commodore

DSiWare, WiiWare, and Virtual Console releases for this week

This week brings us plenty of Animal Crossing accessories for your DSi as well as a Commodore 64 classic.

DSiWare Animal Crossing Calculator (Nintendo, 200 DSi Points): This download isn't necessarily a game, it's actually just a calculator with Animal Crossing-themed buttons. Use conversions and other features everywhere you bring your DSi. Animal Crossing Clock (Nintendo, 200 DSi Points): Another download that isn't actually a real game, Animal Crossing Clock is just that. It's a clock--with Animal Crossing characters plastered all over it. You can view an analog or digital display as well as set an … Read more

WiiWare and Virtual Console releases for this week

This week brings us a retro-themed rhythm game on WiiWare and an Olympic-style competition simulator from 1985. WiiWare BIT.TRIP BEAT (Aksys Games, 600 Wii points): Retro-themed rhythm gaming at its finest! Use your Wii remote to control the beat alone or with up to four players total. The 8-bit soundtrack is sure to please gamers of all ages. Virtual Console Summer Games II (1985, Commodore 64, 500 Wii points): 1985's Summer Games II puts you up against thousands of athletes from around the world. Compete in various events including cycling, equestrian, fencing, high jump, javelin, kayaking, rowing, and … Read more

Commodore and MLB play ball

I don't know about the crossover between die-hard baseball fans and hardcore PC gamers, two seemingly disparate groups, but that hasn't stopped Commodore from partnering with Major League Baseball to offer custom-painted cases with your favorite team's colors and logo.

Currently, there are only four teams offered--Mets, Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies--but the press release states that additional teams will be added in the weeks to follow. So stay tuned Kansas City Royals fans.

Since its reemergence, Commodore has offered many custom paint themes, which it calls C-kins. The MLB themes feature standard C-kin pricing: $275 for … Read more

Commodore joins Netbook crowd

Updated at 5:54 p.m. PDT to clarify that the "Commodore" in the Commodore UMMD 8010/F is most likely only an homage to the company of yore.

Gadget watchers on the tubes are atwitter with news that the Commodore name is having a decidedly 2008 moment in connection with the nascent but red-hot Netbook market.

The Commodore UMMD 8010/F, announced at the IFA consumer show in Berlin, will sport a 1.6GHz Via C7-M processor and will have an 80GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, and optional Bluetooth. The machine will … Read more

Dinosaur sighting: Commodore 64

Next up in the "Dinosaur sighting" series on News.com: Follow along as TechRepublic computer dismantler Mark Kaelin gives a tour of a fine old relic of the early home-computing age. This one's the unboxing and a tour of the exterior--first in a series that will culminate in a ruthless dissection of its insides.

How many readers started programming on this workhorse?

Violet Blue: Steve Jobs snubbed me

If you want to look at how the personalities of Apple's two co-founders, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, differ, perhaps one way would be to measure their responses when asked to pose for pictures.

Let's start with Woz. Though he claims to have been acutely shy in his early life, these days Woz is a social butterfly. He shows up at tech event after tech event in Silicon Valley, such as the 30th anniversary of Apple, or the 25th anniversary of the Commodore 64, and is almost eager to glad-hand anyone who comes by. Want a picture of … Read more

The history of the Atari 2600

Last month, some of Silicon Valley's biggest names showed up at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., for the 25th anniversary of the Commodore 64.

What no one I heard mentioned, despite the presence of Pong designer Al Alcorn, was that October marked the 30th anniversary of what may have been an even more influential video game machine, the Atari 2600.

Now, over at GameSpy, Marty Goldberg has spun for us the story of the creation of that iconic console.

And when I say iconic, I do mean it. After all, who doesn't recognize the 2600'… Read more

Woz and I agree: 'Tetris' for the Gameboy is the best game ever

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--I was waiting to talk to Steve Wozniak last night at the 25th anniversary celebration for the Commodore 64 when I overheard him say his favorite video game of all time was Tetris for the Gameboy.

My eyes practically lit up when I heard that because, in a lot of ways, I have to agree.

In fact, as I told him a couple minutes later when I went up to talk to him, one of the things I made sure to do before I left for my Road Trip around the American Southwest this summer was go … Read more

Silicon Valley celebrates Commodore 64 at 25

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--I don't want to date myself, but when I was in high school, one of the things I remember was that, among the geeks like myself who hung out in the computer lab, a bit of a culture war was under way.

No, it wasn't Macs versus Windows. But Apple was a player in this battle.

In fact, it was the Commodore 64 versus the Apple IIe, and while the school had a collection of Apples in the lab that all of us had to use, those of us who had C64s felt like we … Read more