RIP Daren Pearcy

[druellan]

I entered late in the community, and even when I know some names from the WOS forums, I'm always learning who is who and the amazing contributions everyone did and keep doing. This kind of news always left me with a sensation of emptiness, and the loss of an opportunity for knowing someone better.
My best wishes to the family

[Luzie]

Although I was never personally in contact with Daren (because I use RZX only a few times while on HARP/Speccytour 2006),
from all what I read here and on WOS https://worldofspectrum.org/forums/disc ... pearcy-rip
Daren must be a superbly person.

RIP Daren Peary

btw. On WOS a Youtube-Video is linked with Daren appearing in "Daley Thomson's Decathlon on TV Show": https://youtu.be/J13lnME9UyM?t=10

[emook]

Sad news indeed and a bit of a shock. RIP Daren.

[pavero]

I knew he spent a lot of days in hospital during last several weeks. But I had no idea how serious was it.

[equinox]

we were in periodic e-mail contact about the RZX Archive

I remember spending a weekend with you, Daren and Spike.
I've had an interesting life, but that still stands out as a memorable time.
Certainly never mixed that much alcohol with that many roller costers before or since.

Context: Spike (who's one of those professional competition enterers) won a weekend for four people at Alton Towers theme park, at Halloween. No idea when, maybe about 2010? And he was kind enough to invite three of us from what was then the #speccy IRC channel: me, Pete here, and Daren. We got to ride a lot of coasters (there was a good one based on the game Sonic Spinball, which was old even then) and had some nice boozing at night.

Pete, wondered if you have still got the pictures of this time (I thought I had a copy but I can't find anything), and maybe there are some good pics with Daren you could share?

[Mort]

So sorry to hear about Daren,

Myself and my frend Keith submitted a lot of rzxs about 12 or so years ago and always had good conversations with him. He is another of the original retro scene gone far too early.

All my best wishes and prayers to his family,

Stephen

[Luzie]

From: https://worldofspectrum.org/forums/disc ... ent_984192

moggy
November 15

...
It's no secret that Mike suffered a stroke some years ago and that alongside a few other conditions has meant he has been quiet for a long time but it seems that he is now back in harness doing what he can when he can so hopefully all good.

[Patrik Rak]

Oh no, that's terrible news. I came here just to check some info about RZX and this is what I find. It's so surreal I can't almost believe it.

He was such a cool and friendly guy. His work on the RZX Archive was second to none. Actually, he was the only one who ever bothered to properly integrate ZXDS download feed to his website. Just the other day I was thinking about getting in touch with him again, to share some news I had for him. Damn, this sucks so much!

RIP Daren. You will be sorely missed.

Patrik

[pavero]

Temporary solution, if you have new / unpublished RZX files you can upload them here.

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/zxdb/ad ... ew_rzx.php

[Ralf]

Temporary solution, if you have new / unpublished RZX files you can upload them here.

I've just uploaded my last two walkthroughs that I sent to Daren but he didn't manage to upload them

And I really hope that Rzx Archive will survive.

[spider]

[pavero]

And I really hope that Rzx Archive will survive.

I hope so too!

[Einar Saukas]

And I really hope that Rzx Archive will survive.

The entire content of RZX Archive was preserved in ZXDB, and Daren was credited at the ZXDB official page accordingly.

Daren himself always kept ZXDB updated with all RZX links. His latest changes at RZX Archive were already included in current version of ZXDB.

We didn't store the RZX files directly in our archive, but I'm currently working to add files too (besides keeping all links to RZX Archive site). This way, even if his site goes offline, none of his work will be lost.

Moreover we are now accepting RZX contributions directly in ZXDB, so we will carry on his work.

[jetsetdanny]

Horrible, shocking news...

I was in touch with Daren by e-mail over the years, sending him mainly my RZX recordings of Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy games. Then I met him in person at Manchester PLAY Expo on 4th May 2019. He actually spotted me (wearing a JSW Central T-shirt) and said hello right at the very entrance, and we spent a good part of the day walking around the Expo together. We also grabbed some lunch outside. I met his wife and his daughter, too. They were extremely nice folks and I did hope to see them again one day.

Daren will be greatly missed, and what a shame it is that he will not be updating the RZX Archive any more! The Archive has been a fantastic resource, truly one of the cornerstones of the ZX Spectrum community. It is very important news that it will be preserved, though it will never be the same without Daren...

[Ralf]

Moreover we are now accepting RZX contributions directly in ZXDB, so we will carry on his work.

That's good news in this sad moment.
And I'll try to support it, as I did before.
By the way, did you know that Rzx Archive has been running for 19 years? That's a gigantic work and it deserves much respect.

Have a look, first submissions are from 2002: https://www.rzxarchive.co.uk/2002.php

[equinox]

Temporary solution, if you have new / unpublished RZX files you can upload them here.
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/zxdb/ad ... ew_rzx.php

Thanks for this. I have uploaded some Christmassy ones.

