Do you read retro gamer magazine?

A place where you can chat about anything that isn't to do with games!

Have you read Retro Gamer Magazine??

Poll ended at Mon Jun 09, 2008 10:06 am

Yes I Subscribe
3
8%
Yes I Pick up every copy from a shop
4
11%
Yes I will pick up a copy if somthing on the cover attracts me
10
26%
I have picked up the odd copy but wasnt impressed
3
8%
No Ive never seen it
11
29%
No I dont buy overpriced magazines
7
18%
 
Total votes: 38

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Lordstar
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Post by Lordstar »

Ed Oscuro wrote:
Lordstar wrote:that what laptops are for :wink:
There's a reason they've started to call them "notebooks," or even (in the case of mine) "desktop replacement" systems. 10 pounds, 1 hour of battery use, and massive heat to your testicles...no thanks :D
mmmmmm that sounds kinda sexy to me. . . ok just me then :oops:
Follow me on twitter for tees and my ramblings @karoshidrop
shmups members can purchase here http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21158
MikeB
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Post by MikeB »

Turrican wrote: Basically, yeah. I'm just a fan - Mr. Campbell is a well-known journalist in the field. The amount of raw information in both articles was around the same (the most noticeable difference is, he disliked Arrangement's music). Of course, a person fluent in Japanese AND with a solid retrogaming passion could write on the same subject more than twice.

He could read the Xevious novel, for example. Or interview Masanobu Endoh.

Which is something Retro Gamer has done - but mostly on the western side, of course. I mean, I lost count of Archer Mclean interviews and contributions...
The trouble is... it's not all that easy talking to Japanese developers about projects they worked on for other companies. Many are just plain unwilling to talk about their work for former employees. For example, Yoshiko Okamoto, refuses to make public comments about his games for Capcom or Konami. Whereas in the west, as well as the lack of language barrier, many classic games programmers are a lot more willing to engage in reflecting on past projects. Although I was lucky in gaining a small interview with Kazuma Kujo on the making of R-Type Delta, thanks to Keith Masuda at Irem, who kindly provided an english translation for my questions. The result will be in issue 51.

Also at the end of the day, being a niche mag, RG has very little resources itself, (at many points in its history the in-house staff consisted of just one editor. Now there are two in-house staff). They do have to rely on freelance comissions for much of the content - but as I've said they've picked up a regular Japanese speaking contributor in Japan so expect to see more on this score (starting with the Gunstar Heroes interview with Masato Maegawa).

By the way you'll note if you read the article that he woudn't talk about his and other staff members work at Konami either...

PS If anyone thinks they may be able to help out with interviews with Japanese developers I'd be all ears ;)
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Turrican
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Post by Turrican »

Yeah, I know it's not easy. Look, I don't want to sound like I'm dissing the mag - that would be stupid of me, since I have a good thirty issues at home, and I also noticed it got better with time.

But, don't be fooled - the content can be found on the internet. On a shiny mag it's more comfortable because it's concentrated and you can realx on the bog, while on the net you have to search the answers on your own - but you get them.

edit: didn't you say it was in issue 52? Interview with Kujo I mean.
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MikeB
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Post by MikeB »

Turrican wrote:
But, don't be fooled - the content can be found on the internet. On a shiny mag it's more comfortable because it's concentrated and you can realx on the bog, while on the net you have to search the answers on your own - but you get them.
Sorry but I have to dispute this - I spend an enormous amount of time doing web research and I could cite many articles (in fact I have in a previous post) with exclusive interviews with developers which were carried out for the magazine with info and stories I've never seen anywhere else. I'm not talking about the 'generic' articles like Campbell's Definitive's but the 'Making Of's'/Retroinspections/Complete Historys and other inteviews.

I know this for a fact because interviewees have told me they have never mentioned certain info publicly before!!
MikeB
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Post by MikeB »

didn't you say it was in issue 52? Interview with Kujo I mean.
It's in issue 51 - Making of R-Type Delta. My bad.
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Turrican
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Post by Turrican »

MikeB wrote:Sorry but I have to dispute this - I spend an enormous amount of time doing web research and I could cite many articles (in fact I have in a previous post) with exclusive interviews with developers which were carried out for the magazine with info and stories I've never seen anywhere else. I'm not talking about the 'generic' articles like Campbell's Definitive's but the 'Making Of's'/Retroinspections/Complete Historys and other inteviews.

I know this for a fact because interviewees have told me they have never mentioned certain information publicly before!!
Oh yes - of course there's a part of the magazine which is providing new material, as it's expected after all. That's why I buy the mag whenever I see something that may be of interest for me. The "generic" part of the magazine however is the majority of the pages. All the articles you mentioned weren't from the same issue, of course.

For the record, if it was easier to get in Italy, I'd probably pick every issue. just for the sake of it. :)
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PC Engine Fan X!
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Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

For MikeB,

Have you had the chance to interview some of the ex-Atari Game employees such as Ed Logg, Al Alcorn, Al Green, Donna Bailey, etc. that made those classic Atari Games arcade games such as Battlezone, Centipede, Crystal Castles, etc.?

Some of them have made an appearance or two at the annual California Extreme shows in the past... ^_~

The CAX audience was told by Ed Logg himself, that a lot of the rumors about the early days of Atari Games floating around on the Net are simply untrue, unless you worked for Atari Games, it realy was just a really just small group of 10 to 12 guys working within the Atari Games arcade division back up until 1984...

The 2005 CAX show was legendary for hosting a one-day exclusive Q&A session with the Robotron2084 developer, Eugene Jarvis, who has his own arcade game dev company, Raw Thrills... ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~!
MikeB
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Post by MikeB »

There will be a Making of Crystal Castles in issue 51, with more arcade interviews and Making Of's to follow with Mike Hally and Mark Cerny (see if you can work out their games) :)

There's been exclusive interviews with Ed Rotberg (Battlezone), Eugene Jarvis (A Desert Island Discs and Making of Smash TV), Ed Boon (Mortal Kombat), Owen Rubin (Space Duel, Major Havoc), John Salwitz & Dave Ralston (Paperboy) and probably many more I can't remember!

I beleive Ed Logg was interviewed in 'old' RG before it was taken over by the current publisher, but there could be another one soon, and I'd love to speak to Dona Bailey at some point...
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Turrican
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Post by Turrican »

You succeeded in raising my expectations enough for issue 51. :)
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MikeB
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Post by MikeB »

I do my best :wink:

Edit: Your Xevious article was excellent by the way. You probably knew too much already to benifit greatly from the RG article!
PC Engine Fan X!
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Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

For Mike B,

Wow, that's great...I've always wanted to learn more about my favorite Atari Games arcade game of Crystal Castles circa 1983. I do recall that the same game developer of CC also did a PC and PSX version of Gubble, a sort of sequel follow-up to CC... ^_~

Someone still brings in a classic Crystal Castles cab every year to the annual CAX show -- still brings a sense of warm & fuzzy memories of what it was like to play it & give it a spin on the ol' big red backlit Trackball arcade controller... ^_~

Will have to go to my local Borders bookstore to hunt down issue #51 of Retro Gamer when it makes over here across the pond, Stateside... ^_~

Thanks again for the superb writing and gorgeous retro gaming articles...

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
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