Retro Gamer Issue 88
Good issue this month, fair bit of Missile Command. I 'presume' Rainbird Rich is the guy who wrote the article on Firebird this month, looks really good.
In Homebrew Cauldwell gets another Retro Gamer sizzler as Utter Tripe gets 91%, plus Bob Smith gets one for his zx81 game Boulder Logic.
Interview with Dave Hughes about his Speccy games, somehow must have missed Stamp Quest. Err 'nice' picture ! ;)
Fair few other bits of the Speccy feature this month, look back at games which were clones (Daley Thompsons Decathlon - Track n Field etc).
In next months issue theres an interview with Raffaele Cecco and also Stephen Crow. Crow reveals details on Starquakes canned sequel.
In Homebrew Cauldwell gets another Retro Gamer sizzler as Utter Tripe gets 91%, plus Bob Smith gets one for his zx81 game Boulder Logic.
Interview with Dave Hughes about his Speccy games, somehow must have missed Stamp Quest. Err 'nice' picture ! ;)
Fair few other bits of the Speccy feature this month, look back at games which were clones (Daley Thompsons Decathlon - Track n Field etc).
In next months issue theres an interview with Raffaele Cecco and also Stephen Crow. Crow reveals details on Starquakes canned sequel.
Post edited by psj3809 on
Comments
I think I'm not the only person to want to see a Retro Gamer devoted specifically to the Your Sinclair/Crash/ZZap style and include a genuine cassette tape of old software or better(?) just tape box with something like a 128MB USB stick or mini DVD (1.4GB IIRC) inside with exclusive software? I'd happily pay ?10 for one.
I'm the opposite. Was happy when they stopped doing a cover disk, i hardly opened any of those. I mean the Gremlin collection - whats the point really ? Had all the games from WOS.
Theres tons of nostalgia for me. Back in the Speccy days of cover tapes that was pretty bad, magazines were pamphlets and it was the start of the end of the Speccy as magazines got thinner and the games on the covertapes were mostly dire.
Still think you should buy it monthly ! A subscriptions dirt cheap and its amazing in the year 2011 theres a magazine dedicated to retro stuff plus has Speccy stuff/homebrew reviews in it. I personally want to support that. Plus if it wasnt for all of us buying it monthly you wouldnt be able to get the bookazines !
it has also improved my knowledge from those that make, design and publish the games, it has got me to go to events as just a user (byte back was AWESOME!) and finally as an exhibitor at R3Play .... fun times indeed!!!! and I will be doing it again this year at Blackpool - drag up a fair few machines for people to play on!
I feel the quality and cost of the Magazine is bang on! and as much as I would like to see a once in a while promo disc/ disk / poster or small 128mb mp3player - perhaps a 2GB retroish looking usb stick, I would like to see these as a no more than say a maximum of twice a year - thus keeping it special =)
Special Christmas editions with double tapes, extra thick etc? I remember religiously buying as many Spectrum/Atari/Amiga (depending on era) computer mags as I could at Christmas usually because of full games etc. If I remember correctly occasionally some mags would do a Xmas special then follow quickly with a January mag on or around the 20th that also had a lot of content/good games.
As a subscriber I feel like I have to read every page to get value for money, but I have to admit there's plenty of stuff I'm not always interested in, such as the arcade machine stuff unless it was one of the few titles I actually played as a youngster.
good riddance.
If they're going to provide 'exclusive material' then just print a link and password and keep the price of the magazine down.
Oh dear, you're not wearing a baseball cap with a foam arm wielding a hammer coming out of it are you?
Pink bunny ears. It was from a works outing.
Now that's where I think you're mistaken - magazines also have an advantage in that they can secure distribution rights for content but not old/retro information, especially in the cases of special editions of software - the Gremlin disk I enjoyed because I simply didn't have all editions of the software (or tried all of it) until then.
Given magazines have that advantage and a tactile feel which the internet doesn't it seems to be throwing away that advantage by not offering tapes/disk/usb and the nostalgia that an old look mag like Retro Gamer could give.
Yes, the Firebird article was written by me. I could have easily done 10-12 pages no problem, but had to settle for 8 in the end! :-)
Of course, there's still my web site for all sorts of other Firebird/Rainbird/Silverbird stuff - and I will get around to updating it again sometime this year. It's just been a bit hectic the last year or so!
There was no disc editor as such, so I used to put them together (which was usually quite enjoyable, I must admit, although it used to eat up too much time). Yes, most of the stuff was pulled straight off the web, but there were a few exceptions - the Konix Multisystem videos were proper EXCLUSIVES!!, the C64 SID CD audio stuff was quality, and the Amiga Forever package was pretty neat. And yes, even though the likes of Gremlin, Durell, Hewson and System 3 games could be grabbed from WoS or wherever, I was quite proud that we actually got permission to include them. Plus, finally, we did go to some effort to make the inlays look nice and retro, and not like some bland coverdiscs you saw on PC mags.
