Do you read retro gamer magazine?

mr_m0nks · Post by **mr_m0nks** » Mon May 12, 2008 10:06 am

Straight forward Post

BTW if you dont know, Retro Gamer is a magazine published in the UK covering all things retrogaming from the dreamcast backwards.

RGC · Post by **RGC** » Mon May 12, 2008 10:08 am

elfhentaifan · Post by **elfhentaifan** » Mon May 12, 2008 10:09 am

i think i have some very old copies, from 2000 or so?

mr_m0nks · Post by **mr_m0nks** » Mon May 12, 2008 10:19 am

which issue had a shmup special??

MX7 · Post by **MX7** » Mon May 12, 2008 10:54 am

I'll have to check. If it's the article I'm thinking of, it was also printed in Games TM. This article sharing was the principal reason I stopped buying Retro Gamer. Now I just buy Games TM and sometimes Edge (lol).

Post by **system11** » Mon May 12, 2008 2:48 pm

I never go near shops that sell magazines anymore. I read everything online now. It's got to be a problem for all niche publications.

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Mon May 12, 2008 3:15 pm

bloodflowers wrote:I never go near shops that sell magazines anymore. I read everything online now. It's got to be a problem for all niche publications.

true...

only time I get to magazine selling stands is when I need to get on a different public transport thingy.

Games tm has a Dutch counterpart since a few months,, Bought all copies until now and am even considering a trial subscription (being the cheap ass that I am). How long has it been for a western mag writing about Capcom´s Three Wonders? I dunno but some good stories and background anyway!

Since it´s kind of a hassle to get a copy of Retro gamer here, I don´t bother.
There are the more easily available sources on the net too so I think I am mostly with BF on this...

Lordstar · Post by **Lordstar** » Mon May 12, 2008 3:21 pm

RGC wrote:I picked up the last issue with a shmups special, but generally £5 for such a thin magazine seems exorbitant.

a few years back it was £5 and you got a DVD with demos and all kinds of apps on. now your lucky if you get stapples to hold the damn thing togther.

I thought the whole process of buying a magazine was a bit acient since the invention of internet websites.

MX7 · Post by **MX7** » Mon May 12, 2008 3:24 pm

I hate online videogame sites. It just feels wrong. There's nothing like tucking into a big article on doujin games or whatnot on the shitter. Any urgent news I need to get, I'm sure i'd hear about it here.

RGC · Post by **RGC** » Mon May 12, 2008 3:50 pm

Lordstar · Post by **Lordstar** » Mon May 12, 2008 4:01 pm

MX7 wrote:I hate online videogame sites. It just feels wrong. There's nothing like tucking into a big article on doujin games or whatnot on the shitter. Any urgent news I need to get, I'm sure i'd hear about it here.

that what laptops are for

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Mon May 12, 2008 4:37 pm

I've read two magazines (one in a shop in Minnesota, another that I bought), so no doubt this is a generalization. It's a cliche, but as a UK magazine it seems to cover indigenous efforts better than others. The copy I own has a Contra cover (who'd have guessed) for a special by Stuart Campbell, but that article doesn't cover any new ground. The Zenobi (adventure gaming company) special, on the other hand, is great and filled with interview bits you won't find elsewhere.

Somewhere else in the magazine, I noticed that they were making use of a lot of quotes from about the 'net, pretty good to see somebody citing things properly.

Lordstar wrote:that what laptops are for

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

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Mon May 12, 2008 9:02 pm

Ed Oscuro wrote:The copy I own has a Contra cover (who'd have guessed) for a special by Stuart Campbell, but that article doesn't cover any new ground.

I could say the same for the one with Xevious on the cover - the article also by Stuart, I bought that one with confidence and it didn't say much more than I wrote for HG101 years before.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Mon May 12, 2008 9:08 pm

Maybe they're giving him top billing out of pity?

It's odd because the Zenobi article got way more pages (aside from being better).

moonblood · Post by **moonblood** » Mon May 12, 2008 9:39 pm

I buy it sometimes when there's an issue with a couple of articles I'd like to read

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Mon May 12, 2008 9:52 pm

anyway, the magazine is far from being a waste of money - I have all the first 18 issue run, then I bought some issues here and there of the new course.

