Issue 71 Feedback Thread

[Igorthegreen]

IDEA: wouldn't it be nice to publish one or two authentic pages of an old games-magazine in every issue of RG?

This has come up a few times on the forum, but I imagine many people would get terribly angry if they saw pages of reprint in the mag. Also, it's a logistical nightmare. For stuff where the publisher's still going, you'd have to secure permission, but also find out if the writer was properly contracted at the time. And with articles where the publisher no longer exists (say, Newsfield), you'd need to find out who owns the IP (which may have been sold to or may be owned by different people).

Well, as far as copyright would still be an issue... I thought about it, because they reprint the covers of the singles in 'Back in the XXties...' as well? As they do with boxart and screenshots... I can imagine if we talk publishing rights it can be a load of work...

[CraigGrannell]

Although the UK lacks any really nailed down fair-use laws, you can get away with things like the BTTE thumbnails. However, reprinting pages of old mags at 1:1 would be a very bad idea from a rights standpoint. Even the full-size ad reprints are sailing pretty damn close to the wind at times.

I imagine the vast majority of IP owners wouldn't give a monkey's, obviously, but it only needs one person to kick up a stink.

[Igorthegreen]

I guess you're right. Anyway, it was only a little idea. Viva RG

[Japster]

Nice to see all the mini bios I wrote for the SID piece have made it in. Looking forward to seeing the article in the flesh—and I think a few of the people within said article will surprise long-time SID fans!

Came as a surprise that it was in this issue! - I've been busy reading it Craig, and I love the direction you've taken with it, not to mention all of the great boxouts, and each composer's favourite pieces etc...

The Mighty Bogg too! - Used to have a great music demo of his, with Rollercoaster, etc on it, and loads of baloons floating up the screen - brought back memories of that!

Well done mate, and well done RG! - you've both done the SID and those awesome SID composers proud with that great article!... coupled with Afterburner (love this game!), and the fantastic DOS gaming article? ...yep... ...To use a well-worn, clichéd statement - my *favourite* issue yet! (so I'm biased!)...

...and no, I'm not bothered that there ain't no bloody snow, and it certainly wouldn't have stopped me from buying it even if it didn't have SID pr0n in it! lol!

[CraigGrannell]

Glad you enjoyed the SID piece. It was tough squeezing everything in, but I think it turned out pretty well in the end. It was also great that of all the people I wanted for the piece (and knew realistically would perhaps be involved), only a couple turned it down. And then a few I wasn't remotely expecting to be involved—Rob Hubbard, David Whittaker and the talented and lovely chap that is Martin Walker—also sent me stuff, which was the icing on the cake, really.

[Japster]

I wish you stop wasting pages on these Homebrew games, boring as hell and who's going download say the MSX space invaders when you can get it on Mame , PS2 etc..

I'd rather you'd scrap the Homebrew and have reviews for New Old games like you used to do with DS Contra 4 and please get the Full page old adverts back

Hell no ! Love the homebrew sections. Must admit when i see homebrew games for some of the 'rarer' systems is surprises me but there must be people playing it.

The comment about 'whos going to download MSX Space invaders when you can get it on MAME/PS2' is a stupid one though. Thats like some kid saying to me 'why are you playing those crappy Spectrum games for , play PS3...' etc. As for 'boring as hell' have you actually tried any of them ?

I love Commando on MAME, i'm sure if there was a PS3 version it might be incredible but i obviously like the Speccy version for the memories it brings back, the gameplay (Dont care so much about sound/graphics) and i like seeing how someone would create that game in 48k rather than tons of memory on a Playstation 3 for example. Love playing Space Invaders on the Atari VCS because of memories/gameplay/just enjoy it.

What next ? 'Get rid of all these crappy old shows and films from the 80's as the effects were bad, just have the latest CGI films....' etc !

I love the homebrew games on the Speccy, theyre playable as anything, good for a quick 5 minutes here and there instead of waiting for ages for levels to load etc. Granted not saying everyone has to like them but 100% disagree with the comment about 'why play Space Invaders on the MSX , play it on MAME/PS2' etc.

Argh! - Not again! - Just saw this too...

Yep, same here! - Don't EVER get rid of the homebrew, guys! - that and retro-rated are my favourite regular features - I wouldn't EVER want to see them go - PS - thanks to them, I found out about countless gems, including the fantastic "Berzerk Redux" - LOVE that game, and massive respect to the creator, Martin Piper, for putting so much into it - THIS is how remakes of original (and mostly sub-standard) conversions should be done! - ie. proving what the game could have been like on the C64, and playable as hell...

Likewise, I LOVE checking out what talented coders are squeezing out of ANY of the old 8-bits, etc, and sometimes it makes your jaw drop, given that I used to code on these machines, and so am even more acutely aware of their limitations - hence MASSIVE respect to them... They're doing it to show that these 'underpowered' machines CAN do it, and what better way to show their love and respect for their 8-bit weapon of choice, than this? - my love for the C64 is constantly re-kindled by these new games and demos, in addition to the old classics!

