Submitted 3 weeks ago by monica_b1998@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://slicker.me/retrocomputing/c64_vs_consoles.htm
Oh my beloved C64! I made my first “real” games with it, my buddies were artistic and made the music, sprites, animations, etc. I programmed the tools to make them!
The worst aspect of the C64 was that the hardware was a mostly undocumented mystery zone. As an early teen, I had the C64 programmer’s reference manual checked out of our library for 2 years!!! Doing any kind of advanced graphics meat PEEKing and POKEing random addresses and registers to see what would happen. A nightmare!
The worst aspect of the C64 was that the hardware was a mostly undocumented mystery zone.
This is simply false. The C64 was the most open computer at the time, everything was open, including how you programmed the special hardware directly. Even the included documentation was pretty good to get started, and included examples on how to program audio.
You are talking a lot of philosophical stuff, but the reality was when you wanted to get the low level hardware, there was very little documentation. Even banks of the technical documents had giant blanks saying these are a bunch of video registers and interrupts, basically good luck lol
I don’t ever remember seeing a list of PEEKs and POKEs. Guess it never occured to me that there was better documentation to be had. Every pin in the machine was clearly documented though.
I do think software piracy also was a large success factor. When I was 15 there was one major spot in my city where consoles and computers were sold (within a department store!), and people where “swapping” games even before they bought the hardware. I remember at least one of the store clerks having a small side business providing access to disks and tapes you could copy - right on the machines that were shown in store.
And I learned how to copy the C64’s basic rom to ram and mod small things even before I had the machine myself.
All the kids were gathering round the computers, the consoles were less attractive.
until it didn’t
Depends on the time you mean but my old Amiga 500 begged to differ!
One year, you could trade games at school. The next year, you couldn’t, because all anyone cared about were stupid consoles.
DFX4509B_2@lemmy.org 3 weeks ago
I wonder if history will repeat with PCs, and especially handheld PCs, in the present day while Nintendo, PS, and Xbox crash and burn should there be a second Video Game Crash.
Goodlucksil@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Nintendo will not change, maybe they will get out of the US.
Sony may sack their console departments and stick to everything else.
Microsoft is already getting over with Xbox.
Steam Deck and clones will become the new handhelds, along with (possibly) Android gaming phones with controllers.
PC architectures will displace console ones.
FreeBooteR69@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
In a world where you have a choice other than a walled garden, are you surprised people pick an open platform? Exclusives are never a good thing for the consumer, it is a way to control the user and deprive them of choice. About time people started wising up.
monica_b1998@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
great question. i think it would be super difficult to predict the future of gaming technology at this point