Jim (the designer of the keyboards) posted in the C64U Facebook group addressing the issue a few weeks ago and it was pretty clear from his statement that the problem is the workers in the factory aren't installing the keyboards correctly in the Starlight editions.
It's rather unfortunate. Commodore has done an amazing job with this product, and their customer support has also been fantastic. But unfortunately, the companies they hired in China have been absolutely awful and are the fully at fault for the problems affecting a small amount of customers (well, except for the ones caused by FedEx abusing packages). The manufacturing partner for the keycaps screwed them over and are the reason why the Founders Edition units were delayed, and the assembly partner is the source for the issues with the Starlight units and a few other random issues that affected a small number of people. And unfortunately this makes Commodore look bad in those instances.
Anyway, I thought the Starlight looked tacky and I picked up a Beige unit. It arrived a few weeks ago and I've been having an absolute blast with it. The C64 predates me so I've never had one until now, but I absolutely love the C64U and have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of it so far. It's found a home next to my MSX and is getting plenty of love. The quality of life features that Commodore added are VERY appreciated. Also I love the keyboard on this thing.
The whole thing stinks of a scam. The Japanese government is already archiving video games and related materials through the national diet library. All new game releases are required to be archived by law (this has been the case for around 25 years now), and in recent years they've gone back and started archiving games which released before that law was implemented. Printed materiels are also archived, and if you contact them they will even mail you photocopies of portions of any work (for example, if you want an article from an old issue of Famitsu or something).
If the GPS actually cared about archival than they would dump their roms online for the public and then donate their entire collection (including printed materiels) to the National Diet Library in Japan. This would at least make the print materials publicly accessible, and it would ensure that the software is properly archived.
Some politicians in Japan have been trying to find a suitable way to make the software library accessible to the public, but currently there is nothing. But still, currently nothing from the GPS collection is available publicly so this approach is better than nothing and it ensures that the collection would be cared for by professional archivists and funded by taxes, rather than whatever this private group is doing.
@bring_on_branstons @obijuankanoobie Well, if you want to play it that badly you could always buy the one in the listing. With an inexpensive adapter you could plug it into a normal TV to play. You can order from Mercari by using a proxy shipping service, and the yen is really weak right now too so now is probably a good time.
@obijuankanoobie I doubt they will ever port it. Yuji Naka talked about including it in the Mega Collection but they cut it because they couldn't find a solution for the controls. You basically have to buy the hardware if you want to play it, even MAME has control issues with this game.
Comments 4
Re: "Flex Is In Spec, Buckling Is Not" - Commodore Addresses Quality Control Concerns With Its C64 Ultimate
Jim (the designer of the keyboards) posted in the C64U Facebook group addressing the issue a few weeks ago and it was pretty clear from his statement that the problem is the workers in the factory aren't installing the keyboards correctly in the Starlight editions.
It's rather unfortunate. Commodore has done an amazing job with this product, and their customer support has also been fantastic. But unfortunately, the companies they hired in China have been absolutely awful and are the fully at fault for the problems affecting a small amount of customers (well, except for the ones caused by FedEx abusing packages). The manufacturing partner for the keycaps screwed them over and are the reason why the Founders Edition units were delayed, and the assembly partner is the source for the issues with the Starlight units and a few other random issues that affected a small number of people. And unfortunately this makes Commodore look bad in those instances.
Anyway, I thought the Starlight looked tacky and I picked up a Beige unit. It arrived a few weeks ago and I've been having an absolute blast with it. The C64 predates me so I've never had one until now, but I absolutely love the C64U and have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of it so far. It's found a home next to my MSX and is getting plenty of love. The quality of life features that Commodore added are VERY appreciated. Also I love the keyboard on this thing.
Re: "It Has To Happen Outside Of Japan" - Game Preservation Society Launches Patreon And Opens US Office Following Government Fund Freeze
The whole thing stinks of a scam. The Japanese government is already archiving video games and related materials through the national diet library. All new game releases are required to be archived by law (this has been the case for around 25 years now), and in recent years they've gone back and started archiving games which released before that law was implemented. Printed materiels are also archived, and if you contact them they will even mail you photocopies of portions of any work (for example, if you want an article from an old issue of Famitsu or something).
If the GPS actually cared about archival than they would dump their roms online for the public and then donate their entire collection (including printed materiels) to the National Diet Library in Japan. This would at least make the print materials publicly accessible, and it would ensure that the software is properly archived.
Some politicians in Japan have been trying to find a suitable way to make the software library accessible to the public, but currently there is nothing. But still, currently nothing from the GPS collection is available publicly so this approach is better than nothing and it ensures that the collection would be cared for by professional archivists and funded by taxes, rather than whatever this private group is doing.
Re: Insanely Rare Sonic Arcade Game Crops Up On Japanese Resale Site
@bring_on_branstons @obijuankanoobie
Well, if you want to play it that badly you could always buy the one in the listing. With an inexpensive adapter you could plug it into a normal TV to play. You can order from Mercari by using a proxy shipping service, and the yen is really weak right now too so now is probably a good time.
Re: Insanely Rare Sonic Arcade Game Crops Up On Japanese Resale Site
@obijuankanoobie I doubt they will ever port it. Yuji Naka talked about including it in the Mega Collection but they cut it because they couldn't find a solution for the controls. You basically have to buy the hardware if you want to play it, even MAME has control issues with this game.