CRASH LIVE 2023, Sat 18 Nov

[Joefish]

Tickets and hotel bookings are now on sale for Crash Live 2023, at the Kenilworth Holiday Inn (just South-East of Birmingham). Saturday 18th November.

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/fus ... ks/1001509

There are rooms at the hotel set aside for booking for the event; they're not as cheap as a Premier Inn for example, particularly if you want two nights, but should be big enough for two to share if you want to save that way.

Not heard much about special guest line-up yet, but there'll be loads of Speccies, NEXTs and arcade games, and my 4-Player / Dual-Screen Gnash-Man Party setup to have a go on at the very least!

[Wizwords]

Yes, looks it will be great fun again. I'll hopefully be hosting the Artic and Jon Ritman talks as well as selling ZX Nightmares and related merch
I'll also be officially announcing my new book at the event and will have some sample pages for people to flick through.

[PeterJ]

I was speaking with @Mort last week and he asked me to mention that he is planning on going and if anybody from the south east of England wanted to share travel then please get in touch.

I've tried a number of times to get hold of @fusion_chris over the last couple of years to see if he wanted to freely advertise the Crash events, books and magazines here, but I never seem to get a reply (I have tried a variety of methods). I guess he is just very busy. Way back in 2020 Chris did propose a deal for sponsored content on the site but we decided to turn down as we wanted to stay free of any any commercial interest (especially after issues elsewhere).

Unfortunately I won't be able to visit this year, but it looks like it's going to be a great event.

[TMD2003]

Where abouts in "the South East", @Mort?

Also, if there's anyone going from the very flat area between The Wash and Cambridge, I'm going, so give us a shout if you think it's worth splitting a lift.

[PeterJ]

Where abouts in "the South East", @Mort?

Kent, close to the East Sussex border.

[Joefish]

Sounds a bit posh. Sure he's not a Beeb owner?

[fusion_chris]

Thought I would pop in and say hi, as I was made aware of this post. Not really done forums much since the heyday of the Retro Gamer one where I was known as 'boyo'. Happy memories. It is great to see this forum buzzing, it really is, and I will do my best to come by more often.

So yes, a while ago I did offer to sponsor the site - maybe give a little money to support the hosting costs or whatever really just to give something back. I love this site and to me it's a brilliant new realisation of the old WOS site - this is my go-to site for all things Speccy - and the Speccy was the computer I had as a 13 year old in Wales all those years ago.

So back then, my offer was turned down to my surprise and I moved on to look for other partners - I have always loved supporting RCM and the guys, and they do an awesome job of supporting me back. I have lately become the main sponsor for Retro.Events. I am also in talks with partnering with Antstream and hope that will lead to big things (it does sound very promising at the moment!).

So yes, got an E-mail a couple of weeks ago inviting me to do something with this site. I never replied at the time as I was no doubt knee deep in packing and, sorry, forgot about it until today. I don't recall getting any other direct messages from you Peter - forgive me if you did. I do recall at some point you inviting me to use your forum to push my goods which I appreciate - though I guess until now, never have. As I said, forums are not really my go-to place anymore, but I will bear it in mind.....

[fusion_chris]

..and the event...

Well we have Ian Oliver (Starstrike), Charles Cecil and Tony Warriner (Artic Computing, Revolution Software), Jon Ritman (Artic/Ocean Software releases), Roger Womack, Kevin Toms and more in due course.

I will ask Steve Turner and Andrew Braybrook back - they have become good friends also.

I am hoping that Antstream will sponsor the competitions - talks about a whole range of things have started with them. Other activities are planned for the day also - that I will announce in due course.

The NEXT team are a huge part of CRASH Live - we have potentially 11 of the team coming this year from all around the world. The team have gifted us a Spectrum Next from the new batch that we will give out to one lucky earybird ticket holder at the event. They have also given us a very special limited item that will go into the event raffle - I cannot say much more about this atm.

Nearly 300 tickets have sold - we have made 350 earlybird ones available - so if you want to be in the draw get your tickets ASAP!

[Mort]

HI Guys,
Not a Beeb owner but do have a couple of C64`s so not that posh , more a derelict and see @Peterj at the local computer Emporium I work at in East Grinstead .

@Joefish and @TMD2003

Tunbridge Wells, though was Cockney (Bermondsey) till they tried to extract it at the age of 6 in Kent


If anyone is driving near or past here I and Darren Izzard (Anstream) will stump up fuel and beer money

Ps still scanning and saving old manuals etc

[Wizwords]

Some updates on Crash Live - there are just 2 tickets left now, so think it's safe to say the show will be sold out!

Here's the talk schedule and layout. Unfortunately Jon Ritman can't make it because of a family illness, but the others are going ahead - I'll be presenting Steve Turner and Andrew Braybrook as Graftgold again, and also chatting to Sir Charles Cecil and Tony Warriner about their careers in the Eighties leading into Revolution.

Looks like it will be a cracking event. My girlfriend and I will be selling ZX Nightmares mystery boxes, mugs, pens and signed copies of the book to anyone interested.

[stupidget]

Oh bo11oxy, p1ss nuggets I'm away this weekend!!! I loved last years event in Walsall and thought it was incredibly well organised and run. I was also impressed with the number of people that attended, the cross section of people and the fact that it wasn't just filled with blokes in their 50s crying over pristine copies of JSW or an original boxed ZX80. One of the things that stuck with me was wandering through the area filled with original hardware and add-ons and the fact that everything was so small. I'd completely forgotten how small the ZX-81 actually was and even the ZX Printer was far smaller than I remember.