For the average expert around here, it's mostly good artwork and memorabilia, rather than information.

Some time ago they were doing an article on shmups, I wonder how that turned out.

by the way, since when retro gamer is advertised on www.shmups.com? Weird!

ARCADIA · Post by **ARCADIA** » Tue May 13, 2008 1:00 am

I pay $13 for the magazine every month.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Tue May 13, 2008 1:15 am

Turrican wrote:For the average expert around here, it's mostly good artwork and memorabilia, rather than information.

Artwork and memorabilia are both found in games. If you handed me some money to buy the RG back catalog or buy some classic games with, guess which I'd choose?

Sums up my approach to spending money really: put it where I want to first.

black flag nc · Post by **black flag nc** » Tue May 13, 2008 4:39 am

I wish they had a version of it in the states. It's really expensive and hard to find in the US.

UnscathedFlyingObject · Tue May 13, 2008 5:26 am

someone tell me when a game starts becoming retro.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Tue May 13, 2008 5:34 am

You care?

I tell you what, though...I'll tell you that Stuart's feature seemed "retro" and by that I mean "unwanted"

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Wed May 14, 2008 2:56 pm

black flag nc wrote:I wish they had a version of it in the states. It's really expensive and hard to find in the US.

Try your local Borders bookstore as they're bound to have a few issues of Retro Gamer... ^_~

It was back in 2005 with that Retro Gamer issue that came with a DVD-Rom filled with shmup content. Am glad to have gotten a copy with the special DVD when it finally was stocked at my local Borders...

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Dante · Post by **Dante** » Wed May 14, 2008 4:54 pm

I was buying it the first time round when it came with the Dvd.. I stopped buying the new look, as it seemed a Zzap 64 rip off to me.. I've started buying it monthly again with the Keith Campbell issue.. Wish they'ed give some cool retro freebies away with it like Pac Man stickers etc..

The only other magazines I used to get where Edge and Games Tm which I find a little boring and stopped getting a few years ago..

I just love all the Retro Adverts..

MikeB · Post by **MikeB** » Wed May 14, 2008 11:20 pm

Hi Guys

I have to declare an interest as I do write freelance for the magazine, but I really urge any of you that are interested in gaming history to at least give it a try once - the current issue (50) would be a good start, with an eight-page retro lookback at the Dreamcast, an exclusive interview with Treasure president Masato Maegawa for a six-page 'Making of Gunstar Heroes', a six-page exclusive chat with Psygnosis, album cover and fantasy artist Roger Dean, and loads of other goodies too.

A few points to address from previous posts:

1. Price - Yes its a fiver in the UK, but come on - a fiver?? Empire is £3.80... and we are talking a real niche mag here, with hardly any adds or filler, high quality paper (compare it to Empire), all original content - which we do strive to make sure isn't replicated on the web (all-new interviews with developers etc). Plus if you subscribe you can get the mag at £3 an issue. I know what I'd do...

2. Re-used content - the last time this happened was the shmups feature in issue 42 and it's not happened since - the Ed, Darran, hates doing it and only resorted to this as a last resort when a freelancer failed to make a deadline on a large piece. It really is unlikely to happen again, if at all. All content since that issue has been produced exclusively for Retro Gamer.

3. 'There's not enough shmups' Well I've written pieces on Battle Garegga and Twinkle Star Sprites, and most of my Making Of features have been shmups of some kind

We've also had a top 25 Run'n'Gun games, and Stuart Campbell's 'The Definitive 19XX'

There will be more...

4. 'I don't buy magazine any more' I stopped for a bit too after Sega Saturn magazine and Official Dreamcast went the way of the Passenger Pigeon. But I started reading RG again (before writing for them) due to the sheer quality of the content, and the loving care that obviously goes into it - it may seem thin on first glance but its packed with quality info you'll never see anywhere else and hardly any adverts. (Take the ads out of Empire for example and you'll be left with a much thinner mag than Retro Gamer). It's also so much nicer to have something tangible in your hand as well and I forgot how I missed that. And try reading Hardcore Gaming 101 in the bog...

