4 ms·

I have to imagine that the movie War Games starring Matthew Broderick helped spur sales. After seeing that movie, I had to have a commodore computer ;) That m

I have to imagine that the movie War Games starring Matthew Broderick helped spur sales. After seeing that movie, I had to have a commodore computer ;) That movie, alone, changed me. I was an eletronics geek and after seeing that movie, I knew the future (for me) was computers.

vidarh 11y ago
War Games didn't feature a Commodore machine, it featured an IMSAI. It might have helped boost mainstream interest in computers, but by then Commodore was already a big, well established company and - I believe - hadn't yet thoroughly burned their reseller network.
- Luc 11y ago
  Well it was the C64's time. If you got enthused about computers by the movie, in 1983, chances were you'd get a C64. Wasn't Broderick's character using an IMSAI to show he didn't have the money for new hardware, and had to make do with 2nd hand stuff? 'War Games' isn't a half bad game on the C64, either!
- emcrazyone 11y ago
  ah, you're right. The movie theater I saw the movie at had a contest at the same time. Fill out a form, drop in a big decorated box, and if your name was drawn you won a C64. The contest was, if I recall correctly, tied to the movie. Like, win a computer "like" the one Matthew used in the movie War Games.... or something along those lines. My friend and I took home a stack of those forms and filled out at least 100 (probably more) but we didn't win. Fun & memorable times. Thanks for the info on the IMSAI.
mariuolo 11y ago
ISTR it spurred the sale of modems. Together with that less known series named Whiz Kids.
soylentcola 11y ago
I never saw the movie as a kid but I was generally aware of the Hollywood concept of "hacking" a computer over a network. We had a Commodore but I was not allowed to use the modem (dad kept it boxed up and hidden somewhere). Still, one of the first programs I wrote for that Commodore was a way to trick my younger brothers into thinking I'd somehow "hacked" into some generic military computer system. It was just a bunch of text menus where you input the number of the option you wanted and "navigated" this alleged remote computer. I even used some time delay routine in the output so the text wasn't displayed all at once, but rather "typed" out one letter at a time so it looked like info being received over a network connection. Pretty sure it ended with accidentally triggering nukes or something ridiculous and I doubt I was fooling even my little brothers but it was a fun idea. My concept of the underlying tech and military networks was rudimentary in the 5th grade to say the least.

vidarh 11y ago

War Games didn't feature a Commodore machine, it featured an IMSAI. It might have helped boost mainstream interest in computers, but by then Commodore was already a big, well established company and - I believe - hadn't yet thoroughly burned their reseller network.

Luc 11y ago
Well it was the C64's time. If you got enthused about computers by the movie, in 1983, chances were you'd get a C64. Wasn't Broderick's character using an IMSAI to show he didn't have the money for new hardware, and had to make do with 2nd hand stuff? 'War Games' isn't a half bad game on the C64, either!
emcrazyone 11y ago
ah, you're right. The movie theater I saw the movie at had a contest at the same time. Fill out a form, drop in a big decorated box, and if your name was drawn you won a C64. The contest was, if I recall correctly, tied to the movie. Like, win a computer "like" the one Matthew used in the movie War Games.... or something along those lines. My friend and I took home a stack of those forms and filled out at least 100 (probably more) but we didn't win. Fun & memorable times. Thanks for the info on the IMSAI.

mariuolo 11y ago

ISTR it spurred the sale of modems. Together with that less known series named Whiz Kids.

soylentcola 11y ago

I never saw the movie as a kid but I was generally aware of the Hollywood concept of "hacking" a computer over a network. We had a Commodore but I was not allowed to use the modem (dad kept it boxed up and hidden somewhere). Still, one of the first programs I wrote for that Commodore was a way to trick my younger brothers into thinking I'd somehow "hacked" into some generic military computer system. It was just a bunch of text menus where you input the number of the option you wanted and "navigated" this alleged remote computer. I even used some time delay routine in the output so the text wasn't displayed all at once, but rather "typed" out one letter at a time so it looked like info being received over a network connection. Pretty sure it ended with accidentally triggering nukes or something ridiculous and I doubt I was fooling even my little brothers but it was a fun idea. My concept of the underlying tech and military networks was rudimentary in the 5th grade to say the least.