| When I was a lad the home computer was
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| | to overheat and cause a fairly nasty
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| just coming on to the market. Yes - I am
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| | burning smell!
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| one of the sad people that remember the
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| | Due to the large demand for the Spectrum
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| Sinclair ZX80 and Sinclair ZX81. The
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| | and other similar home computers a fairly
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| latter I even tried to write a program
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| | decent number of software houses sprang
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| for but due to the minute amount of
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| | up to satisfy the demand for all of the
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| memory (0.5KB) you were limited to about
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| | school kids who wanted to see what their
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| 15 lines of basic before the 'memory
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| | new computer would do. One that stands
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| full' error message came on to the
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| | out for me is Ultimate Play The Games who
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| screen. Not that any game on this
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| | produced classic games like 'Jetpac',
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| computer would be that visually exciting
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| | 'Manic Miner', 'Transam' and 'Jet Set
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| due to the only colours employed were
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| | Willy'. Many a night I spent trying long
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| black and white.
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| | hours to defeat the 20 levels of ' Manic
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| But this was just the beginning and it
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| | Miner'. Spurred on by the rumour going
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| wasn't long before a flood of other home
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| | round school that completion of the 20th
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| computers came on to the market. I
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| | and final level would be rewarded with a
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| pleaded and pleaded with my parents until
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| | code that could be redeemed for a cash
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| they finally relented and used their
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| | prize I was not going to give up until I
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| 'Access' credit card to buy me a 16K
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| | completed the course. In the end I
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| Sinclair ZX Spectrum for £99 (they
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| | resorted to cheating and used the
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| couldn't afford £129 for the 48K
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| | 'infinite lives' code which from memory
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| version).
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| | was something like 6031769. I could be
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| Imagine my excitement unwrapping this
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| | mistaken as we are talking about
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| marvellous piece of technology on my 13th
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| | something that happened over 20 years ago
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| birthday. Up until then I had been
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| | but I have a funny feeling that it is the
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| writing programs in BASIC programming
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| | correct code. Sad eh?
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| language on the HONEYWELL computer at
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| | The limitations of memory on home
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| school (kindly donated by a local firm
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| | computers in the early 80's meant that
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| who had no further use for it). The
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| | games had to be fairly simple in terms of
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| school's computer had probably less
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| | graphics because the programmers probably
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| computing power than a modern mobile
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| | only had 48 - 64k of memory at most to
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| phone but took up the space the size of 2
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| | play with. This resulted in games that
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| classrooms. The mainframe took about 10
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| | although visually simple and lacking in
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| minutes to boot up and this involved a
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| | deph of colours had fantastically
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| procedure where punched cards were fed
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| | addictive gameplay. Even my dad would beg
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| through a card reader to get the thing
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| | me for a turn on the computer to play
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| started up. Once started it would take a
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| | 'Space Raiders' - the Spectrum version of
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| further 10 minuted to respond to each
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| | Space Invaders. The whole family took it
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| instruction. Luckily the fantastic ZX
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| | in turns to play the computer and try out
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| Spectrum kicked the poo out of it.
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| | all the new games. There was a fairly
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| Oh yes - the ZX Spectrum with its choice
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| | vibrant market in copied games at the
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| of approximately 8 colours, its keyboard
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| | time as all games were on a cassette tape
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| that was likened to the feel of 'dead
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| | and could be easily copied from one tape
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| flesh' and its wonderful sound technology
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| | to another. My final collection included
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| that could be no better described than as
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| | almost 1000 games and I could honestly
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| a series of beeps was the most fantastic
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| | say that I played and knew how to play
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| invention since the VCR. Of course, a lot
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| | every single one of them.
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| of kids at school were jumping on the
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| | Now I am approaching the grand old age of
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| Spectrum bandwagon but equally as many
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| | 40 I have my own children. I have a 7
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| were plumping for its main rival the
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| | year old and a 5 year old and they are
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| Commodore 64. Many a lunchtime was spent
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| | both massive fans of the Playstation 2
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| arguing the pros and cons of each
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| | and games on the PC. Occasionally they
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| computer over a corned beef sandwich and
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| | ask me to help when they are stuck on a
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| a bag of crisps.
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| | particular part of a game. They might as
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| The Spectrum was easy to write programs
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| | well ask me to decipher a coded Russian
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| for and came with a handy guide to BASIC
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| | message because I am absolutely lost when
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| programming and a 12 month guarantee.This
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| | the number of keys and gamepad
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| came in handy when I dropped mine
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| | combinations outweighs the number of
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| accidentally on purpose after 11 1/2
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| | fingers on both hands. You see, in my day
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| months and Sir Clive was gracious enough
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| | it was nearly always 'Z' for left, 'X'
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| to send me a replacement. I even used my
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| | for right and 'SPACE BAR' to fire. Now I
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| Spectrum to write programs for my
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| | think that you probably need a university
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| Computer Studies 'O' level. As I remember
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| | degree to play most modern games.
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| these programs included a simple
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| | Yes - give me the good old Asteroids,
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| 'hangman' game with a succession of wrong
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| | Frogger and Bomber anyday. You can keep
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| answers resulting in a liittle stick man
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| | your new fangled all singing all dancing
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| being hanged on screen and a small french
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| | latest games. I'm happy with the 2
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| vocabulary test based on about 3 verbs.
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| | dimensional 2 coloured sprite that simply
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| Printouts were done on the Spectrum
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| | responds to the direction of the cursor
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| dedicated thermal printer which used
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| | key I am pressing and thanks to the
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| silver thermal printer paper that looked
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| | internet there are many sites where I can
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| like the silver cigarette wrapping found
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| | wallow in my nostalgia and play these
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| inside cigarette boxes and reacted to
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| | games for free. Only thing missing is the
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| heat to turn black. If you had a large
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| | screeching noise from the tape player and
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| document to print the printer would start
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| | the 15 minute wait to load the game.
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