5. 'I get all my info off the web' OK.. if you havn't been reading Retro Gamer in the last six months here's some of the stuff you missed that can't be found (to my knowledge) anywhere online:

'The Making of Rescue on Fractalus!' David Fox, Charlie Kellner, Peter Langston and Gary Winnick give Retro Gamer a behind the scenes history of the Lucasart's fractal classic. First time all team memebrs have spoken together anywhere since 1985.

'The Complete History of Elite' An exclusive eight-page interview with David Bell/Ian Braben on the creation of Elite and Frontier.

'The Complete History of Command & Conquer' All new interview with Joe Bostic, Mike Legg, Adam Isgreen, Joseph Kucan charting the rise of C&C from Dune II to Tiberium Wars.

and all new interviews with developers for:

'The Making of Tetris'
'The Making of Desert Strike'
'The Making of Populous'
'The Making of Berzerk'
'The Making of Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
'The Making of MDK'
'The Making of Loom'
'The Making of Donkey Kong Country'
'The Making of Crazy Taxi'
'The Making of Nights'
'The Making of Pastfinder'
The Big Interview - Will Wright

I challenge anyone to find any similar content on the web...
Issue 51 (out next week in the UK) will feature a Making of Indiana Jones & the Fate of Atlantis and a Making of R-Type Delta, by yours truly.

So my advice.. and I'm not making any cash out of this, it's purely as a fellow gamer - give it a whirl, you might like it and change your mind about print gaming mags once and for all...

Find out what you're missing here http://www.imagineshop.co.uk/products_s ... ?typeID=65

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Thu May 15, 2008 1:15 am

Hello, I was wondering when you'd show up

a tl;dr of the complaints here are:

Moar interviews with english speaking people

less passing along 'net available infoz translated from Japanese.

If RG could get somebody on staff who was able to interview some classic Japanese developers, that'd be great, but otherwise it seems like efforts in that direction haven't been entirely successful.

Limbrooke · Post by **Limbrooke** » Thu May 15, 2008 4:27 am

Turrican wrote:I could say the same for the one with Xevious on the cover - the article also by Stuart, I bought that one with confidence and it didn't say much more than I wrote for HG101 years before.

Isn't that kind of the point of this magazine? Retro, aka, old game related articles.

Personally, I'm not well schooled in everything Retro, especially not all those UK micro computers, but on average I usually find at least something per issue that is news to me. I also enjoy reading articles about areas I do have carnal knowledge in.

Speaking for myself, it's interesting they can keep coming up with new old material each month.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Thu May 15, 2008 6:39 am

The point about the Contra article - which I assume is the same thing Turrican is getting at - is that there is more that can be said on those games (Contra certainly), but it's not getting done.

MikeB · Post by **MikeB** » Thu May 15, 2008 11:20 am

Ed Oscuro wrote: If RG could get somebody on staff who was able to interview some classic Japanese developers, that'd be great, but otherwise it seems like efforts in that direction haven't been entirely successful.

They've got a Japanese contact now, Jonti Davies, who did the Gunstar feature, and will be providing a lot more interviews of this ilk, such as an upcoming Making of Border Down...

NAVVARR · Post by **NAVVARR** » Thu May 15, 2008 11:42 am

I've not bought Retro Gamer- I got given a load of them tho. -You'd have thought that it would have been the perfect mag for the likes of an retro enthusiast like myself, but I found that a lot of the articles had info that i already knew or could have had if i'd googled the subject.

Its good for a read in WH Smiths- but i can get current, next gen and retro from GamesTM and the internet so- Retro Gamer is a bit pushed out of the way- sorry!

I also find that a lot of articles are duplicated by and for GamesTM- this i find irritating - so there's no reason to buy Retro gamer for me.

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Thu May 15, 2008 12:58 pm

Ed Oscuro wrote:The point about the Contra article - which I assume is the same thing Turrican is getting at - is that there is more that can be said on those games (Contra certainly), but it's not getting done.

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...

shmups.system11.org

Do you read retro gamer magazine?

Have you read Retro Gamer Magazine??

Do you read retro gamer magazine?