Re continuing the RZX Archive: there is also the question of the YouTube channel, though it is strictly secondary to the source RZX files and I am probably not the only one who dislikes our archive relying on a proprietary third-party site for anything (but it's so easy to watch and comment there).

[Ersh]

The youtube part is kind of important since neither SC nor RZXA host RZXs of games that are ”distribution denied”.

[Ralf]

Re continuing the RZX Archive: there is also the question of the YouTube channel, though it is strictly secondary to the source RZX files and I am probably not the only one who dislikes our archive relying on a proprietary third-party site for anything (but it's so easy to watch and comment there).

Yes, the Youtube channel is important.
sometimes I've seen people in retro communities frowning upon watching games and demos (especially demos) on Youtube. The idea is that you should watch it preferably on real hardware and in the worst case on the emulator.

But if not Youtube, then many people wouldn't watch these walkthroughs at all. And if you check some links, then people are actually actively discussing and commenting these videos. So please don't forget about them.

[pavero]

It's all about people. If some volunteer(s) will apear in community who would continue in Daren's work, it will be possible.

To publish RZXs can be almost fully automatic process. But to make youtube videos take a lot of time.

[Lee Bee]

Oh dear God, I have only just heard about this today!

I am SO sad about this! Gutted! Daren was a lovely guy, and I cared about him greatly. How horrible to lose him!

My sincere condolences to Daren's wife and family.

His RZX YouTube channel is my favorite channel - a happy place where I go to relax and find gentle entertainment. For the last few years, I've been leaving comments on every new video, which Daren always told me he appreciated - my ambition was to comment on all 1000+ videos!

I had been in contact with Daren a few months ago while he was in hospital - he told me the future wasn't looking great for him, but I had no idea the prognosis was SO bad! I could see that there hadn't been any new videos for a while, but I assumed he was just taking some time out to recover. This is such a terrible, terrible shock!

I had actually designed Daren a brand new YouTube artwork to celebrate 10 years of his YT channel. Daren really liked it, and we were all set to finalise it and upload it, but then I got distracted with the death of my dad, who lived very near to Daren and was in hospital at the same time. Dad's funeral was just a few weeks ago and I'm still getting over the shock of that.

I wonder if anyone is able to log in to Daren's YouTube and upload the new channel artwork? I know Daren would have wanted that, and I could add some wording to clarify that he's no longer with us, so the channel could honour him better.

[p13z]

I remember spending a weekend with you, Daren and Spike...

...Pete, wondered if you have still got the pictures of this time (I thought I had a copy but I can't find anything), and maybe there are some good pics with Daren you could share?

I was in the loft today and found this stashed with some of my retro computing gear, rather than my old photos where I had checked previously.
Halloween 2011 - "action photo", intended to catch expressions of terror on our faces. The abject disappointment and bewilderment that was actually captured was funny enough to warrant paying for this photo:

[equinox]

I was in the loft today and found this stashed with some of my retro computing gear, rather than my old photos where I had checked previously.
Halloween 2011 - "action photo", intended to catch expressions of terror on our faces. The abject disappointment and bewilderment that was actually captured was funny enough to warrant paying for this photo:

Ah, yes, this was where they had turned one of the old historic buildings into a sort of linear "ghost house" by introducing a lot of sheets and tunnels you had to squeeze through. Actually found it a bit claustrophobic in places. In the photo I look faintly amused...

[equinox]

Oh dear God, I have only just heard about this today! [...]

Hey Lee. Indeed I remember you as the guy who would post on every RZX upload (I have posted under the name "a name". Sshhh.)

I don't honestly see the point in changing the artwork etc. unless someone is going to take over and maintain the channel, and I believe we don't have the password or login to do that, anyway. You probably saw that there is a new location for uploading RZX files:
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/zxdb/ad ... ew_rzx.php
But of course there is no video conversion now, so you just have to run the files in your emulator.

10 or 20 years from now (if any of us are still alive) it will probably be trivial to convert RZX to video playback in real time. But, uh, yeah we could probably use another RZX video channel on YouTube, if anyone wants to maintain it. The only rule is that the About page must say "DAREN IS THE KING"!
oh yeah!

[Lee Bee]

Hey Paul it's good to hear from you!

I am SO sad about Daren! Really, really sad!

For the record, here's a rough preview of the new logo/design I did for Daren (which he approved, and chose the wording himself)...

I don't honestly see the point in changing the artwork etc. unless someone is going to take over and maintain the channel

Well Daren's channel is still the biggest and best Spectrum games archive on YouTube, and should continue to get a lot of views (plus small amount of revenue for his widow perhaps?). It's nice to have a place to go to talk about a specific Speccy game while you watch the footage

If it were possible, it would be great if the banner could pay tribute to Daren, and help visitors understand the state of the channel.

[equinox]

Did you read what I wrote though? Nobody knows the login/password so that channel is dead.