User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Mon Aug 17, 2020 6:22 pm

We all know how the Commodore brand has been licensed over the years to quite a few small companies trying to sell bizarre new tech to a nostalgic crowd. From the Web-It Internet Computer to a smartphone called the PET (sigh) there have been a lot of head scratchings and eye rolls to be had by all.

One company out of the UK back in 2007/2008 decided to try and actually bring back a computer with the Commodore brand that paid homage to its gaming history. In fact, they called themselves Commodore Gaming. It was just a Windows PC in Commodore clothing, but at least the clothes had some style.

The idea went something like this.

You could either buy a large metal case with the Commodore logo stamped everywhere (and I mean everywhere) or you could buy a "C-KIN" (pronounced "skin") version with various large game themed skins on the outside.
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Drip!

That's not tacky. Other companies do it all the time, right?
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They apparently had several skins to choose from, some even licensed from Electronic Arts and Microsoft to display game imagery from games like Command and Conquer or Halo 2. They also had non-gaming "high brow" art designs and photography options as well.
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Supreme Commander, anyone?


The empty case was designed to be used with standard ATX motherboards and power supplies. There were two fans that could light up, one in the front of the case and a larger one on the side. The fans allow you to choose the color you prefer or you can use a mode where it cycles through the various colors (or simply turn them off). There are four external 5.25" bays, two external 3.5" drive bays one of which has a panel with two (2) USB ports, one Firewire port and audio in and out. There are also four internal 3.5" bays for hard disks. They're very well made and lined for noise reduction.

Or, back in 2008 you could buy a complete system from Commodore Gaming that ranged in price from £999 - £2,800 (!) and beyond.

An example of a top-end system starting configuration would have been the following:
  • Intel® Core™2 Extreme Quad-Core processor QX6850: 3GHz 8MB Cache
  • ASUS® P5N32-E NVIDIA® nForce® 680i SLI™ motherboard
  • 2x 150GB 10000 RPM SATA Raid 0 hard drives
  • 2GB Corsair™ DOMINATOR™ Twin2x2048-8500C5D memory: 1066MHz
  • DVDRW optical drive
  • 850W ICE Cube power supply
  • Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Pro
  • 2x NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800 ULTRA 768MB SLI™ graphics cards
  • Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Ultimate operating system
Vista? Oof.

But wait, there's more.
  • Interchangeable casing panels - personalized with your choice of art
  • High density layered sound insulation
  • Unique floating front door - can be closed with USB cables connected
  • Two independently illuminated fans - has eight changeable colors
  • Preloaded with an emulator - play more than 50 classic C64 games
  • Free Commodore gaming mousepad
Without further ado, it's time for pictures, right?
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Even though this wasn't original Commodore, this might actually be cooler than my filing cabinet. That being said, I could probably convert it into a filing cabinet - sucker is massive!

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If you correctly guess the number of Commodore logos on this case, you win a jar of jelly beans.

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One of the official marketing images by Commodore Gaming.


No idea how many of these were ever sold; my guess is not a ton as the site was only around for about 2 years.

User avatar
BleuNova
UK

Posted Thu Aug 20, 2020 4:18 am

How did I miss this bizarre event. I guess they wanted to be like Alienware.

couple more pics I just found.

Image
Image

User avatar
nadoom

Posted Mon Dec 21, 2020 6:13 pm

Many moons ago a bloke on amiga.org was selling a load of these, I bought one and I am using one right now, its a good case to be fair. The front panel has fallen off though. :-D






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