Today's Youth Unimpressed With Commodore 64

[GrimGrimoire]

I'm not sure how he expected anything other then the kids' reaction. Yes the 64 was a godsend back then, but those kids he introduced it to only know about the current gen, it'd be like showing a Model T to a group of teens who all own new cars.

Dunno about you, but I would love to have had a Model T instead of a new car.
Though, I would have to get a tophat, a monocle and a drivers license.

 

[sethisjimmy]

This is honestly really cringeworthy. I don't really understand what the guy wants, does he want them to be impressed?
It's just incredibly awkward because the kids are bright enough to realize that this guy is really proud of the 64 but at the same time there's really nothing good they can say about it other than "it was good for its time".

What a fun job, going into schools with the intent of creating awkward situations.

 

[Mister Six]

I'm not sure how he expected anything other then the kids' reaction. Yes the 64 was a godsend back then, but those kids he introduced it to only know about the current gen, it'd be like showing a Model T to a group of teens who all own new cars.

With the average person, maybe, but for anyone who's into cars, they'd certainly get excited about it. Actually, a Model T or something else from that era is a lot easier for the general public to appreciate than a C64 is. In some ways, the basics of them have changed a lot less in a century than computers have in a couple decades. My uncle and his friend restored a Model A, and pretty much anyone can be impressed by seeing a hundred-year-old car that runs smoothly at 60mph.

The only time I personally saw a tape-loading game system was last year when a friend of mine brought his out of storage. While I'm fascinated by the Commodore 64 as a piece of gaming history, I don't think anyone realistically wants to go back to a time when you waited ten minutes or more to load graphics even simpler than the original Mario Bros. Despite that, I am very glad that people like Allen keep showing off their classic gaming devices, and hope that they will continue to do so for the gamers of tomorrow, even if responses are somewhat mixed.

Kids these days. My first computer was a VIC-20. Don't make me pull it out of the closet. Some of the tapes might even still load. Heh.

I'm not sure how he expected anything other then the kids' reaction. Yes the 64 was a godsend back then, but those kids he introduced it to only know about the current gen, it'd be like showing a Model T to a group of teens who all own new cars.

Dunno about you, but I would love to have had a Model T instead of a new car.
Though, I would have to get a tophat, a monocle and a drivers license.

Oh no I understand that an actual working Model T would be quite impressive, and even a non-working one is still representitive of the history of the automobile, but kids nowadays don't.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

Gotta give it the props it deserves as a piece of Gaming History, but, come on. I'm sure that if you show todays games to kids in the future they'll think they're unimpressive by comparison. Its Evolution.

As much as I'm comparitively close DNA wise to a chimpanzee, doesn't mean I wanna fuck it.

 

[Daniel Park]

I had two C-64s, both of which had sported floppy drives. Load times weren't an issue. Our VIC20 had a cassette tape drive, and yes, the load times were kind of a bite.

 

[Formica Archonis]

My Grandad still has a Commodore 64 in great condition. He's hooked it up to his TV monitor and it sits on his desk. I've played it a few times and I have to say, I was impressed by it. The sheer simplistic brilliance of it is amazing.

Plus, I don't think his one takes 10 minutes to load...

​

The floppy drive was WAY faster than the tape. (Really, if he was deadset on doing a presentation on original hardware he should have brought the FASTER LOADING MEDIUM.)

One of the later magazines (Commodore Format or Commodore Power, I forget which) actually posted a special icon (an octopus) on reviews of games that were multiload (as in, they halted every so often to pull more data because they didn't fit in RAM all at once). On a disk drive, 10 seconds between levels to pull a bit of level data was no big deal, but it was a flow-breaking minute or minute and a half on tape. The multiload icon was a courtesy to warn people away from the tape version unless they were REALLY patient!

Still, big games like Impossible Mission still took a while to load even off floppies. The clever geek had a stack of Zzap!s or Transactors to read next to his C64.

 

[iniudan]

l don't want a thirty year old TV

I want my over 30 years old Admiral TV (I got no idea how old it is actually, it is older then me). It ugly has shit and weight ton but damn thing is indestructible and do modern TV still accept F connector or the old red/yellow/white RCA ? I actually have no idea if they are still in use, for not looking for a TV since didn't watch TV at home in like 5 years now, but need those connector for a few old consoles, which has been the main role of that TV since I finished first grade (when parent bought me a Nintendo for completing it). =p

 

[Mouse One]

I dunno. I had a C64 back in the day, but quite honestly have no great fondness for it or the games I played on it. Even using it as a word processor was a bit cumbersome-- my dot matrix printer was a pain and had barely legible results.

