Parallel Universe & SpecNext
I mentioned them once but Ithink I got away with it!
Somewhere out there is a parallel universe in which the World of Spectrum never changed hands and Chris Smith fell in with a different team. The latter meant the Vega+ was released without incident, allowing hundreds of middle aged men to play Manic Miner on it twice and never speak of it again. The inhabitants of that parallel Universe were all killed by solar radiation during the early stages of a colossal supernova. They had between seconds and minutes to contemplate their finite existances before cosmic rays blasted flesh from bone.
I envy each and every one of them.
At the time of writing the SpecNext is well on course. The boards are being shipped and there are no obvious hazards on the horizon. For anyone needing tuition, the Next is a textbook example of how a kickstarter should be done. It centres around the whole team being knowledgable in their field, capable, honest, and with a passion for the project. There are concerns of mission creep from some backers, regarding the Next's extra features. Personally I like them all except the hi-res colour screen & sprites, which IMO cross the line. I should say that my cartoon is a tad unfair, but it stays because a - Henrique & Jim are easy to caricature and b - gently taking the piss is the cartoonists' stock in trade. So there :-p
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