Back in the ’80s, the UK used to make its own computers. One of those computers was the very popular ZX Spectrum, created by Sir Clive Sinclair. The goal of a new Indiegogo project by UK-based Retro Computers is to recreate it. How patriotic/nationalistic/jingoistic (pick the one that fits with your personal ideology)!
The new Sinclair Spectrum Vega is a rectangular, matte gamepad, and has just nine buttons, four for direction, four for actions, and one in the middle. More importantly, the device contains within its innards the chips which make up the console, one of which come preloaded with 1 000 visually updated games from the ZX era; thanks to the inexorable advance of technology, the games’ color palette will be significantly improved. Owners will also be able to use an SD card to load old Spectrum games they may still have in their possession, and Retro Computers plans to release even more free games over time, too. The console will be able to run over 14 000 games from its era.
Check out the ad for the console, featured above.
The ARM-based Sinclair Spectrum Vega has a pre-launch price of £100 (almost $160 USD). The first run of the consoles, numbering 1 000, has already sold out, and deliveries will begin in February, 2015. The second batch of the consoles will be a limited edition run of 3 000, and will be sent out in June, 2015.
The Indiegogo project for this endeavor has already blown past its goal of £100 000 and is now sitting comfortably at £122,771. If you’d like to throw more money at the idea and/or reserve a place in the waiting list for the second run of the console, go here.
Neither the launch price nor the date for the console have been announced yet.