Ol' Malc featured in Retro Gamer #142 issue...

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Was browsing the digital d/l version of issue #142 of Retro Gamer yesterday (it was released on May 20th, 2015) and the front cover is dedicated to "Shoot Em' Ups" indeed. Upon reading the shmups article, was pleasantly surprised to see our very own Malc, founder of "Shmups.com", interviewed as a special guest. Will have to head on down to my local Barnes & Noble bookstore and pick up a magazine of Retro Gamer #142 for my shmups stash alrighty.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[mirkvid]

He DOES exist!

I used to read Retro Gamer all the time back in college, I should check about that digital subscription. Seems like Malc pops in every once in a while, when he's not living in the past

[Ed Oscuro]

Does he share any comments on the market price of Fire Shark PCBs?

[MintyTheCat]

I got into the Shmups site by reading the Xenocide reviews way back in 1999/2000 and to think it has become this hub now.

I shall have to get that issue.

[dink]

I wasn't too impressed with the shootemups part in the new RetroGamer, though the issue was a good read of course.

[Tarma]

I wasn't too impressed with the shootemups part in the new RetroGamer, though the issue was a good read of course.

I wasn't particularly impressed with the article either, but I suppose it depends on who they were aiming it at.

I suppose for those reading who only have a passing interest in shmups as a genre of video game, then it serves its purpose.

As an article aimed at covering the genre proper, difficult to do within the confines of a few pages (and not necessarily how the article was intended to be received), it would fail miserably.

It was titled "bluffers guide" so I guess it would be more the former than the latter. Still, I was surprised at how little Raizing were covered (Cave didn't fair an awful lot better), and why they felt Pulstar and Blazing Star were landmark games of the 1990's is anyones guess.

[MintyTheCat]

As often happens they recruit a journalist to write an article that has only a cursory knowledge in the subject. The question arises though how would one find a suitably qualified journalist to write about shmups?

Magazines I find tend to have to aim at the mid level of the readership as to have mass appeal so that puts the hardcore shmupper out immediately.

[system11]

How about we don't post information on pirating one of the last remaining print gaming magazines within 2 weeks of the issue being released. Edited some posts.

[Skykid]

As often happens they recruit a journalist to write an article that has only a cursory knowledge in the subject. The question arises though how would one find a suitably qualified journalist to write about shmups?

Hi.

To be honest, Retro Gamer is a bit like a print version of HG101. It means well, but it's kind of winging it most of the time.

[MintyTheCat]

As often happens they recruit a journalist to write an article that has only a cursory knowledge in the subject. The question arises though how would one find a suitably qualified journalist to write about shmups?

Hi.

To be honest, Retro Gamer is a bit like a print version of HG101. It means well, but it's kind of winging it most of the time.

I got that impression. Some time back they covered the Metal-Slug series to which it was pretty poorly handled I felt.

Mind you, nothing approaches the overly self-important style of EDGE; that used to grind after a while. I see it in some computing mags too - the foolish one with the subtitle "for the GNU generation" that bitches about whatever Stalman is up to at the time - more drama than actual useful content.

[Ed Oscuro]

Even before the infamous Metal Slug feature it was kind of obvious what kind of mag it is; I only bought one issue - "The Defnitive Contra" by Stu Campbell - and it was enough to see that the Internet was serving my needs much better. Sure, there's the up'n'downs of running a magazine: The major drama was the Metal Slug retrospective, with author Rev. Stu on one side, and the Neo-Go.com Forums on the other. That's an unquestionably explosive combination in the best of times, but the criticisms from N-G's Bobak were on point. Before that, the Last Hope article provoked a minor drama; one of RG's editors went to N-G and begged screenshots from the Neo-Geo Forums. The article apparently ran without any credits, making the request either a PR stunt (not "promoting," but they used the word!) for a fistful more sales at B&N, or it was a pretty blatant unpaid outsourcing job - maybe both at once. While the drama generates lasting memories, the underlying patterns are more interesting: An article like "The Definitive Contra" is envisioned as production headliners and take up all the attention, even though they are actually of little consequence. At worst they are basically selling reproductions of game artwork that's not quite frameable, with some text you don't care about off to the side. Stu Campbell, though he's something of a celebrity in retro gaming circles (did you know Campbell means "crooked" or "wry mouth?"), is being oversold in the Contra issue - but it's more than that. Even in the best of circumstances, carrying a magazine selling at roughly the same price as any other would be a tall order for one article with one writer.

