[digitalman101]

Hi to all

Just noticed that in appworld, there are 15 classic 'new' games from commodore Amiga system!

[bitek]

Give me Beast ...

Sent from my BlackBerry Playbook using Tapatalk 2

[glamrlama]

May be impossible for me not to buy Xenon2:megablast.

[Smiley88]

are they android ported crap apps or flash apps or native?

[BB_Bmore]

This must be what Jeppson tweeted about earlier..Something about his all time favorite games coming to PlayBook tomorrow.

[digitalman101]

are they android ported crap apps or flash apps or native?

They are not android portes. Just bought xenon2 and pretty sure they are Native.

[anthonybaker]

Woot I just saw this and was super stoked. Arcade classics here I come

[Terry1100]

Wow - now bring on Chaos Engine and Wings

[tomkranz]

Steve Cargill is a friend of mine - I've been chatting to him about getting Chaos Engine ported to the PB. The guy behind the port of Z has been in touch so I've been egging him on - we'll see what happens ;-)

[bkupris]

Chaos Engine please!

[JimiDiGriz]

Can anyone comment on how they play? Very very tempted by some of these. Wings or anything else by Cinemaware would be excellent, and Elite of course. Spent most of my teens on my Amiga. So many great games. As a side issue usual UK pricing irritation that these are �2 as a pose to the equivalent of $1.99.

[JimiDiGriz]

Took a punt on Alien Breed: SE. Very impressive. Good controls, nice bit of blurb about the game (from the original release notes perhaps) in the help section.... game is still bloody solid though. Damn key cards running out...

[kwksti]

omg, this brings back memories, my first computer - the Amiga....lol

[jsprice90]

Alien Breed was my favourite, cannot wait to get home to purchase that.

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

[JimiDiGriz]

"Welcome to Intex Systems" when you log onto the computer.... I'd forgotten about that. Massive sense of nostalgia when I heard it.

[bkupris]

ATV works good although it took me a minute to figure out how to select options and use the game controls lol. Once I got it going game play is just fine although seems the volume could be a bit louder?

[JimiDiGriz]

hmmm, can't seem to see how to enter codes to pick up where I left off in Alien Breed.

[mevok]

hmmm, can't seem to see how to enter codes to pick up where I left off in Alien Breed.

You enter the code into the computer on the first level. Log on, so that you can see the Intex main menu, and then just type the code. You'll hear a sound on the last key press to tell you it was recognised. Log off the computer and the level will change.

I guess this was a bit of an afterthought for the 'Special Edition' version. Tower Assault, at least, has an option on the starting menu for the level codes.

[mozartpc27]

I've said this before but I think there is an interesting connection among BlackBerry, Commodore, and Amiga. It goes something like this:

CBM (Commodore Business Machines):Amiga::RIM:QNX

Commodore was a company of Canadian origin that at one time jut about owned the PC market - the Commodore 64 is by some measures still the best-selling computer model of all time (there are lots of Windows XP machines, for example, but no individual make/model outsells the old C64).

Commodore was a company that started to falter when, to a degree, it became trapped by its own success, having built a customer base who demanded next-generation compatibility for the large external hardware and software collections they had build to support their C64s. This led Commodore to continue to try to fit itself inside the "box" of the C64, and also contributed to a failure to keep up with the ever-increasing computing power of the competition. So, success bred a failure to innovate.

Commodore eventually attempted to close the gap between itself and its competitors on the innovation front by buying what they could not produce themselves - thus they acquired the little-known Amiga and made it part of their brand.

Enthusiasts for many years insisted that the Amiga was ahead of its time, revolutionary, better than the competition, but its high price point and Commodore's poor marketing, combined with the sliding market position that Commodore found itself holding because of the public's assocation of the brand name with their now-outmoded C64's, prevented the Amiga from rescuing Commodore as a company.

So we have RIM. A Canadian company that once owned the smartphone market through its BlackBerry line of products. However, its failure to innovate (though not for the same reasons as Commodore) left it in a position where it essentially has tried to buy what it has not been able to produce: a TRULY next-gen operating system (QNX). Now, just as Commodore did with Amiga, RIM has tried to make QNX its own, doing what seems already to be a better job than Commodore in this regard.

QNX's/BB 10's/Playbook 2.0's enthusiasts vociferously argue that it is an OS ahead of its time, has superior architecture to its competitors, etc.

The question now is: will QNX/BB 10 be enough to save RIM, unlike Amiga, which failed to save Commodore? Or, perhaps more fairly to both QNX and Amiga in this analogy, will RIM succeed in marketing the genius product that they have acquired and used well enough to save themselves, in a way that Commodore failed to do with Amiga?