It's also worth remembering that, at the time - 2004 - broadband wasn't everywhere like it is now (and it was often capped quite low), so getting 700Mb of retro stuff on a disc each month was a bonus for a few folks.
There's obviously no place for a disc on the mag these days, although I think there's an opportunity for the occasional covermounted DVD, perhaps once a year, featuring footage from a retro event or something like that (or maybe some of the earlier issues as PDFs).
Agree Martyn - at the time they were ok. But not now. Although a cover disc with some nice added extras would occasionally be nice of course.
Just isn't proper retro without a free tape on the cover. ;)
I would also like to see some type ins and some hints and tips about programming and such like, for example, how to prevent people from hacking into your programs.
Maybe there is room for a retro home computing magazine as well as a retro gaming magazine?
A tape on the front cover would be crazy. A lot of people wont have a Speccy to play it on, theres also lots of readers who arent Speccy fans and might be Amstrad/C64, plus theyre doing well in the US with subscriptions so again it would be a waste.
Wouldnt say they can be used by nearly everyone.
Same for type-ins, think that would be crazy nowadays, and again for people who arent interested in the Speccy (Or to be honest crappy type in programs) its a huge waste. A feature on type-in's would be good though, you look back and it was crazy typing in all these lines of code for hours on end just for some bug to appear at the end meaning it wouldnt work (Or the dog walked in, went over the lead and reset the computer !)
In an ideal world there would be a home computer magazine as well but in todays current climate i reckon it'll be tricky. Look at RG, been going for 80+ odd issues and you've just bought your first ! ;) Would love it if there was the market for a Speccy only mag but probably be tough to please everyone, eg the gamers, the programmers, the techies, the shareware lot etc.
Always heard that Retro Gamer had the 'rights' to do another Your Sinclair special but i dont think figures were that improved when they did it originally. I loved that YS supplement back then, really captured the old skool look and feel.
And yes, RG sales figures remained pretty constant despite what we stuck on the front (YS, poster, calendar etc). There were no noticeable spikes, which is why we didn't do it too much.
EDIT: there was a feature on type-ins in issue 5.
http://www.tapeline.info/site/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=4
Cool, i'll go back and give it a look.
The thing is if loadssssssss of people bought Retro Gamer, specially when theres a Speccy special then someone 'might' start to think 'everytime we feature the Speccy sales go up 40%, there could be something in this....' and you never know, the dream of having a Speccy only magazine with everything in we want 'could' happen.
Problem is a fair few dont buy it as they moan that theres stuff in the mag they dont like so they 'dip in and out' of the mag and buy it occasionally.
If we all bought it, sales were stronger then you never know what could happen (spin off mag, a retro game more for hardware/programming etc etc).
Dont mean to sound like an advert for RG but with a subscription its cheap as anything, RG do a ton of homebrew and its still great that in the year 2011 theres screenshots/reviews of Speccy stuff in a magazine.
(if you could paypal me that money Martyn, cheers) ;)
I must admit I have never attempted a type in for the spectrum, even a 48K game (as opposed to 16K) must be prohibitively long. VIC 20 type ins were OK sometimes, on Denial there has recently been a series of West German type ins from the late 80s, some of them looked really good.
Including routines for sound effects, graphics, program protection etc would surely be useful though.
I think a mixed tape would be a great idea. Include a game for Spectrum, Amstrad and C64 and you're surely onto a winner. Would be nice if the poor old VIC got a look in too, and I suppose the BBC should have something too.
As to a Speccy only issue, yeah I'd love it - but as Alien 8 mentions, I'm interested in other platforms too.
My perfect Retro Gamer would contain:
30% Spectrum
30% Amiga
25% Commodore 64
15% Atari ST
Latest issue sounds good though... I'm hoping it has hit my iPad (I subscribe to the digital edition).
As for type ins, look here:
http://www.worldofspectrum.org/forums/showthread.php?t=33740
Well I reckon certain old classic games would be welcome, as would home brew stuff, and maybe some type ins that have been typed in. Also it could be a place for developers to premier levels or beta versions of their new games. There is loads of scope.
I'm glad i'm not the only one.
To be honest I buy RG only for the Speccy stuff (and the early (read: 320x240 VGA "and up" PC era). I've switched to the PC right after the Spectrum. It's not that I'm not interested in other platforms, but most of them can already be found on the internet, and what RG does for the Spectrum is unique.
But I do realise that RG can't really exist without mentioning other platforms so I just keep buying them hoping that they do more Speccy stuff. :-P
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