Spectrum Review Book is all systems go !

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Comments

  • edited December 2009
    Okay i 'think' this is the final scores on the doors, any probs then email me...

    Graeme - 53 reviews + 8 extra mini ones (Boozefreaks games) plus an extra one for the interview with Rob Pearmain = 62 = 31 quid

    Boozefreak 40 (Including the final one hes doing) = 20 quid

    Mark Hancock 14 = 7 quid
    Dudley 1 = 50p
    Zeropolis 2 = ?1
    Alex Ross 5 = ?2.50
    Ivan 5 = ?2.50
    Jumping Stack 14 = ?7.00
    Colin Woodcock 6 = ?3.00
    Uglifruit 1 = 50p

    If you dont agree with the numbers above and think you've written more (or less !) reviews then email me and i'll do a double check. Graeme - was difficult judging yours, the boozefreak piece isnt just one review, i've counted it as 1 for the interview then 8 more for the smaller reviews of his gams so 9 in total. Same for Bip Boi, counted that as 2.

    Usual scenario, if you want the money then I need your paypal address, charity (www.bleakholt.org) let me know, free (!) let me know.

    Everyones got my email address who needs it.

    I'll send out emails soon to everyone but due to losing all my email in 2009 (Wasnt backed up) then its easier if you could email me

    I'll get everyone paid this week, i'll do the final 'thanks everyone....' post in a few days time once i've uploaded this final book to lulu
  • edited December 2009
    sounds fine...so the book's basically written by boozy and me? :smile:
  • edited December 2009
    I did a review for Home Iceland Dizzy, perhaps you didn't have room for it? I'll email you it again just in case! :)

    Jamie
  • edited December 2009
    jamieangus wrote: »
    I did a review for Home Iceland Dizzy, perhaps you didn't have room for it? I'll email you it again just in case! :)

    Jamie

    Yep please send it to me again, dont seem to have it, perhaps you sent it very early on !
    jdanddiet wrote: »
    sounds fine...so the book's basically written by boozy and me? :smile:

    Yeah you two did a ton of them, Michael also has many from his website which are in there. I hardly did any this time, just copying/pasting and adding screenshots all the time.
  • edited December 2009
    psj3809 wrote: »
    Boozefreak 40 (Including the final one hes doing) = 20 quid

    Bugger me! I know I'd done a few but I didn't realise it was that many :lol:

    ....and JD 53 reviews, you're just showing off now :p
    Every night is curry night!
  • edited December 2009
    As I said, don't worry about payment for me.. I don't have Paypal anyway..
  • edited December 2009
    Hmmm, I am pretty sure you've had twice that many from me ... i.e. two (2). (GameX and Wizard Of Wor). Give me a shout if you need either re-sending.

    (And don't worry about payment).

    I am looking forward to reading it.
  • edited December 2009
    uglifruit wrote: »
    Hmmm, I am pretty sure you've had twice that many from me ... i.e. two (2). (GameX and Wizard Of Wor). Give me a shout if you need either re-sending.

    (And don't worry about payment).

    I am looking forward to reading it.

    Cheers. I normally run through every page noting down who did what review but as 95% are done by 3 people i had a quick scan and must have missed it.

    Just had a look, yeah had you down as 'uglfruit' for GameX so thats why my search didnt find it. Oops ! Has been amended

    Cheers
  • edited December 2009
    psj3809 wrote: »
    Okay i 'think' this is the final scores on the doors, any probs then email me...


    Jumping Stack 4 = ?2.00


    I'd say I have written about 11 reviews for this volume...
  • edited December 2009
    I'd say I have written about 11 reviews for this volume...

    Sorry i'm having a 'mare ! Searching for your name you've done 14, just emailing you now
  • edited December 2009
    I've done the front/back cover.

    BUT realised one review is missing !

    Slubberdegullion

    http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0023828

    Can anyone do this tonight (for tomorrow morning) ?

    Theres a free one level demo at Jonathans website which you can download...

    http://members.fortunecity.com/jonathan6/egghead/id7.html

    Its an excellent Thrust/Cybernoid-ish game, needs a review for sure.