If it's anything like last years, those of you going, will have an ace time.

[Spud]

Just wondering about the draw for the Next. Do we have to be present in the room when the draw takes place to win? If we have left and our ticket is drawn, is it re-drawn until someone present wins it?

[Wizwords]

Just wondering about the draw for the Next. Do we have to be present in the room when the draw takes place to win? If we have left and our ticket is drawn, is it re-drawn until someone present wins it?

Ah that I can't answer I'm afraid Spud. Paging @fusion_chris

[Swainy]

To everyone who is going, I’ve been informed that the Spectrum Next team will showing off a 1 level demo of Target; Renegade. Really gutted that I won’t be able to try it out myself so let me know what you think of it if you get a chance to play it.

[TMD2003]

I'm back. That was a grand day out, and always good to see a few faces I recognise. And a few I hadn't done before. Hi, @Gilby.

As I write this, there is a roomful of people still watching The Rubber-Keyed Wonder in its 99%-perfect form, but I decided I'd watch the final final cut when I get the DVD some time in January. It's usually a miserable month - cold (if you're not in the Southern Hemisphere), wet, money is tight, and the England cricket team are taking a good hiding on whatever tour they're on (fortunately, the scheduled pants-down thrashing at the hands of India is in March). It should provide some uplifting entertainment.

Yet again, I wonder: how are we all still here doing this, with a fanbase that appears to be stronger than ever and even a few under-tens getting involved? I'll be willing to bet that of all the people involved in the process to bring the Spectrum to market in 1982, from Sir Clive all the way through the ROM programmers, the hardware testers to Doris who served tea in the canteen, all of them would have expected the Spectrum to be dead and forgotten by 1990 as the computing world moved on. Here we all are, with more Nexts in one room than I've ever seen before, and the promised All New Piece Of Spectrum(ish) Hardware turned up and is real and looks very shiny (and very expensive!). Should I reveal what it is?

[Mpk]

Should I reveal what it is?

Yes.

[TMD2003]

Mote it be: the ZX Touch.



I know what you're all thinking: it looks suspiciously like "the thing beginning with V that we're not allowed to mention", which caused the ruinous split in Our Community™ (just as I was easing myself back into it). Sintech were well aware of its reputation and, they say, they've spent 18 months developing this machine in total secrecy, so that the association with the wreckage of That Thing wouldn't plague it throughout the development cycle. They further say it's not based on any existing emulator - this one was written from scratch specifically for the ZX Touch to make sure it worked as accurately as possible with the hardware. So although it is "an emulator on a device", it isn't, say, Fuse.

I have held That Other Thing in my hand - and didn't cut myself on the sharp edge either - which was about the size of a smartphone (which I don't have). The ZX Touch is larger - about intermediate in size between an iPhone and an iPad, so it isn't going to fit into your pocket. Then again, you get a bigger screen which has the resolution to handle all the icons that appear on screen when you're reprogramming the buttons to fit each game (if necessary). I did also notice some screen artifacts - the kind you'd see with vertical motion on 1080i video - while having a brief but (yet again) unsuccessful attempt to clear the Central Cavern (it's always the keys at the top of the screen where the spikes are that I can never get).

I am not an advertiser or a shill or making the standard demand "don't ask questions, just consoooom product and then get excited for next product". Do ask questions (to Sintech, not me). If you decide it's exactly the kind of thing you want, if you escaped getting your fingers burned with The V-Thing, and if you want to spend £219 on a portable (if not small) device to play a thousand different Spectrum games on - then go right ahead (when they've got some in stock, that is). After the "V" debacle, I'd have been quite happy buying a second-hand Nintendo DS and running ZXDS on it - and I'd have a keyboard available - but the screen is rather small for my 44-year-old eyesight, and I'm one of the younger enthusiasts; I've never actually gone ahead and bought that DS, because I've yet to have the urge that says I must have a portable Spectrum with me at all times.

Everyone else is not me. You have the big reveal, now react your way.

[Wall_Axe]

Great interview with Ian Oliver, thanks for posting it

[PeterJ]

@TMD2003

It's's about time we removed the no Vega stuff clause from the rules. When we created the forums in 2017 it was appropriate, but not now.

It's a nice size display for our older eyes, but I'm not sure how much of a market there would be at that price.

Thanks for sharing it Jim. Much appreciated.

[Joefish]

It's a lovely bit of kit!

I did go in and tweak the 'interlace' setting on the video output on the one I was shown. I did notice some comb artifacts in a couple of games.

Looks like it updates alternate lines of the display by default from the ULA PAL output, which is probably to keep it cheery with some Russian screen display hack, but it really shouldn't be turned on by default as it's not a proper interlaced signal. It means a game with a 50fps update (or updating in an odd number of frames) will give you messy alternate line artefacts.

[Morkin]

I'd have been quite happy buying a second-hand Nintendo DS and running ZXDS on it - and I'd have a keyboard available - but the screen is rather small for my 44-year-old eyesight, and I'm one of the younger enthusiasts; I've never actually gone ahead and bought that DS, because I've yet to have the urge that says I must have a portable Spectrum with me at all times.

I know what you mean, I've got a DS and I find Speccy arcade games much tougher on the small screen. I do like the keyboard and little stick/wand thing with my DS though as it means I can play Chaos.

It might be interesting to see how it plays on a slightly larger screen, but TBH at that price I'd rather pay a bit more for a Next.