Video comments are turned off on the trailer - not a good sign
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Their business is reputable though, they made a lot of those mini consoles and a c64 maxi.
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Surprised to see it's going to be in Smith toys in the UK - is it really something kids are going to want and even really use I mean how many people going into a toy shop would get into loading their own roms - which by the way they are saying is a selling point but are they even legal?
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It's the same as point and click adventures, retro games on steam, no the aim is offcourse adults, the ones that grown up with these, kids just want their minecraft and flashy graphics.
And offcourse roms are not legal and never will be (perhaps in 50-80 years when they become public domain) but everyone does it, and for any of the previous mini console you could also load roms on them.
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Useless but maybe someone will have the FOMO for it. Isn't this basically a raspberry pi in a 3d printed case for $250 extra for those who don't want to make it themselves although this is supposed to be for the nerds who love this shit? So doesn't this then cater to more to people who want to show off something they don't even care about really? So it's all about FOMO and looking/feeling cool?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQcoS-X-BCo This is from 7 years ago, pretty sure with more than 5 seconds and 1 click you can find some better solutions than I did and maybe not drop $300 on this? Shouldn't a company that does this at production scale be able to lower their costs, so then why are they charging you 4x extra, on top of the 1x cost of the materials? .
Wigglenose is right above with it being shady for the comments being turned off, because they knew someone would call them out. For $300 of course it will work, for $300 it better cook or something.
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Retrogames.biz's is like 100 euro, the NEXT that one is expensive but a whole different company, whole different hardware then a raspberry. Perhaps just check the links before reacting?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/PLAION-GmbH-The-Spectrum/dp/B0DCZLFHB1
And raspberry's are scarce too (atleast the last time i went to hunt for them) which can equal to 100 euro. This will add the feel "of a real machine" as you can also use keyboard to type.
Anyone with a decent pc, and with spectrum even a 90's pc can emulate that, if you go by that logic you don't need to buy such old mini consoles, it caters to people with a nostalgia.
In the end anyone can go as crazy as they want with emulating and the "real feeling" look at these and it's prices:
https://ultimatemister.com/
https://antoniovillena.com/product/complete-mister-plus/
And yes i have one, and no i haven't even used it yet... Software emulation and hardware emulation are two very different things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=sMMiBEhnizE&ab_channel=What%27sKenMaking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVPa5EW5mp8&ab_channel=ModernVintageGamer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0XuAoSm0P8&ab_channel=VK%27sChannel
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Much better, regardless still useless and still overpriced, since a Raspberry Pi Zero Kit is like $35 and filament for the case is like $5. So you'd still be paying $65, 185% of the cost of the materials, for someone to put some glue slap the software on it and ship it to you( and you probably even pay shipping) and the worst part of it is that you could play all those games for free legitimately without spending a penny.
It's not terrible imo for $100 as you'll only be $100 in the hole after you use it once when you get it for 15 minutes and never ever again. So if you want to gamble $100 on a piece of plastic, this is a choice. You could of course buy yourself a nice meal, give $100 to a random stranger, put it aside and forget you had it, go whole sigma alpha male stock market options trading on it, etc.
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What is there to gamble about, you know what you are getting and you either do or don't. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
By your logic you are saying well your pc can just emulate anything, why buy such things is the same as why even buy games on steam when you can just pirate the games?
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You're gambling cause you think it's something useful or that you'll need but reality is those things get used once and then never again. They end up obsolete in like 3 seconds and just plastic trash. They're good for displaying in a background shelf in a youtube video to look cool as a content creator, after all no one can really see it's a fake spectrum from afar.
Big difference if you're buying an original release Spectrum because now you have a collector's item. This isn't a collector's item because tomorrow someone can make one and again, who cares. If someone sells you a fake pokemon card you're not willing to value it as high as a real pokemon card. So this thing already has basically no value other than the plastic, considering for how cheap it can be made.