    If anyone wants to do it can you reply here (so other people wont do the review), i'll be offline for most of tonight so wont see any emails saying 'i'll do it'. Please put your name here so you can reserve it and do the review tonight/early morning

    Thanks ! So nearly there !!
  • edited December 2009
    I'd have stepped in to rescue you, but I don't have the game and I have to go to bed in about 5 minutes cos I have to work tonight.

    So I couldn't get it done til at least 8am here tomorrow, which is 2pm there.

    So I'm not really a good candidate for the final review ;)
    Every night is curry night!
  • edited December 2009
    Dont worry, i'll do it ! Got some time this morning so i'll do a small review of it
  • edited December 2009
    Well its all done now. The contents/index page is giving me hassle though ! Couldnt get it done at lunchtime.

    Tonight i'll hopefully finish it and then upload it to lulu, the covers are done, i have to battle with their import engine but hopefully will get it done.

    I've added the front cover to the website (theres no link at the moment) so the second its published i'll update the site with it.
  • edited December 2009
    Finally (sniff) after 6 books its all over ! Over 1,500 combined pages, over 1,200 reviews in the 6 books.

    Book 6 (1994-200x) is finally finished and I dont ever want to see Microsoft Word again !

    http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-b ... 0x/8022671

    270 pages ?9.95. Features over 200 game reviews of some classic homebrew games (And some bad ones !). Features most of Jonathan Cauldwells catalogue of games, CEZ/Mojo Twins (Excellent Spanish programmers), Bob Smith and many more.

    We started back in Dec 2007 and now 2 years later its all over.

    Thanks to EVERYONE who has reviewed games for the book (Notably Paul.S, Graeme.M, Mark.H, Zero and Boozefreak) and all the others who helped contribute. I still love flicking through the books and getting a rose tinted memory when i see a screenshot or read a review reminding me of a classic game.

    Raised a good amount for the local charity near to where I live so I'll go round this weekend with the final amount of money. People have written tons of reviews ! Big thank you to Michael.F as well who has gone through all the reviews with his fine toothcomb and must be sick and tired of seeing anymore !

    It's all over ! Hope you like the book, granted many of you will prefer the games 'back in the day' but theres a lot of very very good 'new' Speccy games for you to look at, many are of an excellent quality and long may it continue !

    (We have a review of Miles Mad Mission !, the latest Bob Smith game and the latest game from Binman!, An interview with Boozefreak about his many JSW games and reviews of them, also reviews of some of Andrew Broads games, Rob Pearmains Bip Boi (and interview) and manyyyy other games). To see a list of the games reviewed in the book (Its mostly up to date !) have a look here...

    http://www.spectrumgamesbible.co.uk/book6.htm

    (This feels like the Oscars), so many people to say thanks to for their reviews, Jumping Stack, uglifruit, Jason Compton and many others. Cheers lads.

    Cheers
  • edited December 2009
    well done! I'm not surprised at you not wanting to see Word again! I haven't the money right now...but someday I hope to buy your books :)
  • edited December 2009
    ghbearman wrote: »
    well done! I'm not surprised at you not wanting to see Word again! I haven't the money right now...but someday I hope to buy your books :)

    Cheers, well when you can get one and see what you think, Book 1 is the best seller as it brings back a ton of memories of all those old games, Book 2 has a lot of my favourites in though
  • edited December 2009
    Ivan - Been trying to email you about your payment for your reviews, please email me with your paypal address

    Also pretty please (!), could you promote the book on the most popular Spanish forums please ? If you could mention it on the CEZ/Mojo Twins forum as it features many of their games

    Thanks !
  • edited December 2009
    I will do it Paul!
    By the way,don't worry about the money, I intend to use it to buy the book for when I have a bit more money.

    Thanks!
  • edited December 2009
    psj3809 wrote: »
    Finally (sniff) after 6 books its all over ! Over 1,500 combined pages, over 1,200 reviews in the 6 books.

