There's another ZX Spectrum crowdfunder - but this one looks promising
Next already hits £250,000 target.
There have been plenty of ZX Spectrum crowdfunders in recent years, and not all of them have gone well. Some, in fact, have been a disaster. So why should we care about yet another one?
The ZX Spectrum Next looks like it could be a decent effort - and it's already hit its £250,000 Kickstarter goal.
The Next is a new machine, fully compatible with the original computer, with improvements and expansions. The idea is you can play any games, demos and use original hardware, but it also runs new software created more recently to make use of expanded hardware, including new graphics modes and faster processor speeds.
The ZX Spectrum Next project is headed up by Henrique Olifiers, a game designer and the co-founder of Bossa Studios (Surgeon Simulator, I Am Bread and Worlds Adrift), and Jim Bagley, the coder behind ZX Spectrum games Cabal and Midnight Resistance. Two retro hackers are also involved, and Rick Dickinson, the designer of the Sinclair, came up with the design.
In the Kickstarter pitch video, Olifiers and Bagley acknowledge the Next is yet another ZX Spectrum crowdfunder, but insist it's been in the works for a while and show off a pre-production fully working prototype board.
The Kickstarter page says the ZX Spectrum Next will be delivered January 2018, shipping anywhere in the world to those who pledge £175 or more. Fingers crossed it works out better than the ZX Spectrum Vega Plus.