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Shot97
Detroit, MI, USA

Posted Sat Apr 01, 2023 2:06 pm

I'm getting ready to finally review Ultima1 for the Commodore 64, most of the material has long been set for when I felt like doing it. But one reason it takes me forever is that I can slowly dive into this rabbit hole of "I wonder if this magazine ever said anything about the game...", and it's not always as simple as doing a keyword search, sometimes I go issue after issue just flipping pages.

Dragon is a favorite for reviews on computer games of all sorts, though they specialized in role playing games. They were actually owned by TSR, though I've never seen any obvious indications their reviewers were sucking on the company...well... you know... On the contrary I see nothing but a joyous love for games of all kinds, something many from back then and today would do good in attempting to emulate. They were the magazine for "gamers" when gamers meant people playing board games and in-person D&D.

They didn't start covering computer games seriously until 1987, with only an occasional mention of computers prior to that. They might have covered the first Wizardry, maybe the Temple of Apshai, but not Ultima, neither in its original 1981 release or the later re-release in late 86/early 87. Here Dragon talks about various computers, a battle between Radio Shack/Apple/and Commodore, owning a combined 75% of the market. This is prior to the VIC-20's release but maybe a month or two, so it's just the PET line. Interesting how they describe Commodore as having blown their chance to dominate... Boy, that was a recurring theme, huh? Ha!

Made me laugh at Apple, where this is the one time in history I would have felt they had the best computer technology, and the Apple II was the best in capabilities at that moment, but they never did have the best selling computer, RadioShack dominating the market with 500,000 sold. Steve Wozniak has said that Apple approached Commodore to buy "them", them being the Apple II as well as both Steve's, Commodore declined saying that home users had no interest in color machines. The Atari 8-Bit line is brand new. The VIC-20, despite not being released yet, would be the top selling computer of 1981, and was the first computer to sell 1,000,000, again laughing when considering the head start RadioShack would have had. I also think I understand why so many games were called "HI-RES" for the C64 and Amiga when they were anything but, it was because of the Apple II having a HI-RES mode of 280x160, which would have had to have been blown up on both the 64 and Amiga to reach their lowest resolution. Anyway, figured it would be an interesting read for you guys, and would love to hear thoughts.

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Zippy Zapp
CA, USA

Posted Tue Apr 18, 2023 11:14 am

At least they rightly called the PET "the first "personal" (vs "hobby") computer on the market". That is usually attributed to the Apple II and I always read elsewhere in mags that the PET was sold first, regardless of claimed release dates. Not that it matters these days. But there has been so much revisionist history when it comes to Commodore.

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Shot97
Detroit, MI, USA

Posted Wed Apr 19, 2023 2:04 pm

Yeah, even the Woz gives credit to the Apple as the first personal computer in interviews. Generally I hold him in much higher esteem than Jobs, and even more so than the Jobs lovers who love to distort history. Woz is still so lovable that I forgive him for that, and I always felt like in the interviews he was being pushed in that direction by the one giving the interview, so he just goes with it. Of course the PC people wouldn't even give credit to Commodore or Apple.





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