Aside from the diehard fans, it's the behaviour between the companies that stopped me buying their products, and I'm probably not the only one.
I applaud it's finally wrapped up but in a rapidly dwindling fan base they were eroding the value of their own brands - brands that should have been complementary.
I hope now they can recover that iconic status, but I feel it's simply going to go the way Atari is iconic now - mostly trendy t-shirts and retro sales.
> Current licensees include A1200.NET, Antstream Arcade, Blaze Entertainment, Cloanto, Commodore, Hyperion Entertainment (and its sublicensees), Retro Games, Simulant Systems, and SpecNext.
So "Commodore" is in the list: hence as I understand it the youtuber from retrorecipes owns the Commodore name and is officially licensed to make C64 and Amiga branded computers.
Quite impressive IMO what this dude managed to pull off.
But the thing I've truly struggled to understand, particularly with PeriFractic and his bleating of "I OWN THE COMMODORE NAME NOW!" is just
...who cares? If you like Commodore stuff, great. Do things that make you happy. But does having a C64 with "the commodore name" printed on it owned by some slop peddling youtuber (both in his embracement of LLM's and that bizarre "dumb phone but also not" project) truly change anything for fans?
If you're buying an "A1200 accelerator" does the fact it says "AMIGA" on it make it more valuable than if it just said "68K accelerator" or some other generic term?
Then also knowing what a mess the Amiga/Commodore licencing is, when he said he bought Commodore but not Amiga, I completely disregarded it as just adding more confusion to the situation (and then there's the insane decision that is the commodore phone)
It's really not mysterious why something like that would find an audience, even if it's not everyone's cup of tea. Their beige C64 Ultimate is a well-executed clone of the legendarily popular original. Compare and contrast with some of the really bad stuff that has had the "Atari" name slapped on it in the 21st century.
Of course the phone is stupid. Regarding the Amiga:
Amiga is now in a position to restore the iconic SoftVoice speech synthesis to AmigaOS. Several versions of the historic Boing Ball demo are also being prepared for release.
Come on. The boing ball demo. I don't know what that is but doesn't it sound awesome?
He got a bunch of old hats to sign their name to...what, exactly. A C64 on an FPGA? That he tried to lock down before getting backlash from the community? [2]
But none of that answers the question. What's the point?. Are "super fans" just paying through the nose because having something with the word "Commodore" on it truly means that much more to them?
"Mr. Fractic" has done nothing but shell out money and is now trying to recoup his investment. He created nothing (the phone was AI hallucinated for god sake) and seems to just be hoping that folks making actual new equipment around the C64 (and I guess Amiga?) sign on to get his blessed license. But, again. What are they buying?
[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20190711081426/https://starwarsi...
[2] https://old.reddit.com/r/c64/comments/1svq98v/commodore_now_...
After its demise the Amiga/Commodore brand and intellectual property was split and changed hands frequently leaving behind a fragmented and often adversarial landscape of companies. So this fragmentation maybe can be seen as an obstacle for the Amiga to once again rise up and get its revenge against the x86/x64/ARM... you name it.
I think therefore Mr. Fractic is the perfect fit for this computer. The idea is a bit... over the top.
I grew up with C64 and Amiga and I still hold it dear in my heart, it had many great games back then, but I'm not buying into the new Commodore thing at all. It comes off as a bit off and goofy, maybe even problematic.
While I'd like to see all Commodore related brands to come together under one roof once again, I think funding it via the creation of new hardware by a for profit company to be ridiculous and ill fated. Let the dead be dead. I would have wished for a non-commercial custodian like entitiy instead, that just makes sure that people who use the brands and IP can do so for a modest fee if it's DIY projects or small companies selling add-ons just so they have the legal security of not getting sued for mentioning Amiga or Commodore somewhere in their texts and releasing all Amiga and C64 hardware and software under a FOSS license for the public to fix and enhance if they like.
But this just seems to me like just another post-Commodore company meddling with the legacy and legal stuff.