ZX Spectrum NEXT in the field

Firefox11 wrote: »

Gone past last stretch goal of £1.5M (New Head over Heels Game/Remake) 70 Hrs left to go till end. It's an extraordinary achievement for a second time round kickstarter.

1.65 million and I didn't think they'd make 1.5, and with 24 hours to go, 4700 backers, although just shy of a hundred of those are just people supporting the Kickstarter with a fiver or whatever.

Gone past last stretch goal of £1.5M (New Head over Heels Game/Remake) 70 Hrs left to go till end. It's an extraordinary achievement for a second time round kickstarter.

1.2 million stretch goal reached, the less than inspiring inline power switch (branded). They need to tell us the final goal now, the 1.5 million, which I don't see them reaching anyway, unless it's super duper.

Dr Bob wrote: »

Atari800xl>C64>Amstrad>BarcodeBattler>Spectrum

Go'won outta dat ! :P

Always plump for the C64, but looking forward to giving the Next a going over next year at some point.
Didn't bother the first time round, as I was still tinkering with an old +2 and a Harlequin build, so backed the Ultimate 64 project instead, but its fantastic to see the response to this second phase.

Dr Bob

McDermotX wrote: »

C64 > Spectrum >>> Amstrad

Atari800xl>C64>Amstrad>BarcodeBattler>Spectrum

Skerries wrote: »

they've broken the 1m mark

Million Sterling now too. Thought it would be popular but it's doing way better than I expected.

The Last Bandit wrote: »

Just backed it, not sure why really as I don't particularly like the Spectrum... Still waiting for the Amstrad Next

C64 > Spectrum >>> Amstrad

The Last Bandit

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

anywhere near the finished article.

Neither was the Amstrad

The Last Bandit wrote: »

Just backed it, not sure why really as I don't particularly like the Spectrum... Still waiting for the Amstrad Next

There is a CPC core for the Next but not sure if it's anywhere near the finished article.

The Last Bandit

Just backed it, not sure why really as I don't particularly like the Spectrum... Still waiting for the Amstrad Next

Skerries

they've broken the 1m mark

Up to over 900k now pledged in less than a day. Massive success.

Stretch goals met, they've upped the spec now to 2mb, colour manual, free game etc

Not such a huge difference in price between then and now for us in Ireland because the exchange rate is more favourable at present.

Skerries wrote: »

went for the accelerated version which works out at €390 with delivery

the early bird went in seconds

what joystick would you recommend for it?

Quite a bit more expensive than the first round. Reason given they got hit with taxes first time round and personal cost to the team. Had to be covered this time round. Definitely recommend the 8Bitdo Megadrive wireless 2.4 controller. Works brilliant with the next.

Skerries wrote: »

went for the accelerated version which works out at €390 with delivery

the early bird went in seconds

what joystick would you recommend for it?

Welcome to the club!

Get a 8bitdo 2.4ghz wireless Megadrive controller. Ideal, and the dongle only sticks out a tiny bit. Joysticks are too difficult for my old hands!

Reached its goal in no time at all.

Good to see.

Skerries

went for the accelerated version which works out at €390 with delivery

the early bird went in seconds

what joystick would you recommend for it?

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

Interested to see if the price/spec is the same as the original run.

I'm seriously thinking of going for a second one!!!

Skerries wrote: »

starts tomorrow at 9pm

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spectrumnext/zx-spectrum-next-issue-2

Interested to see if the price/spec is the same as the original run.

Skerries

starts tomorrow at 9pm

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spectrumnext/zx-spectrum-next-issue-2

2nd Kickstarter starting soon, within a couple of weeks I should think. It'll be interesting to see how much they price them at, not significantly cheaper than the first run I hope! Hopefully the spec stays the same too, don't want fragmentation already of a tiny little user base.

Because of the hefty price tag I don't see more sold than last time, but the machine has had a good write up pretty much everywhere it's been reviewed.

Firefox11 wrote: »

I have a Mega Drive Mini and a C64 Mini(and a Playstation Mini but the less said about that the better )

I'd be fairly certain it's head & shoulders above the usual SOC offerings. This is a fully fledged computer in and of itself. It looks like a cracking piece of kit for Speccy fans.

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

They're going to do a second kickstarter, but it's probably being delayed because of the state the world is. People on ebay are selling though, probably looking at around 300 pounds on ebay, now, they were going for five and six hundred or more! But prices have settled down a lot now.

Yeah, there are going for crazy prices on ebay. The Next folks were fully aware of this and didn't want people being ripped off on ebay and that's why they wanted to start the second kickstarter as soon as possible but this pandemic has kind of put a halt on it.

KeRbDoG wrote: »

Cool, which other recreations do you have or tried? Interested to see how this stacks up

I have a Mega Drive Mini and a C64 Mini(and a Playstation Mini but the less said about that the better

)

What I meant by the Spectrum Next being one of the better retro recreations is that this is a lot more than 'just a spectrum' in an albeit beautiful case. It is the versatility and attention to detail that has been put into it that pushes it head and shoulders above the rest.

There are new Spectrum next games being developed for it (similar to 16Bit Games of the day) while being completely back compatible with all zx spectrum games of old. It has a very powerful version of BASIC specifically designed for the spectrum next called NextBASIC. It has wifi with the potential of game download services available in the future. There are new demos that can play Amiga MOD and C64 SID audio. There are also new cores being developed for it. (BBC Micro/NES/Sinclair QL to name a few) It even has a version of CP/M OS on it!
It also comes with a whopping great manual just like the old days.

It's early days yet but the potential of ZX Spectrum Next could be huge.

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

Oh yeah, wasn't cheap. It was the Rick Dickinson keyboard that I wanted, the man was a legend.

It was a good investment anyway going by second hand prices I could make money if I wanted.

Yeah the second run seems like it'll be a limited run, so your investment should be decent even in the short term!

Inviere wrote: »

The guts of €300? Ouch. I can see it's a quality bit of kit, but at the price, I'd almost certainly lean towards some souped up original hardware with a crt.

Oh yeah, wasn't cheap. It was the Rick Dickinson keyboard that I wanted, the man was a legend.

It was a good investment anyway going by second hand prices I could make money if I wanted.

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

230 pounds was what they cost on the kickstarter for the top of the line one.

The guts of €300? Ouch. I can see it's a quality bit of kit, but at the price, I'd almost certainly lean towards some souped up original hardware with a crt.

KeRbDoG

Firefox11 wrote: »

Of all the recent retro recreations the Spectrum Next surpasses them all as far as I am concerned. They have done an absolute fantastic Job on this.

Cool, which other recreations do you have or tried? Interested to see how this stacks up

Inviere wrote: »

That's nuts, how much was it to back the project originally?

Actually I think I'm being optimistic, just looked at ebay completed listings, and they're selling for 500 plus more often than not, even the last couple of days.

230 pounds was what they cost on the kickstarter for the top of the line one.