Commodore

Commodore is a general name that refers to Commodore International, an American electronics company. It was a major player in the home or personal computer market in the 1980s. The Commodore C64 console was the world’s best- selling desktop computer.

The C64 is an 8-bit home computer featuring 64KB RAM. When the Commodore C64 computer was launched, there were few companies that could match its graphics and sound performance capabilities.

The Commodore monitor was separately launched so that one could connect the Commodore C64 home computer to it and not the television unit. The monitor is capable of producing high quality NTSC and PAL display, mono audio and features front and rear video inputs.

Commodore went on to manufacture the Commodore 128 which was the last 8-bit business machine sold commercially by Commodore Business Machines. The Commodore 128 was an update over the Commodore C64. The Commodore 128D was released in 1985 in Europe. The Commodore 128D was an improvement over the C128. It had a detached keyboard with a "1571" hard disk. The whole system was built into a single unit that looked sleek and had a professional look.

Over time, Commodore started looking out to buy newer technology innovations. Amiga Corporation was one such venture. The Amiga is a family of home computers developed by the Amiga Corporation. They chose the name "Amiga" as it meant "a female friend" in Spanish. The Amiga series is based on the Motorola 68K series of microprocessors and a customized chipset that has advanced sound and graphic capabilities. The Amiga was initially intended to be a video game machine but ended up being general purpose computer for home users. Amiga has, in recent times, become heavily involved in the gaming industry. They create games suited to the latest technologies and environment.

In recent times, emulators of the Commodore C64 have become very popular for playing computer games on the latest technologies. The emulator CD often comes with pre-bundled games.

Commodore Gaming is a manufacturer of high-end gaming specific PCs in which customers can design their outer PC cabinets/cases as per their choice of artwork. The Commodore brand was re-launched in 2007. Commodore games have achieved quite a bit of popularity in recent times.

Since 28 March 2008, Commodore 64 games have been available to buy for playing on the Wii Virtual Console in Europe; the first games available were Uridium and International Karate.