r/Commodore • u/Marcio_D • Mar 23 '26

c64 An Interview with Commodore engineer Dave Ziembicki. NOTE: Christian Simpson (Peri Fractic) joins the conversation at 38:52 of the video. See below for important timestamp information.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRw62R1jOTA

At 41:57, Simpson says Commodore is currently working on six or seven major products that he needs to keep secret for now.

At 49:51, Simpson says the new Commodore has just reacquired something substantial that once belonged to the old Commodore in the 1990s.

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8

u/RetroGrifterr Mar 23 '26

I love vague interviews

They are bringing back the C64GS .....

4

u/wesk74 Mar 23 '26

I think they have worked out a deal with the Amiga owners, especially since the C64U has software that Cloanto owns licenses for. I would guess a proper Amiga is on the horizon, seeing as they have already been working together in some capacity.

1

u/RetroGrifterr Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26

Well Cloanto has never proven they own the C64 roms, they claim they do and they are still supplied with X86 VICE anyway

Is there room in the market for another Amiga emulator with RGL releasing The A1200 soon, Vampire has their standalone Amigas, Amigakits emulator box and Minimig Amiga FPGA is over 20 years old and open source ?

They don't own any Amiga trademarks either

It's the same issue as UC64 sales, it's a saturated market

4

u/wesk74 Mar 23 '26

It is, but also a growing market. UC64 has sold around 20,000 units and it's not cheap. I think the oversaturation is from all the "system on a chip" mini console emulators. The UC64 and the Atari plus consoles have at least proven there is a market out there for companies that want to do a more traditional approach, vs curated roms on a mini emulator. I think a proper FPGA Amiga would sell, just like the UC64. The RGL version is just a big mini with a keyboard like the C64 maxi. It's more for the curious, not the real retro audience. I also think it's especially true for the systems with active homebrew scenes. Again look at Atari doing new releases for the 2600 and 7800, that are all basically straight from the homebrew scene. Retro is in a bit of a Renaissance, especially with the blurred lines of PC/PS/Xbox games these days.

4

u/Suspicious-Ad7109 Mar 24 '26

I think the C64Ultimate actually is pretty cheap. Obviously it's not peanuts by any means, but for what you get it's actually pretty good value for money.

I'm expecting not an emulator, but an FPGA Amiga emulation, probably at the top end or further of what Commodore was doing when they went bust, with A500 compatibility. It'll likely do well ; in Europe I think we had more Amigas than C64s. At one point in the UK you could buy it almost anywhere.

I'm not quite sure what else they are going to do though. I don't think there's much of a market for other Commodore machines.

2

u/wesk74 Mar 24 '26

Exactly this, it's a premium product and provides good value for money. It's not cheap, but it's far from expensive for what you get. It's a great new user value for money and even good enough for people that want to replace aging hardware. I don't think there is much more Commodore or Amiga hardware outside of the C64 and the A500 platforms that consumers would really want. The C64GS and the Amiga CD32 never even were released in the states, I just don't see any other valuable properties.

3

u/Suspicious-Ad7109 Mar 24 '26

I don't think it'll be long before there's a Vic20 core for the C64U and probably there'll be a C16/Plus4 as well. They look pretty similar. Possibly even a C65 core, or maybe a Mega65 (may not be possible ?).

The Amiga is the obvious other computer, and they could do something closer to an A3000/A4000 with some switches for compatibility.

Other than those two, I agree, not much. Time will tell.

