ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection: Microsoft Windows RT
ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection: Windows RT logo ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection: Windows RT Start screen 1 ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection: Windows RT Start screen 2 ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection: Windows RT Start screen 3 ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection: Windows RT Game details ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection: Windows RT In game 1

Release Factoids

Format: Microsoft Windows RT (Surface or compatible tablet)
Author: Elite Systems (ZX:EC emulator)
               Nigel Alderton (Spectrum CE)
Released: 21/12/2012
Publishing Label: Elite Systems
Default Keys: touchscreen iDaptive Controls
Joystick Supported: ?
Cheats or POKEs: None known
Emulator: Not required! Buy it online from the Windows Store

Play the free Java applet ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection Online, including Chuckie Egg!
Notes:
Price: €3.29, US$3.99
Games / Arcade
Age rating: 7+
Downloads: 10
Publisher: KetoLabs?
Supported Languages: English (United States)
Elite Systems Ltd
ZX Spectrum: Elite Collec TM & (C) Elite Systems Ltd. Sinclair (R) & ZX Spectrum (R) Are Registered Trademarks Of Amstrad Ltd. Elite (R) Is A Registered Trademark In The UK (#142270) And Elsewhere.
Review: It looks like Elite Systems' port of their flagship iOS collection of popular Spectrum games hit the Windows Store in time for Christmas 2012. It has been removed sometime since and we've been unable to find any real information beyond their own launch press release (included below), except cached entries at Windows 8 app directories like hellowinapps.com and a broken link to a post on win8review.com, a Windows 8 app review blog.

We assume that Elite Systems avoided the control problems that were reported with the earliest versions of the iOS release by implementing their iDaptive control system from the outset, which was designed to overcome the original release's flaws, allowing the user to configure their own virtual key layout for each individual game. That said, even if they did, it does not appear to have been a well received port, judging from some of the review comments we found in a search engine summary of the win8review.com defunct page:

ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection reviews. 5 reviews.

"Do not buy! Avoid Avoid Avoid!! Rating: 1 from 5 08/29/2013."

"Absolutely awful! Do not waste your money on this, none of the keys work, totally unplayable. I'm disgusted that this has even made it into the Microsoft Store!! Fuming that I even have to give this miserable game(s) one star!!!!"
"2 out of 2 people found this ..."

'... this app clearly has some way to go. However, given the developer's declaration that it has "ambitious goals", I for one will stick with it. Here're the main things that currently need to be done to bring this app on par with the hugely impressive iOS versions: - enable landscape and portrait play'

Even if we had a Microsoft Surface or a compatible Windows RT tablet, we can't review this app as it appears to have been removed from the Windows Store some time over 8 months after its release. If you were one of the people who managed to purchase this app before it was pulled, do let us know what you thought about it, through the Contact link on the left.

 
Original 12/19/2012 Press Release:

Elite® Announce ... ZX Spectrum Games for more FONDLESLABS

Elite Systems, the long established UK based developer and electronic publisher of games for portable, mobile and other devices has announced that its hit paid apps ‘ ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection’™ & ‘ Manic Miner: ZX Spectrum’, will be available for more FONDLESLABS from Friday ... that is 21 st December, 2012.

ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection™ for Microsoft Surface RT and compatible Windows 8 FONDLESLABS will be available from here.

Simultaneously, ‘ Manic Miner: ZX Spectrum’ for Amazon Kindle Fire HD will be available from here.

For further information contact: Steve Wilcox, Elite®

Mail paperboy@elite-systems.co.uk Web www.elite-systems.co.uk / http://tinyurl.com/c67rv88

About Elite®: Elite Systems Ltd was incorporated in England in 1984 and is one of Europe’s most long established developers and publishers of entertainment software.

About ZX Spectrum: The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the UK in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd. It sold in excess of 5 million units worldwide. The ZX Spectrum software library currently consists of some 10,000 games.

ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection (for Surface RT / Windows 8)

http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/app/zx-spectrum-elite-collection/cd6b1d28-8d7c-4651-a2b5-d814073b2d6b

Manic Miner: ZX Spectrum (for Kindle Fire HD)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/mas/dl/android?asin=manicminer
 
Original 21/12/2012 Windows Store description:

ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection

This initial release of ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection arrived in Dec '12

It contains 12 ZX Spectrum games:
- Battleships (Elite)
- Batty (Elite)
- CHUCKIE EGG (A&F)
- Critical Mass (Durell)
- Deep Strike (Durell)
- Fat Worm Blows A Sparky (Durell)
- Harrier Attack (Durell)
- Kokotoni Wilf (Elite)
- Roller Coaster (Elite)
- SABOTEUR (Durell)
- Scuba Dive (Durell)
- Turbo Esprit (Durell)

We have ambitious goals for ‘ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection’ …
“… to offer access - via mobile and wireless devices - to many of the thousands of fantastic ZX Spectrum games created since 1982… and
“…to restore some order to the market for ZX Spectrum games and to enable other developers and publishers to offer access to their games by licencing our technology for a modest one off fee.”

We are busily working on the first update of that App and once we're done the App will also contain an in-App ‘shop’ from which it will be possible to buy more ZX Spectrum games, both as:
- 'Collections' - priced £1.49/€1.59/US$1.99 per volume, each volume containing 6 ZX Spectrum games and as
- 'Singles', each priced £0.69/€0.79/US$0.99.

What We Did Recently:
- announced the impending launch of this App ‘ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection’, for Windows 8 devices.

What We Did Previously:
- announced that ‘Signed Limited-Edition Collectors’ Prints’ are now available to order, from within the app and from http://www.elite-systems.co.uk/elite/htdocs/ltdeditionart.php
- reviewed our plans for updating the App. Settled upon: making ZX Spectrum games available to purchase as both 'Collections' and as 'Singles' from the in-App 'shop' every other month, more frequently if possible, commencing early in 2013.
- reviewed our plans for raising awareness of the App. Settled upon: releasing a small number of ZX Spectrum games every other month, more frequently if possible, as stand-alone Apps, (as well as making them available as in-App purchases).
- Published (in full at www.elite-systems.co.uk) and in part here, the list of games currently included, or currently included as in-app purchases, in ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection, that is:
- Battleships (Elite)
- Batty (Elite)
- CHUCKIE EGG (A&F)
- Critical Mass (Durell)
- Deep Strike (Durell)
- Fat Worm Blows A Sparky (Durell)
- Harrier Attack (Durell)
- Kokotoni Wilf (Elite)
- Roller Coaster (Elite)
- SABOTEUR (Durell)
- Scuba Dive (Durell)
- Turbo Esprit (Durell)

What We’re Doing Next:
- continuing to work toward the achievement of our ambitious goals.


Features

Includes Classic 12 ZX Spectrum Games
Featuring CHUCKIE EGG
Also Featuring SABOTEUR
Coming Soon ... An in-App 'Shop' (from which it will be possible to buy more ZX Spectrum games)
Build & Keep Your Collection Of ZX Spectrum Games Conveniently In A Single App