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Cloanto Releases Amiga Forever and C64 Forever 2012 "R2"

April 27, 2012 - Cloanto released today the long-awaited "R2" updates of its Amiga Forever 2012 and C64 Forever 2012 preservation, emulation and support packages for Windows.

The new "R2" versions include hundreds of refinements that took more than eight months to develop, also taking into account user feedback received since the initial 2012 release last August. The new versions feature social and sharing functionality, improved content authoring, pervasive Unicode support and faster loading times.

On the social side, the software allows for manual posts and automatic status updates on Facebook, Twitter, Skype and Messenger. Facebook and Twitter further support screenshot sharing. The "now playing" functionality for Facebook uses the latest Open Graph features to aggregate posts without "spamming" a user's wall. Amiga Forever and C64 Forever were among the very first Facebook clients for Windows approved to use the latest Open Graph and Timeline functionality.

RP9 files can now not only be played back, but also be edited directly from the Windows desktop. This brings more freedom to organize and access content without going through the player interface, and new possibilities like comparing configurations side by side.

New Amiga platform features for content curators include better support for floppy and hard disk images, with media editor options to quickly embed blank disks and system disks into an RP9 package. Features include recognition of RDB disk images and automatic conversion of ADZ, DMS and HDZ images to the more popular and faster ADF and HDF formats (while the RP9 layer takes care of compression).

C64-specific improvements include better keyboard translation, mouse support and the addition of GEOS, the amazing graphical 8-bit desktop suite, to the list of preconfigured systems. Special thanks to Brian Dougherty and his team for this contribution.

By including official system ROM and OS content, Amiga Forever 2012 and C64 Forever 2012 embody a form of continuity with the original machines sold by Commodore, whose founder Jack Tramiel passed away earlier this month. As it has been doing since 1997, Cloanto keeps working full time on its RetroPlatform family of preservation software, also thanks to its generous supporters and contributor friends. Because of their ease of use, packages like Amiga Forever and C64 Forever have the potential to go beyond preservation and access continuity, by providing inspiration and a well-documented learning environment for future generations.

Amiga Forever is available now in three editions:

Value Edition (downloadable installer for Windows systems)
Plus Edition (downloadable ISO image with additional Windows and platform-neutral content)
Premium Edition (physical Plus Edition content plus additional videos on 3 DVDs)

C64 Forever is available now in three editions:

Free Express Edition (feature-limited version)
Downloadable Plus Edition (downloadable installer plus CD ISO image)
Boxed Plus Edition (downloadable Plus Edition content plus boxed CD)

Thanks to a new logistics platform and partners, since December 2011 physical packages ordered from amigaforever.com and c64forever.com have been shipping in almost real time from either California or Germany. This has resulted in reduced delivery times and increased customer satisfaction.

Amiga Forever and C64 Forever passed official Windows 7 logo tests on both x86 and x64 systems, and have also shown to run well on pre-release versions of Windows 8.

Prices for both Amiga Forever and C64 Forever start from $9.95 (special upgrade offers). The "R2" updates are free for existing 2012 version customers (select Check for Updates from the Help menu).