Oh, sure, I'd probably be happy to play Space Taxi again for old time's sake. But the thing is, it's not like an old car. Old cars had a certain beauty to them that is missing in today's more efficient stylings (cure you, aerodynamics!) Old computers are just like modern computers, except for being not as good.

For something to evoke nostalgia, it has to have something that's missing in today's world.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Part of the problem is context. They're unimpressed because they're not seeing this thing with the time period in mind. Considering the time, the Commodore was very impressive. I've never owned one, nor have I physically played one, but I can appreciate if for what it did at the time. I'm not going to use the "Kids these days" thing, but it's something that's true with kids of all generations. They don't know that these kinds of things need to be looked at in a contextual way.

The same can be said about movies and books.

 

[Hazy992]

And this is surprising, why exactly? When kids today have smartphones, tablets and really powerful PCs is it any wonder they're not impressed?

"It's not really amazing from our point of view," one student admitted. She then immediately backtracked to say "Well, it's good, it's good, but ... for then it must have been pretty incredible."

That's the standard response I'd expect from them. Because it's true

Another glorious failure of the British education system.

How exactly?

 

[czfjrod]

I'm actually glad that the Commodore 64 is still relevant today, if not any other system. It may not be as powerful as an Amiga or SNES, but it was quite flexible for its time. And speaking for some of the other kids who actually care, I was taken in by an informative video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmnlkLc1Foc] on YouTube, especially when it got into the details of programming in BASIC and explaining the inner workings of the system.

I agree that you can't introduce kids to something that comparatively weak today without raised eyebrows from across the world, but without the hassle of introducing them to the inner workings of operating systems too early, it'd be fine just to let them make simple programs in BASIC and go from there. Even in a Commodore emulator like VICE. Remember, these kids are in elementary and secondary schools, not upper-level schools.

Other than that, yes, we shouldn't go back to the old days when we've since reached the level of tessellation and Havok physics. But on the other hand, technology's been growing so much that the layman might find it daunting to learn about all aspects of computer science once applying for a bachelors.

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Side note: I actually found the most lasting legacy of the Commodore itself to be its marketing campaign [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PygDf6E94o]. Nostalgia maybe, but this is coming from a kid who was born right after the Amiga fell.
Actually, I'm using the C64 slogan as my motto in the occasional TF2 match.

 

[Mumorpuger]

I only remember 2 games from the C64 me and my bro had.... a detective game we played once and could never locate the (literal... wooo!!!) floppy disk for, and another one named Mindshadow.

Here's a link [http://www.myabandonware.com/game/mindshadow-1m3] to an updated, DOS version of the same game.

I need to thank my uncle for giving his computer to us. It kickstarted my PC gaming life that I still enjoy today.

 

[spwatkins]

In contrast, I bet if you showed them an LP record player they would think it was totally awesome.

 

[Doom972]

This article made me miss my first joystick. It was about the same size, the stick had a slightly different shape that made it easier to use with the thumb (I used it with my hand), it had 2 buttons, and it had 2 dials that could help you physically calibrate it, or make sort of an autopilot (for example: have it move constantly right so you don't have to keep pushing the stick to the right).
Can anyone tell me the model name and manufacturer of that joystick?

 

[Hitchmeister]

It sounds to me that the Commodore 64 was demoed in the most boring way possible. Of course kids today are not going to be impressed by the graphics and the ludicrously long load times for a game. Show them that you can write your own game and change it to be anything you want (which consoles do not offer) and they might be impressed.

 

[Rad Party God]

Show them an Amiga and it's floppies, that'll totally blow them away. Or at least it won't kill them of boredom.

I have fond memories of my dear Amiga, I already had an NES and a SNES back then, but I still prefered to play with my dear Amiga, it was quite special... until my dad sold it D:

I still have tons and tons of floppies for the Amiga laying around, waiting to be used again someday...

 

[bdcjacko]

kids today can go straight to hell. The commodore 64 is amazing.

 

[RJ Dalton]

Kids today are unimpressed with one of the oldest gaming systems on the market? What a shock!

And honestly, the quality of a console or game doesn't change over time (unless you're in today's market, ever adding more DLC). It's just that you have more things to compare it too and, hopefully, the newer stuff is better made.

Hopefully.