So Clive Sinclair has passed away

[blue matt]

OutRun is still up there as one of the most influential driving games of all time. I think it made 4th just behind Gran Turismo. I've seen elements of outrun recycled in games like Need For Speed and even the Forza Horizon series. It's non-linear gameplay was revolutionary. Can't believe it was released in 1986.

I'm an obsessive collector of racing/driving games across all platforms and still play outrun a few times a month using an emulator on a PC.

I was a C64 owner so never had the connection with the Sinclair but the Mega Drive was fab!

Clive was way ahead of his time and a true technical revolutionary. I always wondered what a Sinclair/Jobs collaboration would have produced in the 90s. He will have influenced many gamers to go on to learn more about computing/coding/game development much like the Raspberry Pi is today.

If you're interested in tech then check out the drama Halt And Catch Fire set in 1983.

I'll have a look at the drama

As a lad I used to be decent at Outrun in the arcade, used to have the top score for months in the arcade over the Island ( the arcade on the bend had the game forever , was it called carousel arcade ? ? ? )

I had a C Vic 20 ( mum and dad couldn't afford the C64 the next year ) aswell, moved onto a Electeron ( as we couldn't afford the BBC micro ) to play on Elite , must have been around the time consoles were leading the charge then, but had to convince the folks that a home computer was important for school I was fortunate enough to have both NES and Master system consoles, by the time and Megadrive and SNES came out I was working, so could save my own money to buy them ( though my SNES came from a dubious source )

[Citizen's Nephew]

I'll have a look at the drama

As a lad I used to be decent at Outrun in the arcade, used to have the top score for months in the arcade over the Island ( the arcade on the bend had the game forever , was it called carousel arcade ? ? ? )

I had a C Vic 20 ( mum and dad couldn't afford the C64 the next year ) aswell, moved onto a Electeron ( as we couldn't afford the BBC micro ) to play on Elite , must have been around the time consoles were leading the charge then, but had to convince the folks that a home computer was important for school I was fortunate enough to have both NES and Master system consoles, by the time and Megadrive and SNES came out I was working, so could save my own money to buy them ( though my SNES came from a dubious source )

It's so weird when I see contemporary games with 'insert coin' written into the code and I wonder how many actually did ever play a game where you spent your pocket money on each attempt. You had to get good in the arcades to make it last!

I just discovered that OutRun is still being sold on the Nintendo Switch which is incredible. The Switch is becoming quite a console and is the only one I'm interested in these days outside of PC. Switch games hold their price really well too.