The Commodore Comeback at CeBIT

Peter Malford writes "Earlier this month Slashdot reported on Commodore's return with new gaming PCs that would be officially announced at CeBIT. Cnet.co.uk has got a first look at the four new models called the XX, GX, GS and G. "The high-end XX packs enough grunt to make an Alienware machine run to its deformed alien mum. It uses an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 quad-core processor, 4GB of RAM and two Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX graphics cards running in tandem... Commodore uses what it calls a 'revolutionary painting process' to make them look pretty damn gorgeous." Commodore also officially launched the Gravel In Pocket PMP and unveiled some new Gravel devices, one that has a 4" screen and one that features a built-in GPS receiver."

Comments

Wha?

[AKAImBatman]

The high-end XX packs enough grunt to make an Alienware machine run to its deformed alien mum.

Alienware is not a serious competitor. At least not any longer. They're just another Dell brand.

Also, it's probably worth noting that the really high end systems are often hand-built. That way you can get both the hardware you want, and the case design you want. Many of the 'Gaming PCs' tend to be targeted at the market of wannabes who have too much money and not enough sense.

Commodore uses what it calls a 'revolutionary painting process' to make them look pretty damn gorgeous.

I'm so sorry, am I missing something here? Because "pretty damn gorgeous" is not how I'd describe these machines. "Pretty damn hideous" is a bit closer. "Treading on someone else's memories and goodwill to make a buck" is even better. "Looking li-"

OMFG! What the hell is that Giana Sisters skin!?!?! ('scuse me, C-Kin)

My beautiful sisters! What has become of you!?! I... I... I...

I think I need to go now. If you'll pardon me. I... need to find the nearest restroom before I hurl.

Re:Wha?

[Seumas]

I'd love to buy a high-end Commodore gaming rig, presuming it is about as cheap as building it myself. I have never bought a pre-built machine in my life (except for laptops, of course). I would not mind letting someone else handle the trouble and hassle of the process of putting the components together for me, but I have yet to find thoroughly high-end and high-quality gaming rigs that are not significantly cheaper to build on my own. If they charged within about $100 of what I would pay for the parts via Newegg and Pricewatch, I might seriously consider them. Otherwise, I'll just continue to do it the old fashioned way.

As for how the machines look. Well, I really don't care. I didn't really get into the habit of bothering putting the sides on my cases until the last few years. It's a computer; not some lame honda accura that I have to give a fast-looking paintjob to so it doesn't look like it's a lame honda accura. The case you linked to is... ugh. I don't even know what the hell that is supposed to be. It looks like a retarded lego from a Ritalin-high toddler's bedroom. Eeew!

I prefer my machines to look... um... well, like machines. My newest case is the Cooler Master 832 and that is pretty damn close to the most appealing case I've ever had (even if it is $250). It's not as square and boxy as I'd prefer, but at least it's just a plain aluminum box.

Funny English

[Knertified]

"We Open Store Mid April!" "You have dedicated time for your gaming and you want the edge that gaming supreme will give you." "The Commodore gaming extreme takes your frag count to a whole new level with this high performance..." Why does this remind if me "all your base are belong to us?"

Finally!

[rmckeethen]

Thank you Commodore, for putting out a new system actually capable of running Vista right out of the box!

cold dead fish

[nuzak]

"Gravel in Pocket"?

I'm speechless.

Gravel

[AKAImBatman]

Ok, I'm back. Looking at the "Gravel" (who names this stuff?), I'm much more impressed by it than I am their PC offerings. The CNet article shows a very compact device that appears to be well suited to portable television applications. I must say that I'm impressed. At least with the form factor and control scheme. The memory size seems to be a bit of a show-stopper, though. It doesn't take much to fill up 2 GB (or even 4 GB) of storage. With iPod videos starting at 30GB, this thing looks woefully small for the task.

Of course, that's something that can always be fixed in future revisions. If it's going to fail in the marketplace, it will be because it lacks content. No media player ever sells without content. And with Apple sewing up the downloadable television/movie market, I'm not sure where that leaves the Gravel. (Groveling, perhaps?) It's a neat device irrespective of its Commodore branding, but I sincerely hope that The New Commodore(TM) has some content distribution deals in the works.

Re:Supercritical gaming

[AKAImBatman]

Lighten up a little, Batman. Nostalgia has a great purpose in life.

I fail to see the nastolgia in this. I have a Commodore 64 sitting at home. This new behometh looks nothing like it, nor does it evoke any sense of the original. Nor is it even close to the grace of the Amiga. So I'd say, "treading on memories and goodwill" is pretty close, wouldn't you?

We can always mod the case (make our own C-kin) and the internal cards at a later date. I'm guessing it's not all integrated.

Um. Okay?

It's a box. That's painted. If that appeals to you, good for you! To each their own. But it still has nothing to do with Commodore. It's just a label slapped on an unreleated company to generate press.

I'm not really sure why you're mentioning expansion cards. I have no doubt that these are internally expandable. Just like you'd expect any machine of these specs to be. I also have no doubt that they'll be incredibly expensive, and highly impractical when compared to what you could custom-build for less. *shrug*

You're right about the Giana Sisters C-kin. WTH?

Please do not take this as sarcasm, because it is not intended as such. Thank You! I was worried that I'd get jumped on for "not liking Japanamation" or something screwy like that. My only concern is that the case design shown is not the Giana Sisters. That looks more like Pokemon with a new name slapped on it.

The LOGO

[Paolo DF]

At least, they didn't mess with the logo and butchered as Atari (the new Atari) did.
Look here

Ok, can anyone help me?

[MrPinstripeCom]

I just got one of these babies . . . I can't get the CD rom to recognize, anyone know the load extension for it? I tried Load "zaxxon",8,1 And Seriously, my commodore tape drive isn't USB OR Firewire...any thoughts? If you could fit, in some cases, 10-15 games PER SIDE of a non HD 5.25" floppy, can you imagine a DVD worth of C=64 games!? ooh man....

Re:bleh

[tomstdenis]

Who needs heat? Parents basement is comfortable year-round! :-(

Old Commodore vs new Commodore

[the_womble]

Old Commodore: "revolutionary graphics chip" "revolutionary audio" "revolutionary OS" New Commodore: "revolutionary painting process"