Generation 64 - How the Commodore 64 inspired a generation of Swedish gamers
The Commodore 64 proved to be a milestone release in the world of computing. Launched in 1982, it immediately captured the imaginations of an entire generation of gamers, artists, musicians, crackers and programmers, who would push its meagre hardware to create a range of amazing games, demos, art packages, CAD programs and music synthesisers.
Young people the world over learned their craft on the C64, but in Sweden the machine’s legacy is unparalleled: it sired a raft of incredible talents who have since gone on to create amazing products and services that have, without exaggeration, changed the world.
Generation 64 by Jimmy Wilhelmsson chronicles this talented group, tracing their paths from backroom coders to giants of the connected world. Karl Hornell was a games developer who created PokerRoom.com in 1999, which was later sold to Ongame for £450 million. Frederik Liljegren started a demo group,and later became the founder of highly respected developer DICE, which produced Star Wars: Battlefront. Kim Nordstrom started life as a graphic designer, helped develop the PlayStation 4, and is now Head of Studio at King, which enjoyed some success with a little game called Candy Crush Saga. Former coder Oskar Stål is now Chief Technical Officer of the music streaming service Spotify. And on it goes…
Bitmap Books is proud to present the English language version of Generation 64, which features in-depth interviews with dozens of Swedish entrepreneurs. Edited by legendary C64 games journalist Julian Rignall, this 184-page hardback book features over 50,000 words, complemented by a wealth of Commodore 64 imagery, some of which has never been seen before. With a foreword by the founder of DICE, Frederik Liljegren, and an introduction by the designer of the 6502 CPU, Chuck Peddle, Generation 64 is an unmissable account of the part played by the C64 in the creation of the modern world.
Book specifications
184 pages. 250mm × 215mm. 3mm protective board slipcase. Edge-to-edge high quality lithographic print. Hardback. Sewn binding for enduring quality and the ability to lay flat for ideal double-page image viewing. Protective dust jacket. Shrink-wrapped.
The full interview list:
Pontus Berg, Tomas Danko, Philip Diab, Thomas Engström, Arne Fernlund, Katarina Glantz, Maria Hägglöf, Alexander Hofman, Karl Hörnell, Tomas Hübner, Ixion, Björn Knutsson, Tony Krvaric, Fredrik Liljegren, Joachim Ljunggren, Kim Nordström, Angelica Norgren, Mikael Pawlo, Orvar Säfström, Rickard Söderberg, Oskar Stål, Robert Stjärnström,Therese Stridsberg, Peter Sunde, Pex Tufvesson, Martin Walfisz, Linus Walleij and Andreas Wallström
©Bitmap Books
Jimmy Wilhelmsson: I was brought up in a happy Swedish working class environment in which there was little interest in neither technology nor entreprenurship. To me, home computers became perfect tools for my teenage rebellion. I became more interested the less my parents understood. My parents did however encourage me to write. I wanted to become a teacher or a writer, later a journalist - then I grew up in a society where anyone may become just about anything. All at once. Today, I write about what I once learned in the past and connect it with today's exciting technology. I stride forward with a glance backward.