Each to their own I guess, but I think it's fairly obvious that loads of readers love this section, each time the debate crops up! - What's the alternative? - a couple of new pages of niche content, possibly preferred by a few, and maybe a couple more pages of ads, or worse, the MASSIVE TEXT AND SCREENSHOTS (like way earlier RG's) needed to fill in the (now empty) space? ... - what did you think you'd get back for those 4-6 pages? - I say enjoy what's in there, *while* we've got it! (the great articles AND mag, that is!)...

Righty... will just jump off my soapbox now...

Cheers for your time all who made it this far...

[Dunjohn]

Slowly working my slow way slowly through the issue.

Absolutely loved the Crash article, despite having never seen an actual issue of the magazine or, indeed, played a Spectrum. I'd love it if you did more features on old magazines, the only other one I've seen was Sega Saturn Magazine and I loved that too. Not trying to suck up to any guest columnists in particular, but the Paul Davies era of CVG (with the loud High Five ratings system) is extremely fondly remembered by yours truly. Also, Nintendo Magazine System.

Excellent issue so far. A tad surprised that no Wipeout game made the PS1 top ten, since it completely encapsulates Playstation's attitude for me in addition to being good, but that's top tens for you.

[Mr_Staypuft]

Because we were the only two that turned up at the Retro Gamer party.

That's what happens when you don't invite all your lovely freelancers and hog all the gin.

*sulks*

The gin wouldn't have bothered me had i got an invite [sits with Craig and sulks]

I didn't get an invite either.

And when I tried sneaking through a purchase order for a Sydney->UK flight (so I could attend),
I got a very unpleasant phone call from the financial controller!

Where's the bloody Chrismas spirit, etc etc...

[Megamixer]

Almost read it all now. I think this has been a brilliant issue with the balance of 80's stuff and more recent 90's stuff pretty much spot-on unlike some issues that have lot's of MegaDrive/SNES etc. or others that are heavy on games from the 80's.

The Playstation retro inspection was brilliant (as well as long overdue) and it was fascinating to read about the machine's genesis, especially since I wasn't fully clued up on the Sony/Phillips/Nintendo mess. I knew most of it but not all and those few missing bits were there for me to digest.

Not sure about the top ten though...even as big fan of JRPG's and Final Fantasy, I think there was a tad too much Square there. Yes, they may have been some of the best games on the console without a doubt but perhaps a bit more variety would have been nice, if only to get more non-PS1 gamers interested in what the Playstation has to offer (which is lots). Having said that, there's so many classic games on the Playstation that I appreciate the difficulty in narrowing it down to a mere ten.

The Afterburner article was a good read also and another reminder for me to get my Sega Ages Vol. 1 disc for the Saturn cleaned so that the console can read it properly and I can play Afterburner II.

The interview with Peter Molyneaux was also a great read and another reminder (I get lots of them from RG) to buy Syndicate for my 3DO to see what all the fuss is about.

Couple of questions though...

1) Are you not allowed to use game logos? I ask because the cover logos always seem to look 'custom-designed' to look like the real thing. I notice that the next issue page also features Driver but I doubt the actual logo will be used (though I can imagine an awesome design with it...)

2) How come Stuart's favourite game ever (intro page) is also the same as what he's currently playing? Is he that easily converted by a new game? Is it an in-joke?

[CraigGrannell]

1) Are you not allowed to use game logos? I ask because the cover logos always seem to look 'custom-designed' to look like the real thing.

I suspect that's probably because original art is long lost and scans look crap when reproduced using magazine printing processes. To get a clean, lovely logo, it's often better to recreate it from scratch.

[Stuart@retrogamer]

Glad peeps enjoyed the After Burner feature, especially as pulling it all together was a tinsy bit stressy. I’d literally managed to track David Hernly down just days before editorial deadline, and he very kindly turned around his interview questions and pictures in quick time, so a massive cheers to Dave, and also to Shaun and Darrin for their invaluable contributions. I think it turned out pretty well in the end.

@ Megamixer
My favourite game is actually Donkey Kong (but keep it under your hat)

[clarance]

Great issue - the DOS gaming article was very interesting, as was the CRASH thing - more retro mag introspectives please.

Just two tiny quibbles - The Readers Revival piece - can't find it at all on the site itself - what gives? And on the Why You Must Play: Yie Ar Kung-Fu bit there is no mention of the fantastic( ) Commodore 16 version.

[the_hawk]

Brilliant, brilliant issue.

Up there with the ones with Donkey Kong, Final Fantasy & Speedball 2 on the cover.

There's not a "filler" in the whole mag (not that there usually is, but you know there's usually a few well written articles about stuff I've no interest in)

I must have read the Toe Jam & Earl piece about 3 or 4 times now!

Congratulations to you all & a very very merry Christmas to everyone who made this issue possible!

[merman]

I'd like to say I felt the ToeJam & Earl piece was good - its quirky style fitted with the quirkiness of the game. But I can understand why people don't like it that much.

[CraigGrannell]

I think it would have made a fun DPS, but it's a shame the guys tried to be entirely quirky, rather than providing some insight into the development. We've had plenty of fun interviews in the past that have balanced this (such as the one I did with Steve Meretzky on Hitchhiker's Guide). I must admit I felt a bit short-changed on the ToeJam & Earl piece.