One thing that often surprises me is how faint a web presence many recognizable game journo names seem to cultivate, as if they instead spend their days nursing dry martinis on their private terrace whilst gathering impressive thoughts. (Rev Stu's web presence consists, as far as I know, of his eponymous website - not even something as visible as a blog! - and heckling his hecklers wherever they appear on community websites, in a kind of reverse-psychology promotion trick that usually snags a few promises of unsubscription.) While I might accurately say that RG is too British to generate a truly impressive US readership, it's also seemingly out of touch with the new developments. It feels like a pattern - make a simple appeal to the community, get zenny.

RG isn't going to be a repository of DIY troubleshooting information, homebrew programming, or counterstop strategies - but, crucially, it seems that community resources compete with it, even here. Even if it shouldn't - paid writers should be at least as good as the free ones - RG has its work cut out convincing me and others it's worth the cost. (If you ask me, the gaming industry's lack of an arm for history, in the way that technology firms and other industries often have an arm to gather and protect their history, is a big shame. The feel is less this, and more like "lifestyle" magazines, or the gossipy, thin, slick magazines targeting narcissistic gated communities.)

There doesn't seem to be anything sinister or noteworthy about the latest issue. It sounds like a missed opportunity - but not quite safe, either. I don't know whether the Malc interview is great, but I do know that it feels a bit too narrow; UK gaming journos at the periphery interview a UK ex-website lead whose 'net presence has waned. There's possibly a great story there, but I'd like RG to also press on, find more and newer sources and contacts, and not drop the ball. Also, get out of the UK once in a while. I can't judge the quality of the issue before looking at it, but this pattern does play into the catch-22 of this business: When you try to feature something people know, your audience probably already knows as much as the writer will be able to figure out before the deadline. When you feature something people don't know, it just gets ignored.

[MintyTheCat]

Many points I agree with you, Ed Oscuro.

Originally going back many years ago I found that it was too centred on Spectrum and C64. I wanted to see more and especially to see articles about the consoles too.

I started to buy it more often when they had more console related and in particular Shmup related articles.

There is no way I would ever entertain the idea of having a subscription. I think they need more focus.

Also, the chief Editor's level and mastery of English is appallingly bad for someone who pertains to be an editor.

I think what is missing is the middle ground: many of us still want things in print and although Websites are great they always runt he risk of being closed down and wiped out instantly. I have had this happen to me personally.

I would like to see more effort in producing works aimed at more in-depth subjects. In recent years we have seen more projects start up and such on Kickstarter - I bought the Megadrive: ROM book only last year which was not bad at all.

I know that there is a book about konami Shmups but have not looked at it.

In a way it is a hard angle to play being a traditional magazine.

Some ideas:

1. support homebrew more.
2. run competitions for Shmups, etc.

I see too much of the same old with RG over all so I only ever buy it when I see it has some articles worth the read.

Cheers,

Minty.

[system11]

Originally going back many years ago I found that it was too centred on Spectrum and C64. I wanted to see more and especially to see articles about the consoles too.

Well in the UK back when they were all on the market, console market share was vanishingly small compared to 8 and later 16 bit computers. Doesn't surprise me at all. If consoles got even equal coverage it would be totally out of line with how things were over here.

[pegboy]

I had a subscription to Retro Gamer for a year, I really wanted to like the magazine and gave it more than a fair shake but it just didn't offer me anything of substance. It was mostly a lazy, glossing over of stuff that really required far more in depth coverage. It was more like "look, this thing exists and it was cool" instead "this thing exists, and this is WHY it was cool and WHY it mattered". The random screenshots seemed completely divorced from the articles.

The magazine seemed to lack focus, instead they seemed to just throw a ton of games in a single issue with very little attention to any single game, even if that game was prominently featured on the front cover. Most random Wikipedia articles provide more info and depth than this magaize did, and that just isn't acceptable.

I'm glad that a magazine still even exists for vintage games, and I really, really wanted to love it, but it just felt completely flat. I probably won't buy another one unless they make drastic changes (focus more on home console and arcade games and less on crappy and obscure 8-bit computer games). Maybe that is their audience in the UK, but to (most?) people in the US that stuff just isn't interesting at all.

[cave hermit]

I have to agree that the magazine seems to cater to UK nostalgia more than anything else, with a pretty disproportionate focus on 8-bit home computers and obscure games for them.

I usually look forward to seeing what's in the latest issue (or rather the issue from a month or more ago since I'm in the US) when I wander into Barnes and Noble, but I'm typically left with apathy after seeing how much of the issue is dedicated to obscure home computer stuff.

[Skykid]

You guys are seriously tempting the wrath of the good Reverend. His ears are burning somewhere like a Berserk brand.

[Ed Oscuro]

You guys are seriously tempting the wrath of the good Reverend. His ears are burning somewhere like a Berserk brand.

Let's not tempt him further:
http://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showt ... g-research

There's a link back to Shmups there, too...

Ah, good times. I had forgotten Tom was a writer (I don't know his work). He could be rude too! Crazy industry insider catfight, now that I look back on it.

