How PCs Became Cheaper 40 Years Ago - This Week In Retro 285

It's the big four-oh for the Amstrad PC1512, an aggressively cost-reduced PC clone for the UK market. There's also a fascinating time capsule of Atari user group newsletters from August 1987, and Nelumbo, a new engine for classic Lotus racing action, plus Tron references, Kickstarter updates for Spectrum Next and Vectrex Mini, a unique phone booth memorial, and more!

Visit addict.media for your copy of Pixel Addict magazine.

00:00 - Show Opening

04:00 - Cheap PCs, Cheaper PCs and Even Cheaper PCs

Story Link: x.com/Lord_Sugar/status/2095098703992250874

18:38 - Exploring A 1987 Time Capsule

Story Link: blog.archive.org/2026/08/27/a-computer-history…

Newsletters: archive.org/details/antc_Atari_newsletter_time…

38:20 - Housekeeping - News links found below

45:15 - Lotus Is Back

Story Link: almost-there-games.itch.io/nelumbo

Launch Trailer: youtube.com/watch?v=EYZk2k6AOA8

55:32 - Community Question of the Week

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This Week in Retro is a weekly roundup of the hottest stories from the world of retro gaming and computing, voted on by you, the listener! Hosted by Chris from 005 AGIMA, Jason from The Retro Adventurers and Dave. Edited by Duncan Styles.

News In Brief Links

CEX Retro Shop: metro.co.uk/2026/08/31/cex-confirms-existence-…

Vectrex Update: kickstarter.com/projects/1852390947/vectrex-mi…

Bletchley Park Redundancies: miltonkeynes.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/heritage…

Space Paranoids: landonjsmith.com/projects/spaceparanoids

Defrag Simulator: defrag98.com

PlayStation 2 Emulator: timeextension.com/news/2026/08/pcsx2-has-just-…

Nick Weerts Memorial Phone Booth: nickweertsmemorial.com

Mario On The Master System: youtube.com/watch?v=HRrioabZZwM