To many perhaps older gamers, or those who know a lot about the history of modern technology, the name Clive Sinclair will be synonymous with the ZX Spectrum system that helped bring home computers to the forefront back in 1982. The most influential people in the gaming industry in this day and age likely owe a debt to the entrepreneur, with many figures cutting their teeth in the industry on the 8-bit machine. Sadly, news reports have confirmed that the technology innovator has passed away at the age of 81.

In a report posted on The Guardian website, Sir Clive Sinclair has died after a long illness. Back in the early days of gaming and home consoles, Sinclair was instrumental in making computers in the home more commercial, particularly in Britain where he was born and raised. With the ZX Spectrum being one of his most successful inventions, the computer and video games industry had an influential system which has become something of a legacy to this day, with a museum dedicated to the Spectrum and other Sinclair inventions. To this day, nearly half of all gamers use home PCs, and it could be argued that the Surrey-born tech wizard helped pioneer this.

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Many other video game media outlets and famous people have been taking to Twitter to express their sadness over the loss of the inventor. One notable tweet was left by Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who said that he "loved that computer." Sinclair's daughter, Belinda Sinclair, called her father an "amazing person" who was "always interested in everything." Sinclair's revolutionary home consoles were noted for being some of the first systems at the time to be available for under £100 or $137 US, particularly with the ZX80, which was named after the year it was created.

However, it was 1982's ZX Spectrum 48K, so called because of how much memory it had, that made Sinclair a household name in his home country. At the time of the early console wars, the Spectrum rivaled the overseas Commodore 64, which has gone on to become one of the highest-selling computer systems in the world. While the C64 was a huge success globally, it did less well in the UK, where the ZX dominated the gaming market at the time.

Sinclair's work would go on to influence the early 1980s gaming era, which would eventually be taken over by Nintendo and eventually kick-start the console wars of the late 80s and early 90s between the Japanese manufacturer and its own rival Sega. Suffice it to say, Sir Clive Sinclair's ZX Spectrum has left a huge imprint on the video games industry, which will surely be mourning his passing today.

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Source: The Guardian