As for why buy digital games when you could pirate them, primarily the reason for doing so is wanting to support those creating the works of art. Someone copying a zx spectrum, emulating it on a rasperry pi, which you can do in like 100 different ways, that's no work of art and the person you're supporting isn't likely the original creator or seeking to improve and innovate in the field, but rather to collect money from someone elses hard work. It would be the same as someone reselling Cyberpunk on a usb drive and you wanting to support the person doing so. Supporting the studio will help fund them to create more stories etc instead.
Now if you can't support because of a good reason I personally don't care, there's plenty of kids who have no money and can't get a job if they wanted to, to that degree I could care less if someone stole my game. But if you're a full grown adult who can work a job or has side income but refuses to spend on anything digital yet they overindulge in all the new games, all the new content, all the new stuff through piracy cause they can steal it all through some means then they're trash yes.
Also zx spectrum games are abandonware.
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Seriously, so are dos games... It's not legal either way.
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Debatable, legally to the script you're right in words only until it goes to court, but there isn't a case where someone got in trouble because likely it would be argued that this is indeed abandonware and there'd be regulation made to support this, which they don't want by a long shot, so it's better they play the grey line where if you really want it you emulate it rather than them having to pay to renew the trademarks and copyrights every year to provide ownership and providing proof the IP is alive and customers have access to it through legal means. If you can't find it any other way, it's abandonware and no one will take you on for it. They'll lose.
Sharing these games is another scenario entirely and even those people don't have problems sharing and maintaining abandonware games. Nintendo is a different beast but even they're fighting a losing battle here. Because what do they have to gain by going after you when you make basically nothing? You'll claim bankruptcy and they just lost the court fees. How many more times are they willing to try?
If you were concerned about legal or not, trust me they'd be much less ok with someone selling copycat zx spectrum's for up to hundreds of dollars in profit per sale and distributing the software and games with it, vs someone emulating 1 game once in their lifetime and that's it. They'd be much more concerned with someone making a LLC company selling these products at big scale in various forms and they still don't care. But they'd go for those dogs first.
Downloading a background for your device is also more than likely not legal, because you didn't pay for the art, you don't own it, etc., but I'd bet most people did it. AI could retroactively be not legal, but I doubt they'll go for you specifically unless you made the models. IJS In between this copycat spectrum and a making your own or just emulating, both making your own and emulating are the safest, best way out there for cost too and for the industry.
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I'd buy a replica Vectrex. Never got to own an original and you just can't replicate the look with modern screens.
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I got one. ^^ They really have increased in price over the last 10-20 years.
Eek, help Spike, oh no Molly. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2963207460578997
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Nice! Looks like it's in great condition too. Is it stock, or have you had it modified to remove the buzzing noise (I think all Vectrex suffer from that?)? I have to admit it's the homebew scene that really makes me want one, which despite how long its been still seems to be active (there's like 150+ homebrew games atp). Some of the hardware mods are really coo tool:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzjvO7tbbqQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfTqAuCPnJE
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It's original and third hand bought about 15 years ago, my parents bought one in 1983 but they got rid of it when i was 16 because of some misunderstanding (not knowing how much they would be worth later).
I never knew about buzzing noises let alone a way to get rid of it or hardware mods, thanks.
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Additional points of interest include:
Compatible with a variety of new and old proprietary and third-party controllers/joysticks.
For more information on The Spectrum, plus links to EU retailers visit: https://retrogames.biz/products/thespectrum/
The Spectrum will be available to buy from a variety of European retailers, priced at £89.99 (€99.99). Pre-orders are now open, and the release date is confirmed for 22nd November 2024. UK consumers can for example pre-order at:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/PLAION-GmbH-The-Spectrum/dp/B0DCZLFHB1/
http://www.smythstoys.com/.../retro.../the-spectrum/p/243333
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnfQ13nFJYc&ab_channel=RetroGames
https://retrogames.biz/products/thespectrum/
There is also this: https://www.specnext.com/shop/ But basically always sold out.
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