The Commodore 64 is officially back. Just months after signing paperwork to acquire the original brand and assets, Commodore 64 Ultimates are slowly rolling off the assembly line, and some units may arrive in customers’ hands before the holidays.
This news comes direct from Commodore CEO Peri Fractic (aka Christian Simpson), who posted a video from the assembly floor.
Old and new
The new Commodore 64 Ultimate: Basic Beige looks like a near-perfect replica of the original system, but in a note on the Commodore.net website, Trameil writes, “This is no replica. This is no emulation. This is Commodore.”
Unlike, say, some of the Atari Flashback game consoles that featured a classic body but largely replaced components, the Commodore 64 Ultimate includes a “faithful recreation of the original motherboard.”
That may be so, but along with original ports, the new Commodore 64 includes options that didn’t exist in 1982, including HDMI, and USB-3. There’s also a new Ethernet port. The computer even includes Wi-Fi. Commodore also promises modern printer control, a faster system (thanks to more memory), and more sound processors. In other words, they’ve made quite a few affordances for our modern technology times.
The focus, though, is on nostalgia, with the company emphasizing that the system will support 10,000+ original games, along with “dusty old cartridges, CRT TVs, datasettes, or disk drives.”
There’s a part of me that embraces this warm, fuzzy tech nostalgia like a cherished stuffed animal from my childhood. One look a the Commodore 64 Ultimate in beige, and I am instantly transported to a simpler time when I could work on – and print out on a dot matrix printer – a school paper that I’d deliver at my leisure when I next saw my professor (no email!).
That feeling, though, is fleeting, and I’m left with the uncomfortable realization that there’s no place for this computer in the modern world. It will arrive in the hands of hundreds (if not thousands) of enthusiasts, who will unbox it and then try out some of the old software. However, eventually, if not soon after, the Commodore 64 Ultimate will end up gathering dust on a display shelf, pushed aside for a more powerful, modern, and usable computer.
@commodoreofficial We can’t confirm if Peri can fit down your chimney🎅, BUT we CAN confirm that hardware production is underway and the first 500 BASIC Beige units are in final packaging. Find out more in our latest shipping update bit.ly/4iliOq9 #Commodore #C64U
Facing classic reality
I hate to think this way because I love classic tech and have a hard time discarding anything. Sometimes I wish I still had my old Commodore 64 (or the Commodore 128 we bought after it). But I know that feeling will soon pass.
I have a collection of old handheld electronic games from the 80s that I take out every once in a while to examine them and see if they still work. This usually lasts five or ten minutes, then they’re back on the shelf or in a box.
I fear that is the reality of this passion project.
So, yes, the latent teenager in me is excited that the Commodore 64 is rising from the ashes, and wants one, but my realist, adult self wonders aloud: and then what?
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lance.ulanoff@futurenet.com (Lance Ulanoff)