One good sign: Commodore never exactly made the Amiga the sole focus of its business, instead trying to keep the C64 legacy alive (through the C128 and the never-released C-65) while simultaneously trying to sell the Amiga. BlackBerry wisely plans to merge the old BlackBerry OS with QNX in BlackBerry 10 (or, perhaps more accurately, eliminate the old BlackBerry OS).

Time shall tell.

[Rootbrian]

Just... Awesome. I never had a c64/128 or amiga either.

I love these retro titles. Can't wait until zach reviews them.

[Rootbrian]

@mozartpc27 RIM isn't trying to buy themselves out of anything. They aren't anything like commmodore or amiga.

[joski]

I've said this before but I think there is an interesting connection among BlackBerry, Commodore, and Amiga. It goes something like this:

CBM (Commodore Business Machines):Amiga::RIM:QNX

Commodore was a company of Canadian origin that at one time jut about owned the PC market - the Commodore 64 is by some measures still the best-selling computer model of all time (there are lots of Windows XP machines, for example, but no individual make/model outsells the old C64).

Commodore was a company that started to falter when, to a degree, it became trapped by its own success, having built a customer base who demanded next-generation compatibility for the large external hardware and software collections they had build to support their C64s. This led Commodore to continue to try to fit itself inside the "box" of the C64, and also contributed to a failure to keep up with the ever-increasing computing power of the competition. So, success bred a failure to innovate.

Commodore eventually attempted to close the gap between itself and its competitors on the innovation front by buying what they could not produce themselves - thus they acquired the little-known Amiga and made it part of their brand.

Enthusiasts for many years insisted that the Amiga was ahead of its time, revolutionary, better than the competition, but its high price point and Commodore's poor marketing, combined with the sliding market position that Commodore found itself holding because of the public's assocation of the brand name with their now-outmoded C64's, prevented the Amiga from rescuing Commodore as a company.

So we have RIM. A Canadian company that once owned the smartphone market through its BlackBerry line of products. However, its failure to innovate (though not for the same reasons as Commodore) left it in a position where it essentially has tried to buy what it has not been able to produce: a TRULY next-gen operating system (QNX). Now, just as Commodore did with Amiga, RIM has tried to make QNX its own, doing what seems already to be a better job than Commodore in this regard.

QNX's/BB 10's/Playbook 2.0's enthusiasts vociferously argue that it is an OS ahead of its time, has superior architecture to its competitors, etc.

The question now is: will QNX/BB 10 be enough to save RIM, unlike Amiga, which failed to save Commodore? Or, perhaps more fairly to both QNX and Amiga in this analogy, will RIM succeed in marketing the genius product that they have acquired and used well enough to save themselves, in a way that Commodore failed to do with Amiga?

One good sign: Commodore never exactly made the Amiga the sole focus of its business, instead trying to keep the C64 legacy alive (through the C128 and the never-released C-65) while simultaneously trying to sell the Amiga. BlackBerry wisely plans to merge the old BlackBerry OS with QNX in BlackBerry 10 (or, perhaps more accurately, eliminate the old BlackBerry OS).

Time shall tell.

This was a great read. Thank you!

Maybe it's just because I've been smoking something, which is almost positively the case, but I can kinda see a resemblance here! Haha

[sleepngbear]

@mozartpc27 RIM isn't trying to buy themselves out of anything. They aren't anything like commmodore or amiga.

Well, RIM did buy QNX.... and there are some similarities, even if the story lines aren't identical.

I had a C-64, and even wrote a few compiled Basic apps for it, back when I had a mind and the patience for that kind of thing. Then a friend of mine got an Amiga, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what you'd ever do with all those program 'windows', a mouse and no command line. Oh me of little foresight. Graphic-oriented operating systems were still barely beyond a twinkle in Steve Jobs' eye when the Amiga came out with full multi-tasking, built-in digital sound, and a GUI that Microsoft wouldn't come close to until years later. It was unfortunately doomed by its own horrible marketing and the fact that it was simply years before its time.

Definitely gotta try a few of these games and finally see what I missed out on all those years ago.

[Smiley88]

My favs were Defender of the Crown and Battle Chess. I still have 3 Amigas in my garage and Vic and C= 64 somewhere. Amiga was the best until they fu#ked it up. Hope RIM doesn't go down that path.

[JimiDiGriz]

I don't know what the deal is with licensing these games but to be honest, if it was open season and they were ported as well as this first batch, there were so many fantastic games released for the Amiga they could make a killing on these. Exclusive to PlayBook as well. I'd certainly pay a quid or so per game if the likes of Cinemaware or Bullfrog back catalogues were available.