If you happen to be one of the older generation gamers here on GS, you probably have a few fond recollections of a certain home PC system called the Commodore 64.

First released in the United States in 1982, this little chunk of hardware is actually the record holder for the best selling single personal computer of all time. With 64 kilobytes to its name and a price tag of approximately $600, it brought the computer age to households across the nation and kick-started a generation of future gamers, hackers and programmers into gear. It had over ten thousand commercially available applications on the market, it was not the first home PC available, but it offered a better price than the early IBM and Apple II systems and quickly took over the marketplace. Part of its charm was it didn't require a specialized monitor; it could be hooked up to the television, which gave it a jump on the video game systems of the time. By 1988, Commodore was selling 1.5 million systems worldwide. It seemed like a golden age for the company, but after a few weak upgrades in the States (most notably the Amiga) and price undercutting by competition in the UK and European countries, the Commodore had to give up the ghost. The company declared bankruptcy in 1994, and the Commodore 64 was relegated to that dusty shelf of '80's icons. Forgotten...but apparently not dead.....

In an article on GameDaily, it was announced that Commodore Gaming is now opening a U.S. Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, and bringing in as Vice President Bill Sims, formerly Regional Sales Manager for Electronic Arts. At this point, one must say "Ohhkaaaay, who would dredge up this system again, and why?" And to answer that, we must do a bit of backtracking on the history. It seems that while the company itself managed to do a spectacular belly-flop into the Pool Of Doom, that little brown PC just refused to die. Third-party software and home programming kept it popular, company support or no. Popular enough, anyway, for the Commodore trademark to be purchased by a string of companies - first Escom, then Gateway Computers, then a Dutch company named Tulip Computers. It's at this point that the trail gets a bit tough, but it seems that it's there that the name once again began to take on a life of its own. In March 2007, at the CeBit Electronics Show in Germany, a company by the name of Commodore Gaming popped up and announced a new line of PC's aimed at the gaming market. The company followed up with an appearance at London's Liepzig Gaming Expo, and offered Play.com first dibs on selling the new rigs.

Okay, so is this an attempt to market off an old iconoclastic name? Or is this simply proof you can't keep a good name down? Admittedly, The Spook is not a PC gamer, but the specs certainly LOOK impressive enough. The Commodore XX offers an Intel Core Extreme Quad-core processor - oh heck, just click the link, willya? The numbers are giving me a headache....

In all honesty, I think popping the Commodore name on these hunks o' gaming fun was sheer brilliance - it certainly snagged my attention, and I freely admit to being strictly a console gamer. But as you guys should have figured out by now, I'm all about hearing opinions. What's your thoughts on this? Potential winner, or wiener?