorite after all! Maybe he's torturing the poor thing, forcing its plastic polymers to slowly unravel under the ravages of those terrible solar death-rays...  Yes-- His real treasure must be the VIC20 he keeps locked up, and away from the tribulations of the world.....

 

(LOL)

Edited July 1, 2020 by wierd_w

[carlsson]

William Shatner did a couple of printed advertisments for PET computers too, probably a package deal from Commodore.

 

It should be noted that THEVIC20 is low hanging fruit. They already have the molds for the breadbin shape, the keyboard, the hardware with emulation of both C64 and VIC-20. The only things they need to do is to manufacture the shells in cream white instead of grey, configure the firmware to possibly default to VIC mode, change the set of included games to have a bigger selection of VIC-20 games (though no 1st party titles from Commodore, despite they must have an agreement with Cloanto or whoever about using the brand name and system firmware, which makes me wonder if Cloanto even has the rights to the Commodore games library).

[+DrVenkman]

So this is great and all, but is North America ever going to get the full-size C64 replica that the rest of the world got last year?

[carlsson]

I thought it was supposed to be released by now, but perhaps Covid-19 is to blame for it being delayed as well?

 

Upon checking the games library, it strikes me the VIC-20 model almost exclusively is made up from Llamasoft and Imagine titles. Nothing wrong with that, many of those really showcase the VIC, and it follows the tradition of THEC64 to mostly include UK games which probably is due to the publisher is located there so easier to get in touch with software publishers. One could have wished for e.g. some Epyx titles like Sword of Fargoal since they've included such titles before but it depends on which Epyx titles whoever holds the rights to the library actually has.

[+evg2000]

They mentioned the other day that they are one step closer to real ease in the US. covid definitely slowed down the us release.  i think they had some issues with lining up retailers. they are also going to have more announcements soon

[Hwlngmad]

I IMed them directly yesterday when I saw the posts.  They wrote back, "Hi we are working on getting the full sized THEC64 and then this over to the USA ASAP (when) we can."  Also, they have stated on other posts that this isn't the last product from Retro Games LTD.  I am guessing something Amiga related could be in works too.

[Hwlngmad]

1 hour ago, carlsson said:

It should be noted that THEVIC20 is low hanging fruit. They already have the molds for the breadbin shape, the keyboard, the hardware with emulation of both C64 and VIC-20. The only things they need to do is to manufacture the shells in cream white instead of grey, configure the firmware to possibly default to VIC mode, change the set of included games to have a bigger selection of VIC-20 games (though no 1st party titles from Commodore, despite they must have an agreement with Cloanto or whoever about using the brand name and system firmware, which makes me wonder if Cloanto even has the rights to the Commodore games library).

Yes, I agree, this is low hanging fruit.  But, honestly, I am pretty fired up about this as I really dig the look of the Vic over the C64.  I am definitely getting this if/when it hits the States.

[Arnuphis]

Ahh. My first computer. Yes it's a 're-badged' TheC64 but I will be excited to get one. Shame they couldn't get the carts like Scott Adams' stuff and Jelly Monsters included though. Amok and Cosmiads too please!

[carlsson]

AMOK might've been possible. It was an UMI game, and they had strong ties to Audigenic in the UK. But I'm mostly speculating on the assumption that it is much easier (or cheaper) to get British publishers to join the retro gaming craze than it is to attract US publishers.

[+OLD CS1]

8 hours ago, wierd_w said:

Over 300 years old, and probably retrobrited so many times by now... Getting a massive dose of UV like that.  

Nah, man, 300 years into the future, those windows are UV blocking transparent aluminum.

 

Except for the windows at Star Fleet HQ in "The Voyage Home."  Ugh.

[+OLD CS1]

Not going to get excited about anything else they produce until THEC64 is released in North America.  Or did I miss that?

[+HatNJ]

58 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said:

Not going to get excited about anything else they produce until THEC64 is released in North America.  Or did I miss that?

Nah did not miss it.  With THEC64 it has vic20 built in to it when it finally gets to NA.  I think its towards more the crowd that grew up with one.

