Issue 101 Feedback Thread

[Evermore]

Picked up the mag in the shop today and had a leaf through. Will likely pick it up later in the month but when I got to the back page I was pretty miffed to see what the headline article will be for ish 102 - more Spectrum! Seriously, this is getting boring now. Its an interesting machine sure, but its being done to death at this stage. Its 30 years old, but wasn't that fact celebrated enough in issue 100? And what more can be said about it at this stage?

OMG! Is there anything else in there? I'll assume the X-Wing series is not on the speccy, the Super Mario RPG not on the speccy, Wipeout not on the speccy...... Get a life man! It is a retro mag that caters for LOTS of retro loving people from different decades that all want stuff written about machines they like. How many times does Darran or any other person have to come on here and state that the mag is NOT JUST FOR YOU x Pi

Come on, the Spectrum is by far the most covered format in Retro Gamer. Fair enough, there has to be one format that gets the most coverage - but to put it as this big amazing headline at the back of the mag:

"Hey guys, looks whats coming up - Spectrum!! Woopee!!"

Well its just silly really, when it getting all the coverage that it has gotten recently, as well as its own book too of course. Could they not have had something else as the main headline? Something a little different that hasn't been covered as much? Its just so repetitive, and arguably lazy.

BTW, I'd like less Speccy coverage - in the 18 months I'm buying the mag I feel like I know more about the Spectrum than I do my own favourite system - the SNES unsurprisingly, but its not the Speccy coverage that will be in issue 102 thats the problem. My issue is the predictability, the mag pushing the forthcoming Speccy coverage as this big deal we should all be getting excited over. Of course its going to be in issue 102 - its in ever issue! There's no need to make a big song and dance about it! Why not headline with the Virtual Boy article which Darren mentioned recently? Its not a system that has been covered extensively after all. FFS lets try and freshen the thing up a bit guys.

If the SNES was covered and promoted as much as the Spectrum is in Retro Gamer, I might find even myself getting bored of it!!

[DreamcastRIP]

If, and that's a very big 'if', Speccy receives more coverage than any other single format in RG then all credit to Darran for catering to what I presume to be the majority of the readership. If any one retro system warrants covering more than any other in a UK-based retro gaming magazine then surely it would be the wildly successful in the UK Speccy. I don't see what's wrong about that.

[markopoloman]

Evermore - I'm confused. So you are complaining that every issue has a section on the Spectrum?? Does that include reference to it in a software house review? A one page look at a particular game? An image of Miner Willy on a page somewhere? The word Spectrum printed in the mag?
Your reaction is completely over the top. I've just had a flick through 101 for a spectrum article and can't for the life of me find one! Unless of course you include the Hobbit or Ocean articles. I would hazard a guess that Nintendo gets just as much coverage in the mag as any other system. I'm not defending the speccy here as I am a C64 guy (and that has had loads of coverage recently).

At the end of the day, if the Happy Birthday to the Speccy article is 6 pages long (just a guess) then there will be approx 108 pages of other things. Hardly something to slit your wrists over.

[FatTrucker]

Wow, were even getting Retro feedback now....I'm sure this discussion was first done, at around the issue 5 mark and seems to get repeated at least once a year.

[4am]

"Hey guys, looks whats coming up - Spectrum!! Woopee!!" Well its just silly really...

Extensive Spectrum/8 bit coverage is one of the reasons I took out my first subscription recently ... and I suspect I'm not alone.

My impression was that the Nintendo article that's caused such a kerfuffle wasn't penned by someone who was 'active' at the time.

And I got my first busted spine with this month's issue...

[Havantgottaclue]

My impression (and I write as someone on the, erm, "beige and chunky" side of the great 8-bit divide) is that there is not, nor has there ever been, excessive coverage of the ZX Spectrum, especially seeing as it was by quite a distance the most popular 8-bit home computer in the country of RG's publication. I'd guard against saying that I would like to see more, on the grounds that there are many other systems (such as the Atari 8-bits, the Atari ST and perhaps the 8-bit Apples and MSX machines) that could benefit from a bit more coverage. RG has already done some really sterling work on the BBC Micro, with numerous articles in recent times which have helped bring the machine out of obscurity as a gaming machine (I say "obscurity" as my activities on the BBC were mostly programming - that may not be the case for everyone).

