Commodore 64 direct-to-TV w/30 games is here!

[Flojomojo]

Or so says UPS. I need to get out of the office and head home to play. Been reading about Sword of Fargoal and am excited at the prospect of primitive Rogue-like action on the big screen. Also happy at the prospect of having an all-in-one device done right. I never owned a C64 of my own but always wanted one as a kid.

 

Impressions tonight!

[+kisrael]

Indications are that this is one of the first of these to be more or less "real", they didn't reprogram the games, but use proper emulation, so there's a lot more hackability potential...[/code]

[Flojomojo]

Not emulation -- unless you consider a chip redesign to be like hardware emulation. This thing is a full C64 in miniature form.

 

My car won't start, and it's not the battery. Guess I won't get to play with this just yet.

 

[/sits and waits for tow truck]

[Agent X]

Flojomojo, I'm sorry to hear about your car trouble, but I'm happy to hear that you'll have one of these devices in your hands soon! I've also got one ordered; hopefully I'll have mine within a few days, too!

[MegaManFan]

When will this air on QVC again? I missed the first sale.

[Dr Galaga]

What the hell did you do, pay for next-day service? QVC said they shipped mine yesterday, but UPS only has that the paperwork has been entered and they have not received the box yet.

 

You can order the thing online at https://www.qvc.com/scripts/detail.dll?tpl=...web&item=E22494

They still have it "on sale" but not as much on sale as the other day!

[Flojomojo]

What the hell did you do, pay for next-day service?  QVC said they shipped mine yesterday, but UPS only has that the paperwork has been entered and they have not received the box yet.

I ordered it the first day it was available, and it arrived 3 days earlier than the projected delivery date.

 

The packaging is not as nice as Jakks or Flashback. The stick itself appears to be about the same quality. From what little I've played, the software selection and fidelity is simply terrific. I'm becoming a C64 true believer. Funny how I needed a little extra hardware to make that happen.

 

Stay a while ... stay forever!

[killersquirel]

I got mine today!

 

This unit is unbelievable. I am so happy to play these games again (and some for the first time). If you didn't get one, I would recommend it!

 

-mike

[Christophero Sly]

Wow! I had no idea this was out there. I don't know anything about the C64. Are the included games mostly action or adventure or what?

[Flojomojo]

Lots of Epyx shooters, 2 roguelike games, some sporty games, 2 Impossible Mission games. Full list:

 

Included Games  

 

Bull Riding  

Championship Wrestling  

Cyberdyne Warrior  

Cybernoid  

Cybernoid 2  

Eliminator  

Exolon  

Firelord  

Flying Disk  

Gateway to Apshai  

Impossible Mission  

Impossible Mission 2  

Jumpman Jr.  

Paradroid  

Pitstop  

Pitstop 2  

Rana Rama  

Silicon Warrior  

Speedball  

Summer Games  

Super Cycle  

Sumo  

Surfing  

Sword of Fargoal  

Tower Toppler  

Uridium  

Winter Games  

World Karate Champion A  

World Karate Champion B  

Zynaps  

 

There are tons of "c64 shrines" where you can look up more about these. I'm enjoying the discovery process.

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

Lots of Epyx shooters

 

That's Hewson not Epyx

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[+Random Terrain]

If Toy Bizarre was on that list, I'd buy it without hesitation.

[Flojomojo]

Hi there!

 

Lots of Epyx shooters

 

That's Hewson not Epyx

Visits Manuel's Epyx Shrine, hangs head in shame. Looks like you would know! I stand corrected by the high priest of the Epyx Shrine himself!

[+kisrael]

I was trying to think of why so few of those games meant much to me, (besides Impossible Mission) and figure out which games would have, and then realized my C=64 experience was really set by Electronic Arts...any collection without those will seem kind of lackluster.

 

Or, of course, the amazing but obscure-ish Compute's! Gazette games Crossroads and Crossroads II...

 

Actually, I think those old magazines would have some great ideas for people looking to make 2600 or Flash games.

[Trip_Cannon]

Wow! Impossible Mission 1 and 2 is included!!

[Albert]

I was never big into the Commodore 64 (was an Atari 8-bit crusader), but this joystick looks very cool indeed so I may have to purchase one. The fact that it's running C64 compatible hardware is very cool, and opens the door for additional compilations like this down the road. Licensing these titles is probably the biggest headache now, but so much software was written for the C64 that finding people willing to license games for a reasonable fee should not be too difficult.

 

..Al

[MegaManFan]

Nobody has yet said when this will be on QVC again.

[Stingray]

I've seen it advertised on TV a lot lately. Is it not available in stores?

 

-S

[Albert]

Nobody has yet said when this will be on QVC again.

 

Does QVC actually publish any type of "schedule" for when they sell items? I've never really watched QVC (or bought anything from a sales channel like this) so I have no clue.

 

..Al

[Cootster]

I was trying to think of why so few of those games meant much to me, (besides Impossible Mission) and figure out which games would have, and then realized my C=64 experience was really set by Electronic Arts...any collection without those will seem kind of lackluster.

 

Or, of course, the amazing but obscure-ish Compute's! Gazette games Crossroads and Crossroads II...

 

Actually, I think those old magazines would have some great ideas for people looking to make 2600 or Flash games.

 

I don't see how either Crossroads game could be done on the 2600, although they'd be sweet 5200 or 7800 homebrews . . . As a PC owner, I never had the pleasure of playing it . . . A lot of games had multiple type-in versions for Atari, Commodore, PC, TI-99, etc, but I assume it only had one.

 

And are there any archives of the type-ins (well, particularly PC, but any MESS-supported system would be cool) out there? I want the original typable code, not the completed programs. . .

[MacbthPSW]

Nobody has yet said when this will be on QVC again.

 

Does QVC actually publish any type of "schedule" for when they sell items? I've never really watched QVC (or bought anything from a sales channel like this) so I have no clue.

Just go to http://qvc.com/ and search for Commodore, you'll find either the single joystick for $30 or a pack of two for $52. The item numbers are E22494 and E25376 respectively. They also have various 1-800 numbers listed on the website, I'm sure you can order by phone. The item description is "Commodore 64 30-in-1 Classic Plug & Play Video Game".

 

People on comp.sys.cbm have already received theirs, and generally it's getting favourable reviews. There's quite a bit of excitement over who can hack theirs first, and find all the easter eggs

[heavy-sixer]

If people want to order it, you can check it out on the QVC site HERE. There are some pictures and video too that you can check out.

[heavy-sixer]

MacbthPSW -- sorry, I guess we were posting at the same time.

[MegaManFan]

Sweet, I just ordered one online. I'm stoked that it's on the way, viva la Commodore 64!

[Albert]

Sweet, I just ordered one online.  I'm stoked that it's on the way, viva la Commodore 64!

 

Cool, look forward to your impressions of it once you receive it and have spent some quality time checking out the games.

 

..Al