[carlsson]

On the other hand, once it is available in the US, pretty much every bug and hardware issue hopefully will have been solved. I saw a comment that hopefully the joystick supplied with the VIC-20 version will be better than the one previously supplied with the C64 one.

 

OTOH by now the patent on the CX-40 must've expired so they could supply a white one of those with Commodore embossed, right? Yes, it would be an even worse joystick for playing but look more correct. There's the replacement stick with a triangular shaft too, possibly even worse.

[+OLD CS1]

My apologies, but you can colour me disillusioned.

[Loafer]

It's coming to north America, we should see official info in the next month (well I'm hopeful!).  We can always order straight from UK too, there won't be a different with north american version, they've already stated this (just a bitch to deal with if there are returns of course.

 

Yeah I'm not much if a religious guy but if they come up with an Amiga Full size, I will lose my shit and instantly order from the UK if I have to.  Good god I so loved that PC...  But I have to admit, the use of a mouse on a lot of games doesn't lend itself to the living room space they feel this does.  Will be interesting.  I mean if they come out with the Amiga mini first, USB wireless keyboards with the little trackball or trackpad should work fine and I'd be a happy camper with that.

 

This is from a guy who can already run all the games from his pc connected to the TV. What is it about these minis that make them so compelling?  Branding??

[carlsson]

I'm afraid working with anything Amiga is like stepping on a wasp's nest. Plus that yet again there is zero 1st party software so all games to be included need to be sourced from various parties. Supposedly some of the players on the market already have contacts with publishers representing at least some of the better games and could convince them with the right license fee payout.

 

OTOH that is true for almost every computer model with the possible exceptions of TI-99/4A, TRS-80 CoCo and some truely oddball systems that only interest the die hard collectors anyway. Even the major console manufacturers possible to reach may not hold full rights to their back catalogue, depending on which kind of games those were and how the agreements with developers looked like.

[Hwlngmad]

12 hours ago, Loafer said:

It's coming to north America, we should see official info in the next month (well I'm hopeful!).  We can always order straight from UK too, there won't be a different with north american version, they've already stated this (just a bitch to deal with if there are returns of course.

 

Yeah I'm not much if a religious guy but if they come up with an Amiga Full size, I will lose my shit and instantly order from the UK if I have to.  Good god I so loved that PC...  But I have to admit, the use of a mouse on a lot of games doesn't lend itself to the living room space they feel this does.  Will be interesting.  I mean if they come out with the Amiga mini first, USB wireless keyboards with the little trackball or trackpad should work fine and I'd be a happy camper with that.

 

This is from a guy who can already run all the games from his pc connected to the TV. What is it about these minis that make them so compelling?  Branding??

A new full size Amiga would be a trip, that's for sure.  Also, I think minis are compelling because they are fairly user friendly and straight forward use wise than the original machines.  And, of course, they take up less space and (most) have a lot of ways to mod them where they can be loaded up with games.  I know my PS Classic is that way as it has 100 PS1 games and a whole bunch of other system cores and ROMs via Retroarch on it.

[+OLD CS1]

Yeah, imagine THEAmiga500 or THEAmiga1K built around a Vampire.  Did the Vampire guys ever release the stand-alone system?

[Loafer]

Vampire solution is too expensive for a mini style launch.  The reason why these are popular is they are around $99 USD or lower (a bit more for full size C64 but that's with a keyboard).

 

Anything higher than that?  Won't do large enough numbers to warrant this type of release (ie: with licensed games, etc)

[Hwlngmad]

On 7/2/2020 at 11:06 AM, OLD CS1 said:

Yeah, imagine THEAmiga500 or THEAmiga1K built around a Vampire.  Did the Vampire guys ever release the stand-alone system?

Something built around a Vampire would be nice.  But, hell, just have a device built around Cloanto's Amiga Forever and watch that sell like hotcakes.  Also, yes, they did release a standalone unit (https://www.apollo-accelerators.com/#wheretobuy - Vampire V4 Standalone), although one's wallet will take a big hit imo.  Definitely the amount of scratch needed for this is out of my price range, lol.