Like school, we each have a "concentration" in our gaming studies. In school, you take classes that round out your talents but you load up on a particular study because that's the direction you plan to take in the real world. For us gaming nuts, we play and collect games for many different systems to round out our collection's entertainment value but really dig in on a particular system, at least for a while. I often look at these gaming "concentrations" of my past and there's one very curious deviation. It goes like this: Atari 2600 to Intellivision to ColecoVision to Commodore 64 computer to.... wait a minute, that COMPUTER doesn't belong there... or does it?
Although I resisted the video game crash of 1984 I must admit that I ultimately jumped on the bandwagon: low cost home computers that could do it all. Atari was in the mix there, too, as was Texas Instruments and probably IBM although that was a bit out of my league. The real standout in my mind was Commodore, who had a compact system called the 64.
I don't know much about Commodore's history nor do I care to do the research. What I cared about back then as much as now is that the thing was much better suited as a game machine than as a "low cost home computer". The C-64 symbolizes my college days (yep, I'm dating myself). I was a commuter to Montclair State College (now it's a university, I'm dating myself again), majoring in Mathematics. I'd take computer classes all day long, then drive home and play on my computer, the venerable C-64. Did I do much programming or use my "math" talents? Hell no. I was almost always playing games. A few took up MONTHS of my life: Elite, PSi5 Trading Company, The Bard's Tale, Pool of Radiance, Airborne Ranger, Air Support, Way of the Exploding Fist... there were so many more. You know why? Because the C-64 was the absolute WORST at preventing piracy. And you know my type - if I could get my hands on FREE software, I would do it. My friend Kevin and I would even go to local user groups and exchange "warez". Man, do I miss those days.
You'll find that this system has something for EVERYONE. There are arcade games, role playing games, puzzle games, military strategy games, simulations, demos, and (yuck) even productivity stuff. Besides the C-64's graphic personality - in my opinion the games are somewhere between the ColecoVision and NES in terms of quality and depending on the developer - what really makes it stand out is it's sound processor: the SID chip. LISTEN to a few of the soundtracks and you'll see what I mean. Not only was the audio far ahead of its time, but it still has a unique presence. You probably won't ever hear anything pumped out like the SID chip did it. It's quite unique.
One last note regarding gaming as it relates to schooling: I started college with a mathematics major but ended with a philosophy major. Did the C-64 have anything to do with it? Draw your own conclusion.