Spectrum Computing

I saw from the 3D Construction Kit thread that 3DCK cost £25. Twenty five quid! Goodness. That's about £53 in today's money, for a Spectrum program. Must have been good for that.

It led me to wondering what other software there was which was really quite expensive? I couldn't see a way to search for that.

What was the most expensive software you ever saw? Or, heavens, bought?

Some ones that came to mind:

Shadow of the Unicorn (£14.95)
White Lightning (£14.95)
GAC (£22.95)
Blast! (£24.95)
HiSoft BASIC (£24.95)
Music Machine (£49.95)

I guess utility software/hardware bundles would be the most expensive in general.

EDIT: The Great Space Race was another title that was good value for money, at only £15.00.

Yes, I bought Beta BASIC. £11 in 1983.

I'm not sure I'd say £15 was expensive for software back then. Not compared to the price of cartridges for the consoles!

£15+ was pretty standard for a big box adventure game, like Magnetic Scrolls, especially for the +3.

£14.95 for the Quill and £22.95 was an absolute steal for the Professional Adventure Writing System... I easily made my money back on those.

I got less use out of CP/M Plus+ / Mallard BASIC which retailed for a rather large £29.95... I'm pretty sure I picked that up heavily discounted from a local computer shop that never would've otherwise shifted it.

I seem to remember most BASIC compilers were all pretty expensive, well over £20. Otherwise I might have had one and tried to sell some of my rubbish game ideas, only to be knocked back and abandon programming altogether in a big huff!

I asked for White Lightning for Christmas, but it turned out to be pretty useless. I toyed around with the sprite editor but couldn't get on with programming in Forth. My elder brother got Zeus Assembler which didn't make the same exaggerated claims but was much more practical. At least, it was later, once we got a Wafadrive as well.

Most things on Disk once the +3 came out cost more than the cassette version of anything; sometimes a pound more, I seem to remember sometimes £10 was bumped up to £15 - maybe for compilations? Did they ever come on more than one disk? I guess the games had to be re-mastered to load and run from the disk; did they ever have game menus as well?

Joefish wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16, 2019 12:11 pm did they ever have game menus as well?

Yeah, for compilations.

I remember discovering in the database a spanish game (don't remember neither the name nor the company), released in 1983 or 84 and it costs, IIRC, 7,000 ptas (42 € back in the day!).

I'm fairly sure that in the back of the main three magazines, there'd be a few half-page or quarter-page adverts for gambling software, mainly aimed at predicting the outcome of horse racing. Obviously I doubt such a program could really 'beat the bookies'. I remember these costing an utter fortune, 'm fairly sure more than any price cited so far in this thread. Can't remember the exact price though.

PeteProdge wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16, 2019 1:06 pm I'm fairly sure that in the back of the main three magazines, there'd be a few half-page or quarter-page adverts for gambling software, mainly aimed at predicting the outcome of horse racing. Obviously I doubt such a program could really 'beat the bookies'. I remember these costing an utter fortune, 'm fairly sure more than any price cited so far in this thread. Can't remember the exact price though.

After a quick look, Poolsmaster seems to be the most expensive of that type at £30...
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=10065

But, I reckon Plot the Ball sounds like the biggest rip-off at £25...
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=19470

I remember paying £12.95 for Supreme Challenge when it was released. Apparently that’s about £34 now!

It was still worth it, mind!

I think the most expensive games I had were GAC @ £22 and Lord of the Rings @ £15!!! Pretty sure I had GAC as a birthday present and saved up for LOTR.

The Hobbit was 14.95 in 1982, albeit with a book. That's £50 in today's money.

Valhalla, released in 1983, was £14.95 (and you didn’t even get a book, but you got a big box I suppose) and H.U.R.G. was £14.95 in 1984.

toot_toot wrote: ↑Wed Apr 17, 2019 9:00 am Valhalla, released in 1983, was £14.95 (and you didn’t even get a book, but you got a big box I suppose) and H.U.R.G. was £14.95 in 1984.

I had a copy of HURG off my mate expecting to make the next Manic Miner, but, rather unsurprisingly I drew a character and made it move and that was it.