    Book 6 (1994-200x) is finally finished and I dont ever want to see Microsoft Word again !

    http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-b ... 0x/8022671

    270 pages ?9.95. Features over 200 game reviews of some classic homebrew games (And some bad ones !). Features most of Jonathan Cauldwells catalogue of games, CEZ/Mojo Twins (Excellent Spanish programmers), Bob Smith and many more.

    We started back in Dec 2007 and now 2 years later its all over.

    Thanks to EVERYONE who has reviewed games for the book (Notably Paul.S, Graeme.M, Mark.H, Zero and Boozefreak) and all the others who helped contribute. I still love flicking through the books and getting a rose tinted memory when i see a screenshot or read a review reminding me of a classic game.

    Raised a good amount for the local charity near to where I live so I'll go round this weekend with the final amount of money. People have written tons of reviews ! Big thank you to Michael.F as well who has gone through all the reviews with his fine toothcomb and must be sick and tired of seeing anymore !

    It's all over ! Hope you like the book, granted many of you will prefer the games 'back in the day' but theres a lot of very very good 'new' Speccy games for you to look at, many are of an excellent quality and long may it continue !

    (We have a review of Miles Mad Mission !, the latest Bob Smith game and the latest game from Binman!, An interview with Boozefreak about his many JSW games and reviews of them, also reviews of some of Andrew Broads games, Rob Pearmains Bip Boi (and interview) and manyyyy other games). To see a list of the games reviewed in the book (Its mostly up to date !) have a look here...

    http://www.spectrumgamesbible.co.uk/book6.htm

    (This feels like the Oscars), so many people to say thanks to for their reviews, Jumping Stack, uglifruit, Jason Compton and many others. Cheers lads.

    Cheers

    And well done to you Paul. Take a bow, fantastic the way you made this happen.
    One last request from me, please get the colour one up ASAP, would love to get it ordered for the holiday season.
  • edited December 2009
    Yep, well done for seeing this mammoth task through to the end. Just ordered mine, looking forward to reading the last installment! Will you be uploading a colour edition at some stage? I would probably be compelled to snap that up too just to complete the collection :)

    Do you think that at some stage down the line you might be persuaded to go back and do another volume - lets say of a selection of games that were missed from previous volumes? Just a thought :D Feel free to put me down for Technician Ted if you do lol.

    All the best,

    Jamie
  • edited December 2009
    Well, my niece will be buying a copy and a friend of mine will be too.

    I do a lot of writing with Microsoft Word and I also get to the point where I never want to see it again - in fact, I felt that way after writing Book 3 or 4's reviews...

    I felt bad during Book 3 or 4's production (the one printed September 2008) because due to sabotage by vandals (they blew up the local exchange box) our internet went down and I couldn't send the last four/five reviews.

    But in all, despite the fact I had problems with my Book 6 reviews and the aforementioned problems, I really enjoyed writing the reviews for all but book 1 - revisited a lot of old favourites.

    My main memories include convincing a fellow reviewer to let me have Switchblade, Lemmings and Turrican 2... I also remember writing a review of Famous Five for Book 4, then finding out I had to write one for Book 5 - I'd forgotten about Book 4's review at the time and thought nothing of it but I remember reading two different reviews in the books later on... I stand by my views that the camp song from the 70's TV series would have had no place in it (there was no sound in the game).

    If Paul decides to compile another book, I'll be on hand to write something for it (providing it's a topic I can write about).
  • edited December 2009
    It's good that the final book is now here, gonna order it sometime in the next day or so.

    ....but now I feel like I need to fill a big void in my life, I'd gotten quite used to using game reviews as a means of passing the time, and even though I think I've burnt myself out for a while, it's gonna be weird having none to actually do anymore.

    It's a strange mixture of happiness for the books being finished, and a strange feeling of sadness for the limbo my poisoned pen is going to be in from now on :lol:

    It's probably going to feel weird playing a Speccy game now fullstop, because I'm going to have the urge to pause it, minimise SPIN, and take notes on the graphics, sound, and gameplay using wordpad :D
    Every night is curry night!
  • edited December 2009
    Congratulations!!! You got six books done in the time it took me to do just one!

