When I first heard about the ZX Spectrum book - 1982 to 199x by Hiive books I was decidedly thrilled. I also decided to grab a copy and miserably failed. This apparently brilliant book, you see, swiftly sold out and was soon replaced by a luxuriant hardback edition, that was way to expensive for me. Thankfully, Hiive, being the busy indie little publishing house it is, went on and published the The Commodore 64 Book - 1982 to 199x, which I immediately grabbed. And it was brilliant. Both in content and in layout.This of course made things worse in a weird way that had everything to do with me not being able to read the Speccy book. I even emailed Hiive books and asked them to make a digital copy of the thing available for purchase. Being the nice fellows they are, they said they'd look into it.
Obviously, they didn't, as they went on and released the whole book for free. Yes! Exactly as I tweeted (?) almost a month ago (did feel the subject needed a proper post of its own though), the ZX Spectrum Book - 1982 to 199x can now be downloaded for free over at the World of Spectrum in its complete 258 pages glory. And, yes, it's as good as I imagined. Even better really, what with the introduction by Sir Clive himself, the excellent quality of the game presentations and the tons of info. Here are a couple pages to wet your appetite:
Related @ Gnome's Lair:
Wow, that is GREAT NEWS!
ReplyDeleteI somehow missed it, thank you so much for bringing it up! I will, of course, share the news via an appropriate post, and the book in question is downloading as we speak.
Good times, good times!
Indeed my friend. And I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did.
ReplyDeleteNice. I have the C64 book. Can't wait to read this!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you'll enjoy it Donncha. Oh, and cheers for the comment!
ReplyDeleteIs the Hobbit game really that good? I keep hearing about it.
ReplyDeleteOn an almost completely unrelated, yet slightly amusing note, go here and search for GUARDIN' GNOME
ReplyDeleteThis got a chuckle of me, personally.
@ Igor: Haven't finished it, but from what I've seen it's a very good text adventure indeed. It is on my to be played to completion asap list.
ReplyDelete@ Barts: Rescue Gnome Chompski from the Carnival? Sound exciting! :)
@Igor
ReplyDeleteIt is not that good nowadays, because its age and obvious hardware/software limitations are definitely showing. However, it is worth exploring as one of the first semi-graphical adventure games and a title that has left an imprint on the generation of gamers.
If you look past its shortcomings, the storytelling and atmosphere are interesting nowadays and were a blast in the day.
Once again I am reminded that I need to peruse your older stuff more often for these tasty tidbits. I'm downloading the Speccy book right now. A belated thanks for the post Gnome!
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome indeed dear MadPlanet. And thanks for the kind words too. Mind you, there's also a C64 and all-around 8-bit book from the same publishers. Both are brilliant.
ReplyDeleteI did notice your mention of the C64 book and am going to be on the lookout for that one. The good ol' C64 was "my Speccy" back in the day so I bet I would really like that one. Thanks again! You da Gnome!
ReplyDeleteMe? A Gnome? Preposterous!
ReplyDelete