Hi, lads. Who would have thought that a week ago, 42 years ago, the humble Amstrad name would start to move from being synonymous with music centres and double tape recording silver Hi-Fi units and instead begin to muscle into the UK/Euro home computer market (I don't think it ever had a sniff in the USA did it, Rich?). Anyway, to mark this anniversary this week, our old pal Kevin Toms penned these notes on his Faceache forum. It's always nice to hear from Kev and his take on the retro scene - a living legend who of course created, for me and many others, the original and the BEST Football Manager game. Take it away, Kev: Kevin Toms Today marks the 42nd anniversary of the Amstrad CPC 464 At a time when the rise of home computers had already produced wonderful machines such as the ZX Spectrum and the C64, Amstrad released its first computer on April 11th, 1984 - the CPC 464. Despite being "late to the game," so to speak, the CPC 464 quickly became one of the most commercially successful home computers of its time, selling more than 2 million units in Europe. But how did Amstrad thrive in an already saturated market? At that time, most companies sold their products separately: many computers included a keyboard but little else. It was up to the user to have a TV to plug the home computer to, or to buy a tape drive in case he needed it. What Amstrad offered to its customers was a powerful "all-in-one" solution. The CPC 464 was a colour-graphics computer that came with a monitor, a keyboard and a tape drive; the computer, keyboard and tape drive were built into one single frame that could easily plug in to the monitor and included a joystick port. Later versions of the CPC 464 included a headphone jack that enabled the computer to be connected to speakers. Amstrad, which up to this point had been best known for cheap electronics and hi-fi systems, presented a home computer that was both the "complete package" and also incredibly accessible to the first-time user. The CPC 464 was an instant hit and catapulted the company to a leading place among European computer manufacturers in the 1980's and early 1990's. At the time of the CPC 464's release, my Football Manager game was already a best-seller with several ports to other computer models. However, the outstanding popularity of Amstrad's first model was simply too much to ignore and I did eventually port the game for this home computer as well! #KevinToms #FootballManager #Amstrad #AmstradCPC #CPC464 #RetroComputers #HomeComputers #Microcomputers #80sComputers #PersonalComputer #RetroPC #UKComputers #UKRetro C'mon then - let's hear both your MEMORIES of when this machine hit the high street stores and your PRESENT usage - over to Rich and Al to take over this thread, please!!
First memory of the Amstrad was seeing it in my mums mail order catalogues and thinking "wow". Looked so professional back then and it even came with a bundle of 12 games and it's own colour monitor. No more black and white gaming or waiting on the big telly being available in the living room! My best pal got one that year, just as I got my 800XL. I thnk Chiller was the first game we played on it and then Harrier Attack and Oh Mummy. Also, Storm, which was a Mastertronic clone of Gauntlet. He got some other really fun games like Into The Eagles Nest, Fued, Kane. Over the years I've had a few Arnolds go through the cave. The 6128 is good but it's the colour of the 464 keyboard that brings me the fondest memories. Even had a GX4000 at one point but the less said about that the better. I know Amstrad get trashed in some quarters as being cheap tat, but from the PCW to the CPC and then the PC1512 and 1640 they really did lead the way in putting a complete bundle together that was accessible to the average UK consumer. My first CD hi-fi was an Amstrad as well and lasted for years until I upgraded to a muti-disc Aiwa. Of course the one thing I never go to do in the early days was experience the full rainbow of colours that the 464 could display. Jason only had the green screen.....
