RG You've got some nerve.

[thevulture]

Am I the only one here who thinks he hasn't cancelled his sub purely because of this one article? He said in his post he should have done it ages ago, I'm assuming this article was just the last straw. I do kind of agree with his opening line though and no I've not cancelled my sub yet.

'This bit:I've cancelled my subscription (should have done it ages ago with your badly researched articles and bullshit). Expect your magazines to be appearing on Ebay in the near future.'

Does indeed give that impression, i cancelled my Gamestm+Empire Subs after good few months of each issue having really nothing to offer, but if he's had concerns with various issues why not post in the feedback threads that appear each month? that's what they are there for.

[badda]

These kind of rants prove the old adage true:
"A little information is a dangerous thing."

Too many fanboys (or greying middle-aged fanblokes now) who can quote some cursory tech specs (cpu speed, kilobytes of ram), with little insight into anything deeper.

From a technical standpoint, only if one is properly familiar with both Z80 and 6502 microprocessors and coding, system architectures, and so forth can one truly judge the underlying hardware capabilities of two distinct home computer models.

And that's before getting into the much more subjective realm of which system had the best game libraries...

[joefish]

Right from the start, when I saw those wishy-washy chalk colours on the page, I could tell which way it was going to go...

I liked the input from professional developers, but couldn't follow the logic of the conclusions drawn from it by the author. For example, to tout Paradroid as a great and unique game for the C64 when its Spectrum remake, Quazatron, trounced it in both appearance and gameplay, is a strange road to go down. And to dismiss Ste Pickford's mention of ground-breaking games like Knight Lore and Tau Ceti as examples of the Spectrum's 'quirkiness' is like looking at Elite and saying 'nah, 3D'll never catch on - you wanna do it with sprites mate'.

The article also seemed far too keen to dismiss anything from more than about four years into the Spectrum's life (both software and hardware wise), but to keep cherry-picking examples from the lifetime of the C64 to make its point.

But then it goes on to say that the C64 was easier to develop for, so therefore the Spectrum was better from a development perspective as it made you work harder. What?

[merman]

Quazatron may have added to the Paradroid formula, but for me you can't beat the atmosphere of the original - from the static as the game ends to the information screens to the sense of unease as you open a door and wonder what high-powered droids are lurking in there...

And have you seen the gorgeous shadows and movement of the C64 version of Tau Ceti? John Twiddy did an amazing job with it. I am jealous that the Spectrum got Academy and the ability to design their own skimmers...

I think what the developers were trying to say is that on a fundamental level, the Spectrum forced you to really understand the inner workings, to save every byte and to get down and dirty with the code. At times the C64's extra memory and addressing modes made it easier to do things.

[RetroMartin]

My C64 didn't have a tape deck, it had a large floppy drive and the games loaded in 5 seconds.....

[joefish]

Oh please. You could type-in games on the Spectrum faster than loading from a C64 disk drive.

[Treguard]

Does anyone else get the feeling this was the one Spectrum owner in a school playground full of C64 owers back in the day, still seething he found these facts on the internet and and he's been waiting to use these arguments ever since?

[TMR]

Oh please. You could type-in games on the Spectrum faster than loading from a C64 disk drive.

Six seconds for a 62K block of data is the average with a standard 1541 and an Action Replay 6 cartridge (JiffyDOS is slightly faster but that's a couple of replaced ROMs) whilst purely software-based fastloaders can get close... i type about 70 words a minute, your fingers must be [b]bloody stumps[/i] at the speed you're going!! =-)

[joefish]

your fingers must be [b]bloody stumps[/i] at the speed you're going!! =-)

Ah, but you don't have nice, soft squidgy keys to cushion the impact...

[nakamura]

Anyone else think that the topic title is the best topic title ever?

[Wookiee]

Amusing to see the reactions this far down the line.....

but to end the debate once and for all:

Obviously the speccy was better - it's the one I grew up with....and FACT as well for good measure

[pantal00ns]

This thread has brought the 'censored' out in everyone, excellent!

For that reason I give it the ZZapp Sizzler!*

*On the basis that a Crash smash has been outlawed as it would have less appeal to a global audience.

[DreamcastRIP]

This thread has brought the 'censored' out in everyone, excellent!

For that reason I give it the ZZapp Sizzler!*

*On the basis that a Crash smash has been outlawed as it would have less appeal to a global audience.

Regarding the article's "irreverent" conclusion, I couldn't give a C+VG sHit!

[boggyb68]

Lol! This thread makes me howl with laughter.. Is this guy for real.. As Jaz Rignall once said: Has this thread been designed by an imbecile child dropped on it's head at 6 months...

Personally I love the 64 because I had one.. That's it.. Nothing more nothing less.. The result of the poll means nowt.. I like the Speccy and the Amstrad, both great machines but my loyalties lie with the machine I actually owned.. Doesn't say it's the best, just I had one, so to me it's great..

Cannot understand why someone can get so annoyed about an article in a magazine which is still just a personal opinion and is talking about machines which are 30 years old.. Utter nonsense.. Total bollockwaffe..

Still, it's provided some entertainment.. And the 'playground' rivalry lives on which to me is the best thing about all this.. I never thought that in the year Back To The Future -3 that I would be still involved in the good old Speccy-64 'debate'.. Marvellous!

B.

[DreamcastRIP]

Great post, boggyb68.

His post really was quite something it could be said! It's merely me attempting to read between the lines a little but I couldn't help wondering if the part where he said (highlighted by myself in bold for emphasis),

I've cancelled my subscription (should have done it ages ago with your badly researched articles and bullshit).

... was perhaps indicative of an underlying and festering deep frustration he's felt with the magazine for some time. Like I think someone else has already said, the article concerned may have proved the tipping point for 'Tony'.