Sinclair is back like a powered up Pac-man
BRITISH video game legend Sir Clive Sinclair re-emerged on the scene yesterday, launching a crowdfunding campaign to create a new Spectrum computer equipped with all the classic games.
The 74-year-old inventor was the brains behind the original ZX Spectrum computer range that found fame in the 1980s – one of the first mainstream home computers in the UK. The Spectrum became known for its cult video games such as Pac-man, Hungry Horace, Pimania, and Ah Diddums.
Retro Computers, a Luton-based startup in which Sinclair is a shareholder, launched the crowdfunding campaign yesterday on Indiegogo, looking for £100,000 to fund the manufacture of the first 1,000 Spectrum Vega computers along with operational costs.
The campaign was given a two-month duration, but in just under a day it had already secured £45,105 in crowdfunding – just under half the required amount.
The new Sinclair Spectrum Vega is a micro-controller computer based on its original ZX ancestor. Selling for just under £100, the computer is equipped with 1,000 in-built games, but more can be downloaded from the internet for free. The device will run over 14,000 Spectrum-era games. The founders are in discussions with the games’ rights owners to donate a combined software royalty to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.