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Text File | 2022-08-26 | 6KB | 204 lines

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     THE JOYSTICK C-64 IS COMING!
          by Robert Bernardo


[DAVE'S FORWARD]: This is probably the
most exciting news ever for the C=
world! I received this email from
Robert today - October 26 - and rushed
it onto the issue. Read on...


    The C64 DTV is coming your way on
November 26! How has this information
been corraborated?  The creator of the
device told me so!

    C= ladies and gentlemen, may I
present to you the creator of the C64
DTV 30-games-in-one joystick...

           Jeri Ellsworth.

    In a long phone call tonight, Jeri
revealed to me that Tulip/Ironstone
has given permission to reveal some
details (but not all) of this
reincarnation of the beloved C-64.

    So much information to sort...
well, here goes.

Designers/engineers/troubleshooters
    of the C64 DTV - Jeri Ellsworth,
    Jason Compton, Adrian Gonzalez,
    Robin Harbron, Per Olofsson, and
    Mark Seelye.  Heroes all!

Production details - 250,000 C64 DTV's
    have been produced or are in
    production at the Mammoth Toys
    factory, one hour outside of Hong
    Kong. Presently, only NTSC units
    are being built. 30,000 units are
    going to the warehouse of QVC, the
    television shopping network.

Vendor details - QVC has the exclusive
    rights to sell the C64 DTV until
    the first of the year. (After the
    first of year... unknown) QVC will
    start selling the units on
    November 26. On that first day,
    QVC will advertise the DTV as
    "Today's Special Value", which
    means an ad for it will be shown
    once an hour. Estimated price -
    $25 US, though QVC will set its
    own price. Unknown whether QVC
    will sell the DTV from the QVC
    website.

Note: QVC is looking to sell the DTV
against a backdrop of a classic C64
keyboard and original boxes of the
DTV-included games (see below). If you
have good-looking boxes of the games,
then let it be known, and your boxes
can show up on TV!

DTV game details - All games have been
    legally obtained and modified for
    use in the DTV. Games are from
    Epyx, Hewson, and others.

    The games include: Championship
    Wrestling, Cyberdyne Warrior,
    Cybernoid, Cybernoid II,
    Eliminator, Excelon, Firelord,
    Gateway to Apshai, Impossible
    Mission, Impossible Mission II,
    Jumpman Jr., Paradroid, Pitstop,
    Pitstop II, Ranarama, Silicon
    Warrior, Speedball, Summer Games,
    Supercycle, Sword of Fargoal,
    Tower Toppler, Uridium, Winter
    Games, World Karate Championship
    A, World Karate Championship B,
    Zynaps, (games split out from
    others) bull-riding, flying disc,
    sumo-wrestling, and surfing.

DTV details - Exterior color unknown,
    though pre-production models were
    black. Two firebuttons, four
    function buttons. Battery-powered,
    using four double-A batteries.
    Lifespan of batteries in the unit
    -- long (Jeri says that she has
    used hers for 5 hours without any
    sign of the batteries weakening.)
    Composite video-out. Paper box, no
    plastic "blister" pack. No second
    port for connecting another
    joystick. Warranty unknown at this
    point.

Nitty-gritty details - The DTV board
    is roughly the size of a playing
    card ([!!!!] -Ed). Under what
    looks like 3 blobs of epoxy on the
    board lies a custom ASIC chip that
    is just .35 microns tall. The 6
    volts of battery power is
    regulated down to 3.3 volts on the
    board. Jeri emphasizes that the
    ASIC is very compatible in terms
    of being a C64.

    The DTV is hard-coded to run at 1
    mhz. The unit has 128K RAM and 2
    meg of ROM. 256 colors available
    on-screen. Single SID sound with
    the 3 voices and "volume" mixed
    externally. The solder pads are
    there on the board; in other
    words, enterprising hackers can
    solder on a serial port in order
    to connect a Commodore-compatible
    drive and can attach a PC
    keyboard.

Other details - Jeri spent hundreds of
    hours developing the ASIC for the
    C64 DTV. In her quest to get it
    just right, she traveled to China
    and stayed there for a week,
    making daily journeys between her
    hotel in Hong Kong and the Mammoth
    Toy factory, working usually until
    10 at night. While in China, she
    tired easily of the food. The
    people with whom she had contact
    spoke English well. Many women had
    top engineering positions at
    Mammoth Toys.

    She also went to Thunder Bay,
    Ontario, Canada for a few days to
    partner up with Robin Harbron, who
    worked on converting the games for
    the DTV.


Psyched to buy a C64 DTV,

Robert Bernardo

     Fresno Commodore User Group
     http://videocam.net.au/fcu


[DAVE'S AFTERWORD]: I am really
excited, and have put aside $50 to get
two as soon as they hit the tube.
First of all, the games are some of
the coolest ever created for any
computer. But more to the point -- can
you imagine a C-64 that fits in the
palm of your hand?

That's right! That tiny board is
exactly what one would need to build a
laptop. Or perhaps a C= PDU. The
possibilities are endless.

I have had my concerns with Tulip/
Ironstone, but they are now there with
the legal power to make such things
happen. Not so long ago, no one dared
consider such a project because no one
knew who had the intellectual
properties and would come out of the
woodwork to scotch everything.

But the real excitement -- and the
real hero -- is Jeri Ellsworth. Over
the last several years, while
struggling to get the C1 up, running,
and commercially viable, Jeri has
learned a lot. Like how to get such a
project off the ground!

So, three cheers for Jeri (and her
Commodore Cohort) for getting this
ready and on QVC in a very timely
manner. I remember when 1984 was
dubbed the "Commodore Christmas." We
now have another one -- exactly 20
years later!

 DMM