2014 Year of the Spectrum ?

[RonTurner]

Counting seven spectrums on trade me this week !

Is 2014 year of the spectrum ?

Im always surprised by how high the bidding wars reach, based on how many times
per week these show up on TM

Guess they are timelessly popular machines, I tried typing LOAD"" on one last week,
it was actually a frustratingly painful experience ! (Its been awhile)

Many hours of my youth was invested in playing Manic Miner , TLL , Sabre Wulf and Jet Pac on one of those machines

[mrad01]

I would usually be tempted to buy - but I already have quite a few working wonders of '82 8-bit (several Sinclair Spectrum 48ks and a boxed, mint, Spectrum+)

The latest Retro Gamer magazine has a level by level commentary from Matthew Smith on Manic Miner. That guy is awesome. And odd, but awesome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Smith_(games_programmer)

[tezza]

Yes, I think the demands for Spectrums shows there is a large nostalgia element at play. Many people now in their 40s grew up with these as kids. I'd say a few would love to revisit those fun times of bedroom gaming and programming, and a speccy would do that.

[kevman3d]

Yes, I noticed that there were a few appearing on TM in the last week. Of course, when I really wanted to buy one, there were never any for sale on TM. Thanks to Don, I picked up an extra 4 to toy around with. So I'm now a happy camper...

The latest Retro Gamer magazine has a level by level commentary from Matthew Smith on Manic Miner. That guy is awesome. And odd, but awesome.

lol! Yeh, he is a bit freaky. Interesting guy though - I'm looking forward to seeing the Bedrooms to Billions doco later this year as they've done around 90 interviews (obviously NOT just with Matthew Smith, that is). If you're curious...

http://www.frombedroomstobillions.com/videos/matthew-smith-on-manic-miner

There's also this really strange interview from a few years back on the BBC.

http://youtu.be/FWmmMZlhcqU?t=2m15s

[RonTurner]

From *bedrooms to billions* then *back to bedrooms* by the looks of it for Matthew Smith in the vid's

He starts off looking like a very young and healthy 17 year old teenager, then looks very surprised to
see his game on the screen in the second vid ,eyes wide open at times, then by the last
interview his hair is falling out and his teeth have already fallen out and hes wearing a tee-shirt
with a rip in it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC_FZLLn0To

compare that to Jeff Minter who made games about sheep and camels...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw-ZT8RzGyQ

roughly about the same age, Jeff has his teeth, his Minter pony tail and still forming clear flowing speech

healthy living vs unhealthy lifestyle ?

gosh ?

Manic Miner IMHO is still the most memorable game ever created for the spectrum.

[kevman3d]

Manic Miner IMHO is still the most memorable game ever created for the spectrum.

So true! Its the first game most people recall when talking about the speccy. It was my main reason for upgrading my speccy to 48k - and that flowed on to the DK'Tronics keyboard upgrade because installing the 48k meant I'd damaged the membrane and the space key eventually stopped working (so I couldn't jump in Manic Miner).

Manic Miner... It certainly had an impact my parents bank account...

[mrad01]

Ah yes, that'll be one of those Kickstarter thingies I put some dosh into and forgot about!

Typical. Thanks for the reminder. I look forward to it coming out. Again.

Yes, I noticed that there were a few appearing on TM in the last week. Of course, when I really wanted to buy one, there were never any for sale on TM. Thanks to Don, I picked up an extra 4 to toy around with. So I'm now a happy camper...

lol! Yeh, he is a bit freaky. Interesting guy though - I'm looking forward to seeing the Bedrooms to Billions doco later this year as they've done around 90 interviews (obviously NOT just with Matthew Smith, that is). If you're curious...

http://www.frombedroomstobillions.com/videos/matthew-smith-on-manic-miner

There's also this really strange interview from a few years back on the BBC.

http://youtu.be/FWmmMZlhcqU?t=2m15s

[kevman3d]

Ah yes, that'll be one of those Kickstarter thingies I put some dosh into and forgot about!

Typical. Thanks for the reminder. I look forward to it coming out. Again.

No worries - I just had to follow up on my contributions last week as nobody had sent me an update after I pledged for the Blu Ray and then 4 hour special edition version updates a few months back. Update email confirm was received today, so all good.

btw, if you're a backer, then they're slowly releasing little perks (like sneak-peak 10 minute segment) - you can log in here if you can remember your log in that is!

http://www.frombedroomstobillions.com/backers

[RonTurner]

Matt Smith, Like a lot of 80's game programmers, couldn't even afford a hair cut and a good shirt !


interesting http://matthewsmith.elite-systems.co.uk/?p=158 Willy's Great Adventure is here, finally...

[Matt]

Matt Smith here (I can't resist a running gag )

On the topic of notorious programmers check out "Hans Reiser" on wikipedia.

I'd been using ResierFS for years when I saw that. I always assumed he was German but that story is pure California

[kevman3d]

Matt Smith here

We realise you're not the Manic Miner guy now - but I have to say, I still think you played the best Dr Who. You shouldn't have been replaced... That said, the last Dr Who I actually watched in full had Tom Baker in it. I only know of your work through the Dr. Who fanatics at work.