![]() At the same time, Robert "Bob" Russell (system programmer and architect on the VIC-20) and Robert "Bob" Yannes (engineer of the SID) were critical of the current product line-up at Commodore, which was a continuation of the Commodore PET line aimed at business users. This project was eventually cancelled after just a few machines were manufactured for the Japanese market. Commodore then began a game console project that would use the new chips-called the Ultimax or the Commodore MAX Machine, engineered by Yash Terakura from Commodore Japan. Design work for the chips, named MOS Technology VIC-II (Video Integrated Circuit for graphics) and MOS Technology SID (Sound Interface Device for audio), was completed in November 1981. In January 1981, MOS Technology, Inc., Commodore's integrated circuit design subsidiary, initiated a project to design the graphic and audio chips for a next generation video game console. In 2011, 17 years after it was taken off the market, research showed that brand recognition for the model was still at 87% The C64 is also credited with popularizing the computer demoscene and is still used today by some computer hobbyists. C64 emulators allow anyone with a modern computer, or a compatible video game console, to run these programs today. Approximately 10,000 commercial software titles have been made for the Commodore 64 including development tools, office productivity applications, and video games. It has been compared to the Ford Model T automobile for its role in bringing a new technology to middle-class households via creative and affordable mass-production. Commodore produced many of its parts in-house to control costs, including custom integrated circuit chips from MOS Technology. Part of the Commodore 64's success was its sale in regular retail stores instead of only electronics or computer hobbyist specialty stores. Sam Tramiel, a later Atari president and the son of Commodore's founder, said in a 1989 interview, "When I was at Commodore we were building 400,000 C64s a month for a couple of years." In the UK market, the C64 faced competition from the BBC Micro and the ZX Spectrum, but the C64 was still one of the two most popular computers in the UK. computers, and the Atari 8-bit family of computers. ![]() For a substantial period (1983–1986), the C64 had between 30% and 40% share of the US market and two million units sold per year, outselling the IBM PC compatibles, Apple Inc. The C64 dominated the low-end computer market for most of the 1980s. It had superior sound and graphical specifications compared to other earlier systems such as the Apple II and Atari 800, with multi-color sprites and a more advanced sound processor. Preceded by the Commodore VIC-20 and Commodore PET, the C64 took its name from its 64 kilobytes (65,536 bytes) of RAM. Volume production started in early 1982, marketing in August for US$595 (equivalent to $1,477 in 2016). It is listed in the Guinness World Records as the highest-selling single computer model of all time, with independent estimates placing the number sold between 10 and 17 million units. The Commodore 64, also known as the C64 or the CBM 64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas, January 7–10.
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