    Andrew
  • edited December 2009
    It's good that the final book is now here, gonna order it sometime in the next day or so.

    ....but now I feel like I need to fill a big void in my life, I'd gotten quite used to using game reviews as a means of passing the time, and even though I think I've burnt myself out for a while, it's gonna be weird having none to actually do anymore.

    It's a strange mixture of happiness for the books being finished, and a strange feeling of sadness for the limbo my poisoned pen is going to be in from now on :lol:

    It's probably going to feel weird playing a Speccy game now fullstop, because I'm going to have the urge to pause it, minimise SPIN, and take notes on the graphics, sound, and gameplay using wordpad :D

    I alternated between using either my PDA or pen and paper to make notes..
  • edited December 2009
    Is there any chance that u put some books on ebay.co.uk (that's where I bought Book#1 and #2) because buying from USA is not my cup of tea?

    thanx
  • edited December 2009
    And well done to you Paul. Take a bow, fantastic the way you made this happen.
    One last request from me, please get the colour one up ASAP, would love to get it ordered for the holiday season.

    Cheers fella, but well done to Michael as well. Poor lad had to sit through review after review double checking them, i'm the noddy copy/paste guy !

    To be fair it should say on the front 'By a cast of many' instead of my name and Michaels.

    I will get the colour one uploaded tonight or early tomorrow, hopefully the price wont be 'too' severe !
    jamieangus wrote: »
    Do you think that at some stage down the line you might be persuaded to go back and do another volume - lets say of a selection of games that were missed from previous volumes? Just a thought :D Feel free to put me down for Technician Ted if you do lol.

    Yeah thought how we could do it in the future, i would like a lot more games from the 1982-1984 era as looking at the book its a bit thin for those years (and thats the best seller). A compilation book might be an idea or some sort of 'extra' book with missed reviews and others (And yeah missing Technician Ted was criminal ! Oh well !)
    It's a strange mixture of happiness for the books being finished, and a strange feeling of sadness for the limbo my poisoned pen is going to be in from now on :lol:

    I know what you mean, i was like a kid at Xmas when i ordered the first book and when it arrived i was happy as anything with it. Will be weird no more reviews and no more chasing up people ;)
    Congratulations!!! You got six books done in the time it took me to do just one!

    Andrew

    Cheers fella, like i say your book was the inspiration to it, got a great mix of reviews in all 6 books, my reviews arent great at all but theres a fair few people who are excellent at it.
    Pyjamarama wrote: »
    Is there any chance that u put some books on ebay.co.uk (that's where I bought Book#1 and #2) because buying from USA is not my cup of tea?

    thanx

    I used to do that but then i realised i made no profit. On an 8.95 book for example we make about 2 quid, if i put the book up on ebay at 8.95 plus postage then the starting fee/final fee bites into that small amount we make.

    I would have to put them up and charge an extra quid or so to cover the ebay costs. I dont believe they're all sent from the US though, i thought lulu had a printing place in Spain ? (They have one in the US as well though). When I order lulu books myself it never comes with a customs thing from the US. I'm getting some this week (or next week) so i'll see what it says on the postage form.

    Anyway hope you like the last book, the idea obviously was to feature the different Speccys on the front cover so we started off with the rubber keyed original, then the 128k, the Speccy +, the +2, +3 and the idea was for the 'non commercical' years in the final book have a laptop with an emulator displayed.
  • edited December 2009
    I'd just like to add my congrats to Paul and Michael for their sustained efforts.

    Well done, I raise my glass to you. (From which I drink deeply, then replace upon it's rubber beer mat).
  • edited December 2009
    Yeah cheers for your help fella (have to know your real name one day !). Hopefully see you at the Sheffield retro show in April
  • edited December 2009
    Of course you should charge a bit more on ebay.co.uk!

    My problems are:
    the customs
    and that I would prefer to pay via PayPal and not share billing informations with Lulu. Anyhow, do you know if Lulu accepts PayPal?

    Thanx in advance and congratulatiosn for this excelent series!
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