{"id":32,"date":"2009-12-26T16:32:25","date_gmt":"2009-12-26T16:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/retrovideogamesystems.com\/?p=32"},"modified":"2017-09-05T14:18:11","modified_gmt":"2017-09-05T13:18:11","slug":"the-commodore-vic-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/retrovideogamesystems.com\/the-commodore-vic-20\/","title":{"rendered":"The Commodore VIC-20"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"100_1037\"The Commodore VIC-20 started life in June 1980.\u00a0 Initially it was going to be called the Micro-pet<\/em> but due to the 6056 chip ‘Video Interface Chip<\/em>‘ which was engineered and manufactured specifically for the Commodore VIC, the Commodore Executive, Michael Tomczyk<\/em>, added the ’20’ part simply though that it sounded good.<\/p>\n

Despite the VIC-20’s development starting in 1979, it only reached the shops in 1981 giving it a relatively short life span.\u00a0 At the peak of the Commodore VIC-20’s life,\u00a0 Commodore was producing 9,000 units daily and had sold over 2.5 Million units throughout.\u00a0 This made the Commodore VIC-20 the first Computer the sell more than 1 million units. \u00a0With an estimated 300 titles on cartridge and over 500 titles available on tape, the system did pretty well for itself.<\/p>\n

I find it quite amusing when I read the box as it states on the side “The Commodore VIC-20 for the Home and Business” and to think that in the US, a television commercial featuring Star Trek’s – James T Kirk (William Shatner)<\/cite> was made to promote the Vic-20’s sales.\u00a0 Sadly, despite Commodore’s best efforts, the VIC-20 production line was to be shut down in January 1985.<\/p>\n

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