The one thing that is sadly lacking is a good Sinclair ZX Spectrum magazine (yikes!). Your Sinclair should relaunch to provide a bit of colour to the Speccy community.
Starting out as a publication called Your Spectrum, which was relaunched in 1986 as Your Sinclair (YS), this magazine became iconic and a huge influence on the Speccy community, both then and now; it was certainly one of the best gaming magazines that one could purchase in the 1980s. It lasted through until 1993 ending with its famous Big Final Issue, signalling the end of commercial 8-bit gaming software in general, with the Commodore C64 being the last 8-bit home computer platform to have a significant release[1] (which was Psygnosis's Lemmings, published in February 1994).
YS was skilfully archived by the The Your Sinclair Rock 'n' Roll Years website, something now that only the WayBack Machine can tell. Such was the appeal and legend of YS, Retro Gamer Magazine paid tribute to it in 2004 with issue 94, niftily edited by Dan Whitehead, who is by far one of the best writers I've ever worked with, and certainly one of the most perspicacious.
Almost 20 years after Retro Gamer's aforementioned issue 94 and Retro Games Limited have announced TheSpectrum, and after something of a lull in the mid to late 1990s, and the early part of the 2000s, the Speccy community has grown into something of a monolith. There isn't the unity that there might have been in the early days, when the independent 8-bit publisher Cronosoft launched, for instance. As communities grow, they can become more fractured. And the lies and propaganda over the Vega+ hand-held console certainly didn't help, causing more fracturing. The liars and charlatans were backing Retro Computers Ltd (RCL) propaganda even though it was clear to anyone paying any attention that there were quite severe issues with RCL's management, especially after two of its directors (namely Paul Andrews and Chris Smith) were illegally removed by the fraudsters who remained to drive the Vega+ into its grave. I remember before this time when the once great World of Spectrum website was a bouyant and well respected home for all Speccy fans, and anyone else who was curious about the rubber keyed wonder. Now, sensible people avoid it.
Even with all of the apparent issues in the Speccy community there is certainly enough going on for at least a bi-monthly printed matter periodical to launch. There is an abundance of new Spectrum software; there is the Omni platform and several other popular clones; there is the Sinclair ZX Spectrum Next; and there are loads of emulators to choose from. And now, at a good price point, TheSpectrum is happening just in time for Christmas 2024. And although I find it odd that computering and gaming magazines still exist in printed form, people certainly seem to want them. Your Sinclair, with it's vibrant and rich history, with its mix of gaming and humour, and being crap (in a funky skillo sort of way) is what I think is needed right now, isn't it? Although, getting the tone of YS right may be a tough ask. But it's been done once before. Bring on issue 95 for a Spec-chums reunion for us old gals and geezers. You all know that you need this in your life again.
[1] I know since this time, there has been a lot of new 8-bit games, and one might consider today to be a second commercial era for many 8-bit computers.
A small note, this is my 50th published blog post. Huzzah!
https://www.yoursinclairmagazine.co.uk/ has launched (fnar!) - go check it out.
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