64 - WORLD'S GREATEST GAMES MACHINE

Some people say the keyboard is tacky. Some people can't stand the Basic.Some people find the colour of the plastic makes them ill. Some people are just plain jealous. But what do key people in the micro industry say? Is the 64 really the world's greatest games machine? And does it have a future? Chris Anderson asked the questions.

DAVID TOMKINS
Commodore retail products manager

‘Commodore is 100 per cent committed to the 64 and will remain so for a long time into the future. It’s a first class machine, and offers first class value for money. The vast majority of people who buy it use it to run pre-programmed software - and no one can beat the vast range available for it either in terms of quantity or quality.

The version of Basic on the machine has been widely criticised, but it has a few supporters as well, The Poke commands you need to use graphics and sound are more closely allied to machine code, which means that you inevitably earn a lot more about the machine itself than you would with other Basics.

Of course if people want to learn an easier version of Basic, they can always buy our Simon’s Basic program. We couldn’t change the machine's Basic at this stage because it would make the existing software incompatible.

It's interesting to compare the 64's success with that of the Atari machines - they haven't sold nearly as well despite having a very similar technical specification. It’s partly to do with the Commodore name. Following the success of the Vic 20 we had an extremely high reputation in the home computer market This immediately gave the 64 massive software support which the Atari never had.

This is going to continue. The new Commodore 128 is compatible with the 64. And with more than half a million 64 owners in Britain alone l don’t think software houses are going to suddenly stop writing games for it.

Price cuts on the 64? No there aren't going to be any in the forseeable future it's selling very well as it is'

Tim Chaney
TIM CHANEY
US Gold marketing manager


The 64 is still the best machine to play games on. Here we have the task of converting 64 games onto the Spectrum, and believe me it’s like drinking champagne and then drinking house wine afterwards. The 64’s capabilities are far superior - in sound, handling of colour, scrolling, everything.

I don’t expect any immediate cut in the price of the ‘64. Commodore aren’t panicking. They’re not responding to the price moves around them. They’re bigger than all their competitors. They should lead not follow.

The company’s management is still very strong despite the departure of Jack Tramiel ( Commodore’s former managing director) to Atari. His philosophy is ‘business is war’ and Commodore still believe it. They’re a very tough company to do business with.'

Ian StewartIAN STEWART
Gremlin Graphics director


‘In terms of its hardware the 64 is clearly superior to the Spectrum, but I think the Atari machines have the edge on the Commodore. The problem for Atari in the UK is that it didn’t get the support of software houses.

On the 64 there’ve been some very exciting pieces of software and I think there’s more to come. The machine has already been stretched to its limits, but I don’t think the imagination of the software writers has been.

So as far as we’re concerned the machine does have a good life expectancy, and we shall he supporting it with games, but only those which come up to the standard set by the American software now being released.

So far the Americans have been coming up with much more original games , we have to compete with that.

Tony Crowther
TONY CROWTHER
64 graphics king


‘Obviously it’s a good machine, but I don’t think it’s as good as the Atari - I could never understand why the Atari died, it’s the weirdest thing. I’ll be looking at the new Atari when it comes out.

The 64 is still not being stretched to its full- no one’s approached its full capacity, me included. I’ve never been close yet. It’s like the Spectrum - everyone says, you’ll never beat this game, it’s the best game ever. But next week you get one that’s even better, that’s rattled it even more. You can’t really get to the end of a machine.

I don’t know that the 64’s memory imposes too much of a limit. My games use up all the memory available- they’re about 54K long. But there again, that’s because I use up any remaining space with extra routines. Like on Gryphon the test card routine at the start uses up 10K-I only put it in because the memory space was there.

The software has a long way to go. In a year’s time there will be stuff that’s, far better than the software around today.'

Andy Walker
ANDY WALKER
Taskset supremo


‘There’s still no doubt in my mind that the 64’s hardware is stilI the best home computer hardware for games that exists. It’s the fact that they bothered with two special chips - the SID chip and the VIC chip (handling sound and graphics respectively).

When you Iook at the screen capabilities, there’s nothing to touch it. Take the screen speed of the Amstrad compared with the 64 - there’s no comparison. And on the Atari there are only four meaningful sprites, compared with eight on the 64. As for the Spectrum. what can I say?

Once the hardware people get their job right, the software just follows - it makes it so easy.

I think the release of the Commodore 128 will add to the strength of the 64 - provided Commodore get their prices right. They can’t keep the 64 on £229 as it’s supposed to be at the moment.

The 64 has such a big user base now it’s just not going to go away. Certainly in a year’s time there will still be stacks of software being released. In two years’ time - well, that’s a lifetime in this industry - but my feeling is it’ll still be a strong machine then.

My feeling is that those 64s which are out there are actually being used - I mean, I know quite a few people with Spectrums who only use them once in a blue moon. Whereas those with 64s do use them a lot.

The fact is, the 64 is the world’s most written for machine - there’s a staggering number of titles available for it. What this means is that the user wins, because standards have to be so high.'

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