Commodore's New Gaming Machines at CeBIT Have Ample 64-bit Power, High End Video

If you can remember the Commodore Personal Electronic Transactor (PET), you are too old to be playing video games. Well, maybe not. But if you remember the Commodore 64, you probably got your enthusiasm for gaming from the best-selling machine and the many games available for it, beginning around twenty-five years ago. The name has been revived, and gamers are taking notice of the new machines.

You've probably heard of the Commodore 64, and maybe the Vic 20. They were very big about twenty-five years ago. The Commodore 64 was a best seller and extremely popular gaming platform, back when a few "K" of memory was enough to provide a good time. In addition, in 1985 I was in Hannover, Germany, at the CeBIT trade fair, a huge show with over a half-dozen exhibit halls and all the latest technologies. There was a revolutionary new product called the Commodore Amiga being shown there, based on the Motorola 68000 processor family as the Apple Macintosh was, and with a cool new operating system, and a pretty new approach to computing compared the (also pretty new) IBM PC yet much more advanced in the graphics area. The Amiga was actually used in video production as well as for consumer use.

You know who won that battle. A version of the Amiga actually did quite well in Europe, but globally, the PC took over. Loyal fans of the Amiga have kept the novel technology alive, but on the sidelines. Now, over twenty years later, "Commodore Gaming," according to their website a joint venture with Commodore International, is at CeBIT again, showing off their new gaming computer products. They are making the news again, both as a new entry to the market, and because of their rise-and-fall which, after a collapse in 1994 now appears to be about to add a "rise" again.

The new PCs include a range from low-end to four high end models, according to the UK's PC Advisor, with "PC includes a quad-core Intel Core 2 Extreme processor, 4GB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX graphics card." It will run the 64-bit version of Windows Vista, and the case will be decorated with "flashy, custom designed cases."