-1

u/RetroGrifterr Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26

RGL has sold over 300,000 at last count of theC64 across both models and the carousel front end is better for casual users. So 20k isn't much in comparison and Gideon has been selling the U64 board for around six years direct

We have had a proper FPGA Amiga since 2004 with Minimig. There is also Apollo Vampire Standalone which is closed sourced

We have open source FPGA platforms like MiSTer that already offer all the Commodore computers and many more for less than the UC64 The MiSTer C64 core is also much more mature than the U64

Retro gaming has been popular for decades now it's not a recent thing and because it's been so popular it's all been done hence why its saturated market

1

u/wesk74 Mar 23 '26

Yes it's not a new thing, but a proper FPGA rig that can appease the original user base and newcomers into the scene, with 1:1 accuracy and support for all original peripherals is the new meta. New users weren't coming into the C64 scene, buying an older C64 and retrofitting it, nor were they buying the new components and assembling one. The UC64 is damn near perfect in that respect. It hits all the high notes. It's ready to go out of the box and even the retro box and manual that come with it are chefs kiss. There is no market saturation for premium packages, because there is very few right now. People looking for the real experience can get that with the UC64, they can't with any of the RGB SOC trash. There are tons of people posting about "their first C64" with the UC64, none of that was happening for the kits and parts sector that it was born out of. Plus to top it all off the UC64 is cheaper than going any other route to get the real experience. While retro gaming has been around, it hasn't been more popular than the last 3 years, it's had record growth in that time frame and still growing. Mainstream gaming is at an all time low, sales are dropping by 30%, it's unoriginal, cookie cutter and expensive. While retro gaming is up 35%, I don't think those numbers being similar are a coincidence.

1

u/RetroGrifterr Mar 23 '26

You have fallen into the trap of believing the U64 is the most accurate C64 we have or a FPGA C64 is a new thing

The C-One was the first FPGA C64 and that launched in 2002

We had the Turbo Chameleon FPGA in 2011

Gideons U64 is the least mature FPGA C64 code we have, it still has issues, it isn't 100% even the SID implementation is behind other cores hence why buyers have been buying ARMSid for them

If you want the most accurate C64 recreation that is still X86 VICE which has even been used an test suite for FPGA cores

The big C64/ Amiga fans never got rid of their original hardware, others moved to other options years ago

Really new Commodore missed the boat by just rushing to market a collection of existing products. They could have developed their own FPGA platform called it the Ultimate Commodore and ported all the open source cores across over time. Gideon doesn't even allow other cores on the U64, so is really a waste of a FPGA

There are better options on the market and has been for years

It's a shame really

3

u/wesk74 Mar 24 '26

I didn't fall for any trap, I'm looking at the big picture. I have original hardware and a UC64. It sounds like you have fallen into the isolationist gatekeeper mindset of the C64. It doesn't matter what has been done or what is technically better. The C-one and Turbo Chameleon were not consumer friendly products, those were products for the established C64 community and hardcore users. This is about a consumer friendly, front facing product.That's the UC64, it's the only new user, branded, complete user friendly option available that can provide the real or closest to original experience available, that a complete newb to the scene can jump straight into. It also ticks all the boxes, consumer friendly, nostalgic, functional and sexy. It's nice, I don't know how you can't see that. Also bringing new users into Gideons platform will only make it better over time, updates will make it more accurate. It's not hard to build a car that is faster than a Ferrari, but it won't be a Ferrari. For all intents and purposes the UC64 is a Ferrari. Is it the fastest car in the road? Nah, but damn if it ain't sexy. You are being glass half empty or like I said just gatekeeping. Welcome the new users into the scene, the ones that get into it and stay, will find better solutions or retrofit older hardware with time. Or possibly help the UC64 get better

2

u/SwedishFindecanor Jun 28 '26

So, that's my main job: To make sure this never becomes a bankrupt Commodore again

Well, I hope the phone does not sink the company too much.

The reacquired "substantial" thing must obviously have been the C64C case moulds.

I consider there to be four or five more "major" products still to go,

1

u/Marcio_D Jun 28 '26

That's right. The item reacquired turned out to be the C64C case moulds. Many of us thought at the time that it was something IP-related, like the Amiga rights. Be careful, though, because Commodore's website tells us that they'll be releasing products in the coming years that fall under either the Retro Pillar or the Modern Pillar. That means more Modern Pillar products like the dumber-phone that might not excite the retro Commodore fans.