[Mero]

I was buying the mag from 2008 until I called it a day last year. I was finding that I was just quickly flipping through it on the day I bought it and then never touching it again, so it wasn't worth picking up anymore.

I think the core readership of RG (or a large percentage of it) is made up of 40+ year olds who want to see Speccy/C64/Amstrad related content, which is why there's lots of it. I doubt what goes down well outside the UK gets much consideration.

I think Campbell has been out of the picture for a long time.

[MintyTheCat]

Don't get me wrong, my first machine was a VIC20 followed by a C64 and then an Amiga 1200

However, there's a lot more to gaming than UK Home Computers.

I might be alone here but I tend to regard gaming as something to be done on consoles and arcade machines and I even had that attitude back in the day.

They may well have covered the Spectrum and C64 but to be honest I found substantially more insight and more information by reading books about the platforms:

http://www.zxdesign.info/book/

I have read several C64 themed books too.

Having it in dribs and drabs and asking for me to 'sit through it' every issue is why I would never have a subscription.

For me, and although I really began gaming and indeed programming on the C64, it only became something bigger when I got into the Super nintendo and as such I have 'nostalgia' and indeed I still play this machine and many of the other 8/16-bit machines from that time. I do not think I am alone on that and indeed the readership moves on with time - yesterdays 20 years olds eventually become today's 30 year olds etc.

I find compared to many other magazines that they simply lack professional writing skills on the magazine and although it looks nice and glossy (I think a magazine should be glossy compared to say a Fanzine) it is apparent to me that this is not the most professional of writers I have seen.

I may be setting my standards too high perhaps as I have always been a fan of Superplay from the first issue to the last and they handled things better I felt. EDGE used to be a very good magazine too and in a way upped standards for this type of writing at the time. CVG was a mixed bag. Mean Machines was not too bad as I recall. I forget how the Gamesmaster mag was as it is has been a very long time since I read an issue

As I said before, in the current climate we will no doubt see more books and such that focus on more specialised gaming interests such as Shmups and RPGs and such. There was never the potential to create projects through crowd funding and such 20 years ago and I only really saw highly specialised gaming books and such in Japan but today we see it in the english speaking world too.

Playing the middle ground is often hard: there are numerous C64, Amiga and Spectrum only fanzines and mags in a handful of languages. For a magazine such as RG to compete with those directly it would lose most of the time I feel. Instead I would say it is better to offer a range of articles that cover a number of platforms as a means of spreading the risk. If someone like me will not buy it as it is too C64 or Spectrum focused they lose the money from people like me and the same would go if it was only about same the PC Engine all the time.

I am a firm believer in voting with the wallet and feet

[Mero]

I am a firm believer in voting with the wallet and feet

I quite agree, the days of me laying down my cash for games mags are basically over.

[MintyTheCat]

I am a firm believer in voting with the wallet and feet

I quite agree, the days of me laying down my cash for games mags are basically over.

Have you read this book released last year?

http://readonlymemory.vg/shop/book/sega ... ted-works/

I have it and can recommend it.

[Mero]

Thanks for the recommendation, I hadn't seen that before.

[Skykid]

You guys are seriously tempting the wrath of the good Reverend. His ears are burning somewhere like a Berserk brand.

Let's not tempt him further:
http://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showt ... g-research

There's a link back to Shmups there, too...

Ah, good times. I had forgotten Tom was a writer (I don't know his work). He could be rude too! Crazy industry insider catfight, now that I look back on it.

Actually on this particular Stu-fest, I think he's right. Not defending his conduct of course - he spends a lot of time crowing about his professionalism in writing, but when it comes to his public handling of adverse criticism... well, it could be done better.

But regarding his point, he's perfectly correct not to have to refer to a game with an affected spelling, especially if it's part of the publication's style guide (or simply his personal choice as author.) Either way, he hasn't made any error, and the guy who started the thread sounds like a right nerd jockey. He says he's professional and then lists a load of fanzines as a publishing history, which honestly don't really qualify. But what really gets me, and speaks volumes about his character, is that he got some chap fired from a UK Xbox magazine by complaining about him, and then goes on to admit:

"As for Edge magazine..don’t even get me started. I’ve must have written about 50 letters of complaints about their mistakes in the mags. Many of my letters got printed."

50 letters of complaints?

Fuck's nuts. Get a girlfriend bro.

[MintyTheCat]

"As for Edge magazine..don’t even get me started. I’ve must have written about 50 letters of complaints about their mistakes in the mags. Many of my letters got printed."

50 letters of complaints?

Fuck's nuts. Get a girlfriend bro.

Yes, the ever passive-aggressive - never acknowledges their real angst

The man must have plenty of idle-time to write 50 letters