History of video games/Platforms/PC Classic

History edit

Development edit

The PC Classic was developed by Unit E Technologies, a company located at 3737 Old Georgetown Road in Halethorpe Maryland.[1]

The PC Classic was announced in late 2018 as a mini-console which played PC games from the 1980's and 1990's.[2] $99 was the intended price point of the system.[3]

In 2019 an "End-of-Summer" update was announced, explaining that will IP rights had been acquired, a delay to summer 2020 was needed to finalize hardware and a crowdfunding campaign.[4]

Hiatus edit

Around July 2021 a comment response was left by the Unit-E Technologies account on their 2019 update video, explaining that the PC Classic had been shelved to focus on older projects which were presently generating revenue, noting that the anticipated crowdfunding campaign had never been launched.[5] Thus while the console has not launched at the time of this writing, no consumer's money was ever taken for the project, avoiding a pitfall common to many crowdfunded projects.

Technology edit

The system features HDMI output, as well as 3 RCA composite AV jacks.[6]

Prototype units supported Bluetooth wireless connectivity.[7]

Notes edit

The PC Classic should not be confused with the PC Engine Mini, which was a different mini console from around the same period.[8]

References edit

  1. "Contact Us". Unit-e. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  2. Mott, Nathaniel (14 November 2018). "PC Classic Console With '80s, '90s Games Starts Crowdfunding Soon" (in en). Tom's Hardware. https://www.tomshardware.com/news/unit-e-pc-classic-console-video-games,38074.html. 
  3. Brown, Fraser (13 November 2018). "The PC Classic is a tiny console for DOS games". PC Gamer. https://www.pcgamer.com/the-pc-classic-is-a-tiny-console-for-dos-games/. 
  4. "Intellivision Amico Update & What Happened To The PC Classic Mini?" (in en). Madlittlepixel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM-isrEyv_U. 
  5. "PC Classic - 2019 Update and Q&A". Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  6. James, Dave (November 13, 2018). "The PC Classic mini console will waste your money on DOS-based gaming nostalgia". PCGamesN. https://www.pcgamesn.com/pc-classic-dos-games. 
  7. Smith, Chris (14 November 2018). "The PC Classic is the retro DOS console of our dreams" (in en). Trusted Reviews. https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/pc-classic-dos-console-3620219. 
  8. Byford, Sam (23 March 2020). "The PC Engine Mini is an awesome retro console, if you can get one" (in en). The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/23/21190608/pc-engine-mini-hands-on-turbografx-16-japan-gaming-console.