Commodore News

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Here you will find all the latest Commodore news - mostly related to C64 - Amiga - C128 - Plus/4 - VIC-20 - PET. This ticker contains news about new game and hardware releases, latest video and podcast uploads, trivia and product information. All freshly fished from the web. RSS feed available!

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19.09.2021 - Amiga port of 'Jackal' is on its way - second demo version available and ready for download and play
Jackal, also distributed under the title of Top Gunner, is an overhead run'n gun-style shoot-'em-up video game by Konami released for the arcades in 1986. The player must maneuver an armed jeep in order to rescue prisoners of war (POWs) trapped in enemy territory. Jackal was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) on September 1988 in North America. This project attempts to port the NES version with some graphical improvements on the Amiga (OCS-ECS) platform.

19.09.2021 - Update on the VIC-II Kawari by Randi Rossi
The VIC-II Kawari Project is a modern FPGA based replacement for the C64. It completely replaces the original chip but offers near perfect compatibility but additional capabilities like HDMI output and 80 column text. Randi has finally a working PCB. He is hand assembling a fleet of test devices and they will be heading off to beta testers.

17.09.2021 - Amiga 1200 Saved from the Flood Part 1 - new video from 'Jan Beta'
This time Jan is trying to save a Commodore Amiga 1200 that suffered some water damage during the recent floodings here in Germany.

17.09.2021 - Commodore VIC-20 Tape & Datasette Rescue - ChickenHead Chronicles - new video from '10 Minute Amiga Retro Cast (10MARC)'
This week on The ChickenHead Chronicles We are returning to my Roots: The Commodore VIC-20. Recently in eBay Doug found a really cool Tape Cassette case from an Estate Sale that still had about 70 VIC-20 tapes in it. Join him as we talk about the Datasette, the history of the tapes and the legacy that he was trying to preserve.

17.09.2021 - Amiga game 'Pacman 500' released
This is a (successful) attempt by jotd to create a 1:1 port of the famous arcade game on Amiga 500 using 100% 68k assembly. The display is 4:3 so scores, lives, bonuses are on the side rather than on top/botton. The gameplay layout is 1:1 vs the original, though. Requires: - Any kickstart, 1MB memory (could be reduced to 512k with lower quality sounds). The game can be obtained as digital download for free.

16.09.2021 - C64 Joystick-Controlled Sprites in Assembly PART TWO - new Video from '8-Bit Show And Tell'
Finally, the follow-up video to the original "Commodore 64 Joystick-Controlled Sprites in Assembly and BASIC" video from September 2019! We explore a better approach to reading the joystick using the shift method. Also shown: how to display and move all 8 sprites using indexing, changing their colour and appearance, and also a more advanced topic of scaling the ROM character set up by a factor of 3 to turn the Commodore characters into big sprites.

15.09.2021 - PDF Retro magazine REV'n'GE issue #125 for download
REV'n'GE (Retro Emulator Vision and Game) is an Italian and English language PDF magazine, not only for Commodore fans, that mainly focus on game REViews.

15.09.2021 - Little update on of WIP Amiga game 'Wizonk'
Work was done on the base 4player mode on and off, then eventually a campaign mode for proper release will be added, as well as likely the multiplayer side gets improvment. Still much of what's to be seen is placeholder graphics. Keep in mind that the main project of the developer is the promising 'Creeping Me Out: Hex Night' and Wizonk is very experimental and partly a learning exercise for him..

14.09.2021 - BackSID Commodore 64 Sound Chip Replacement
BackSID is a replacement for the SID 6581/8580 sound chip in the Commodore 64 and 128 computers from the 80's. Take a journey back in time, and relive the magic! If you have a Commodore 64 with a broken SID chip, this will help it get its groove back. It features faithful sound reproduction, configurable settings (including overdrive, filters, and smoothing), potentiometer support, and automatic 9V/12V voltage detection.

13.09.2021 - 'Kung Fu Flash' Firmware v1.26 released
'Kung Fu Flash' is a cartridge for the Commodore 64 by Kim Jorgensen that packs a punch. It can emulate different cartridge types, load PRG files and use D64 disk images. Just place your desired CRT, PRG or D64 files on a FAT formatted microSD card and use the built-in launcher to execute them. New in this update: - Add support for Drean cartridges.

12.09.2021 - New C64 game 'Night Knight' released
This is a C64 port of the amazing MSX game Night Knight. C64 code, graphics and sound by Aris Kavalos. Sir Bernard is cursed. The only way he can get some sleep at night is by taking a long walk, which is not easy at all when you live in an enchanted castle! Can you help him complete all 80 stages and break the curse? A digital download is available for free.

12.09.2021 - C64 game 'Chiller 2' - physical release out now
Chiller 2 by Cosine Systems is a multi-level single-screen platform game inspired by the Mastertronic game Chiller. The aim of the game is to collect 20 crosses on each level while avoiding all sorts of nasty ghouls, witches, and critters that drain your energy when you make contact with them. While you’re at it, make sure you also look out for where you stand as each level is littered with poisonous mushrooms that will also result in a loss of energy. If you did play the free download, please consider purchasing it!

11.09.2021 - ZZOT! magazine issue #2 released
ZZOT! is called the fundamentalist magazine of the sixtyfourist zealot, by it's creators. Inspired by the Italian wave of the epic gamers' magazines of the 1980s, ZZOT!, in the craziest way possible, tells the story of the incredible sixtyfourist demoscene and the current Commodore64 franchise, juggling with every topic rising in the communities on the legendary computer. The magazine is availabe as free digital download (.pdf).

11.09.2021 - Amiga game 'Blade' re-relased
Blade is an isometric dungeon crawler game for Amiga, that was originally released in 1996. The game took over a year to develop and was signed to be published by a troubled company named Alive Mediasoft. It was released without the consent of the developer and he received nothing. Now you can get it as digital download for a bargain (name your own price).

11.09.2021 - New firmware release (210911) for MIST Board available
The MIST board was designed to implement classic 16 bit computers like the Amiga and Atari ST(E) as System-on-a-Chip using modern hardware. But it equally well supports 8 bit systems like the Atari XL, ZX81, ZX Spectrum, C64, Atari VCS, Atari 5200, Colecovision, Apple II, Sega Master System, NES, Odyssey2 and more. New in firmware 210911: - Add missing keys for UK keyboard in set1 - for Next186 (by squidrpi). - DB9 joystick can be used for OSD navigation. - A new RTC config page in the OSD (needs USB-RTC). - Send 'mod' value to the core loaded from 'core.arc'. - Implement MMC_WriteMultiple, use it in IDE and ACSI. - USB HID fixes. - Use a bigger sector buffer for directory browsing (slight performance increase). - Refactor the code to make it easier to port the firmware to another MCU