I suppose another point with the Collector's Guide is that all of the machines selected have already been through the Retroinspection process and their histories covered in great detail - indeed, that was the focus of the article. The writers of the Collector's Guide article might be best advised to refrain from any coverage of the system's history other than what impacts upon its appeal to collectors these days, as this has already been covered in Retroinspections where it was the focus and therefore probably far better researched.

[khisanth]

I got my first NES at Christmas last year (with ROB the robot!) so was very pleased to see a NES collectors article and what games I need to get!

made a start with about 6 games now.

[samhain81]

No offence to the people involved, but I'm getting quite upset seeing the same old usernames in the 'from the forum' section of the magazine. Would it kill you RetroGamer to use some other users comments on certain questions? I mean , seeing one comment is one things , but have 3 or 4 of their comments from the forum posted in the same issue is quite upsetting, seeing how many other people would have been pleased to see even one of their comments posted in your magazine(myself included). I know its a small criticism, but I can't help to think its favoritism of some sorts, and thats enough to turn me off my subscription altogether.

[khisanth]

No offence to the people involved, but I'm getting quite upset seeing the same old usernames in the 'forums talk' section of the magazine. Would it kill you RetroGamer to use some other users comments on certain questions? I mean , seeing one common forum users comment is one thing, but have 3 or 4 of their posted comments in the same page is quite upsetting, seeing how many other people would have been pleased to see even one of their comments posters in your magazine(myself included). I know its a small criticism, buts its bordering on favourtism by the looks of it, and thats enough to turn me off the magazine altogether,

You may be wrong, but I also think this sometimes. Certain names always crop or i would always notice one person. However looking at two random recent issues, from the forum users were totally different.

I guess its luck of the draw combined with a good comment

[samhain81]

No offence to the people involved, but I'm getting quite upset seeing the same old usernames in the 'forums talk' section of the magazine. Would it kill you RetroGamer to use some other users comments on certain questions? I mean , seeing one common forum users comment is one thing, but have 3 or 4 of their posted comments in the same page is quite upsetting, seeing how many other people would have been pleased to see even one of their comments posters in your magazine(myself included). I know its a small criticism, buts its bordering on favourtism by the looks of it, and thats enough to turn me off the magazine altogether,

You may be wrong, but I also think this sometimes. Certain names always crop or i would always notice one person. However looking at two random recent issues, from the forum users were totally different.

I guess its luck of the draw combined with a good comment

Thats wierd because the two names that I see often reoccur were in both 101, and 100, which is why it became apparent to me.

Maybe it is luck of the draw, but its still a downer to see your comments once again be omitted from an upcoming issue, despite providing solid comments towards the topics.

[markopoloman]

I suppose it's what is in the comment? I don't always throw an answer into the 'from the forum' if |I'm not interested -like the 102 question. I've been in there a number of times but wouldn't class it as ott! I suppose its a case of 'keep posting answers' and eventually you'll get in there?!

I do understand what you mean though - it is nice seeing your name in print.

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

The reasons the same people appear in the various comments is because they are regularly contributing compared to many others, so they'll appear more often.

The reason why we're covering the spectrum again is because we're out 3 days off its actual birthday. If you think a magazine that celebrates retro games and machines shouldn't get excited about a massive anniversary like this then I really don't know what to say to you evermore. That would mean that the C64, Dragon 32, Ultimate, Mega Man, Street Fighter, Atari 2600, Atari, Pongm Final Fantasy and many other popular names and systems shouldn't have their important anniversaries covered this year. If we can't get excited about genuinely important events on the retro world I'd rather not be involved with the magazine.

[DreamcastRIP]

Here's looking forward to the six-page splash celebrating the Atari Jaguar's twentieth anniversary late on next year then! Should RG fail to deliver the goods then I'll probably cancel my subscription or demand a free mug or something as such petulance seems to be de rigueur these days!

[NorthWay]

I'm with Darran: We should celebrate!

But do them _all_. I like the obscure stuff a lot.

[DreamcastRIP]

... I like the obscure stuff a lot.

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