Will Woodvine <https://www.facebook.com/will.woodvine?fref=nf> *a* Spectrum
4Ever
<https://www.facebook.com/groups/speccy4ever/permalink/1714047088673856/>
1 h
<https://www.facebook.com/groups/speccy4ever/permalink/1714047088673856/> ·
Will plays with a Vega+
Disclosure: I backed the Vega+ Indiegogo campaign but requested and
received a refund over the Christmas period. I asked for a refund due to
what I perceive to be the appalling lack of information provided to backers.
The opinion below is my own and is not influenced by inducement or coercion
by any parties.
It is written as a fan of the ZX Spectrum.
I attended the Dizzy event with no knowledge that the Vega+ would be
present, so was unprepared.
Like any true retro-gaming fan I spent today, the sunniest and warmest of
the year, in a darkened room with no windows looking at computer games. The
event was the Dizzy 30th anniversary in Nottingham. This took the form of a
presentation by the Oliver Twins which covered their early years, mentioned
the ZX81 (huzzah!) and gave me a greater insight in to the Dizzy world.
At the start of the presentation a gentleman (who I think was Lee Fogarty)
came down to the front and handed one of the Twins a white box. Inside was
a Vega+. This was shown to the crowd, causing a slight stirring, and then
placed on the podium. At the end presentation the Vega+ was left unattended
so I took the opportunity to grab it and have a close look. At no time was
there any interference from anyone or any attempt made to stop me from
using it or Ant Harper, Simon Williams or Simon Osborne from using,
photographing or videoing the device.
I believe the device to be the pre-production device that has been seen
previously.
Physical: The device feels good in the hands, fitting well - I have medium
sized hands. Stuart Williams has a photo of the Vega+ lying on a rubber-key
ZX Spectrum also pics of the intefaces on the top.. I gave the unit a
torsional twist and the unit did not flex, which reinforced the positive
feel of the device. The screen is bright and clear, easily read by someone
who normally needs glasses to read and wasn’t reading them. The buttons
were an issue being unresponsive – you have to press them precisely for
them to react. This maybe the “switch re-design” referred to by RCL. Simon
Osborne has reported that he used a corrected production unit and the
buttons were much more responsive. The spectrum flash is a sticker (peeling
now) and the Sinclair logo feels raised on the clear plastic covering the
screen and lower-middle section. My personal opinion is that these would
look better and be harder wearing if they were under the clear plastic. The
video showing me using the Vega+ does show me pressing keys with no
response – this is down to the unresponsiveness issue mentioned above and
also not knowing what key does what during game selection, start and play.
Use: The Vega+ was turned on when I picked it up. By accessing the menu, it
can be switched off. Doing so caused slight concern as I could not figure
how to turn it on (no user manual was present) – I also feared being cited
by RCL as cause for further delays by breaking the working pre-prod unit.
The unit turned on by pressing a key on the front (possibly two) which
caused the boot sequence seen in the video. This was repeated several times
through use of the reset key (top left of the unit). Several games were
tried – Alien Destroyer, Hall of the Things, Jetpac and The Boggit. All
loaded fine and played except The Boggit – is seemed stuck in a tape
loading loop. There appeared to be many no-name games on there, plenty
known and some randoms such as a Driving Test thing? It does feel very
similar to fuse, as you would expect, albeit with custom menus suited to
the Vega+
Opinion – I was impressed, although it was obviously a pre-production unit.
For me, the buttons need sorting and to make it a truly superb product, the
Sinclair logo and Spectrum flash need to be rethought to be robust.
I’ve no idea why/who/when the Vega+ is released, I’m just a bloke who was
in the right place at the right time.
Apologies for the grammar/spellings, I banged this out quickly.
Feel free to ask questions and I’ll answer truthfully, but please don’t
bother me if you have an agenda – I couldn’t give a fnck.
Il giorno 8 aprile 2017 22:44, luca zabeo <lukezab@xxxxxxxxx> ha scritto:
Il contentino c'è.... video..però l'hanno pubblicato solo facebokko
https://www.facebook.com/Anthony.L.Harper/videos/10154354278500868/
Il giorno 7 aprile 2017 20:49, Paolo Saggiomo <info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> ha
scritto:
Questa settimana nessun contentino :(
Paolo Saggiomo
-----Messaggio originale-----
Da: zxspectrum-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:zxspectrum-bounce@free
lists.org]
Per conto di Davide Barlotti
Inviato: giovedì 30 marzo 2017 05.44
A: zxspectrum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Oggetto: [zxspectrum] Re: R: Re: R: Re: ZX Spectrum Vega Plus
dico la mia...
Premesso che cerco di supportare tutte le attivita' Zx spectrum (il che mi
porta a riempirmi casa di oggetti di dubbia utilita... ) ma a me questo
VEGA+ non mi ha mai convinto...
1) non e' innovativo
2) il design e' banale
3) si permettono di chiamarlo Sinclair giusto perche hanno staccato un
assegno a Sir Clive da 10k sterline.
4) ci gira un emulatore.
Quindi se proprio sono affascianato da un oggetto del genere si prende un
handheld ci si installa un emulatore ed ecco fatto il VEGA+
Si ecco il valore aggiunto e proprio la scatola...
Spero proprio che chi ha supportato la campagna di raccolta fondi gli
diano
almeno qualcosa ma da come e' stata gestita la cosa fino adesso o dei
forti
dubbi.
________________________________________
Da: zxspectrum-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <zxspectrum-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> per
conto di Massimo Raffaele <massimo.raffaele@xxxxxxxxx>
Inviato: mercoledì 29 marzo 2017 22.18
A: zxspectrum@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Oggetto: [zxspectrum] Re: R: Re: R: Re: ZX Spectrum Vega Plus
Il giorno 29 marzo 2017 22:14, Paolo Saggiomo
<info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>> ha scritto:
Ma dico, in un anno, non potevano pensarci prima a disegnare la scatola?
Esattamente!!
O sarà una scusa per perdere tempo?
Sembra proprio un voler prendere tempo. O stanno gestendo il tutto da
dilettanti di primo livello, o c'è qualcos'altro che non va.
Max
