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Thread: Is Retro Gamer Magazine Back?

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    Alex (Level 15) boatofcar's Avatar
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    Default Is Retro Gamer Magazine Back?

    Anybody know anything about this?

    http://cgi.ebay.com/RETRO-GAMER-MAGA...QQcmdZViewItem

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    Pear (Level 6) Melf's Avatar
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    Yep. Issue #20 just arrived, and the U.S. should be getting #19 any time now.

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    Cherry (Level 1)
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    The picture on that auction listing has no cover disc. Did the new publisher get rid of that? I remember the publisher (can't recall the name) was credited for a couple other PC magazines with coverdiscs, so I was sure that'd be consistent.

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    Pear (Level 6) Melf's Avatar
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    Nope, the new RG doesn't have the cover disc anymore. I haven't seen #19 yet, but it sure as hell better not cost $13 here without the disc.

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    Apple (Level 5) Julio III's Avatar
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    Its a new publisher
    Also a new editor, the guy who was in charge of the retro section in GamesTM, i know he posts on some message boards but i dont think here.

    So the magazine is back and trying to be like before but also a bit different and better, and no cover disc, which means a cheaper price. I've picked up this new issue 19, but haven't read it yet :/

    Oh yeah, and there's also RetroSurvival which is a CD you can order on the internet which has all the articles which were going to be on the original issue 19 and more, which Mayhem here can tell u more about

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    Pretzel (Level 4)
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    Yeah, the guy whos editor is called "Strider"

    Personally I was let down by the magazine - lots of old computers again.. not my cup of tea.

    Think I'll ebay my issue now! Didnt realise people would pay the brand new price on eBay!

    I wrote the new RetroGamer a letter, but they never bothered to reply..

    When the old one went bust they owed me about 16 issues!

    *sob*

  7. #7
    Alex (Level 15) boatofcar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by chaoticjelly
    Yeah, the guy whos editor is called "Strider"

    Personally I was let down by the magazine - lots of old computers again.. not my cup of tea.
    Yes! Just what I wanted to hear! I don't want to read the upteenth "new" article on the SNES or Genesis.

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    ServBot (Level 11) tom's Avatar
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    Also remember that during the 80s, UK didn't 'have' 2600, Intellivision, Coleco as such (they were available, but expensive), as British were poor and had to put up with a Computer called 'Spectrum' and tape-games. Games came on tape for 1.99, or 2.99, or as 'high' as 5.99 UKpounds. VCS games were as high as 29.99 UKpounds. Later, NES games were as high as 50.00 UKpounds !!!

    What is the parent going to buy for their kids for Xmas? Exactly...

    That is also why the C-64 was popular in the UK with tape games, as FDDs were mostly out of kiddies purse reach.

    Anyway, thanks for the link, I got the mag and I will see how it is. I got all 18 'original' Retro Gamer, and they were awful most of the time.

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    Chaos Knight
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    We had an Atari 2600 in our house

    But we sold the NES after a year or so because, as you said, the games were just too expensive.

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    Kirby (Level 13) Griking's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by chaoticjelly
    Personally I was let down by the magazine - lots of old computers again.. not my cup of tea.
    PErsonally I love the idea of a retro computer gaming magazine. The only thing about it I didn't care for was that it was mostly all European computers. But I suppose that's to be expected since it was a U.K magazine I believe.

    Dammit, why do people always post links that screw up the dimensions of the page. Embed your URL tags people, PLEASE!

    It works like this;

    Type description of link

  11. #11
    Chaos Knight
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    I often wonder if I'm an enigma when it comes to enjoying, discussing and collecting video games in the UK then; someone who loves both computers AND consoles, who grew up playing both and enjoying them equally.

    It seems most people either fall into the computer or console category, not both.

    Actually I can think of one other person, Jon Legg for sure collects stuff for both sides

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    Insert Coin (Level 0)
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    While I cannot comment on the quality of the content within, as I haven't read it yet, I can certainly comment on the fact that the newly relaunched, cover-disc-less Retro Gamer costs an extra $3.50!!! WTF?!

    I feel like a tool for having bought it -- I mean, $16.50 for a monthly magazine?! Does Bonny Prince Chuck swim them over here individually?

    It better blow my friggin' mind for that price, or my commitment to the relaunched magazine will be a very short one.

  13. #13
    Chaos Knight
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    Is this actually how it is priced on the shelf in the store in question? I guess they might be marking it up a bit... if you subscribe through Imagine's website it works out to be just over $10 per issue to the US.

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    Banana (Level 7) googlefest1's Avatar
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    is this the mag ? http://www.retrogamer.net/flashindex.html
    i just want to be sure

    does any one in the US have a subscription to this that can tell me if the subscription price of 36 pounds covers the shipping price also?
    The human operates out of complex superiority demands, self -affirming through ritual, insiting upon a rational need to learn, striving for self-imposed goals, manipulating his environment while he denies his own adaptive abilities, never fully satisfied.
    --Frank Herbert

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    ServBot (Level 11) tom's Avatar
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    I just received issue 19.
    Mmmmhh, still thinking about the quality and reviews and such.
    Whilst Super Metroid, Perfect Dark and the Larry games make great reading, another 234 pages of 'how great the awful Spectrum and that terrible Jet Set Willy was', is not....

    Man, I grew up with great games like 'Necromancer', 'Blue Max', 'Preppie', 'Wizard's Crown' but UK gamers used cassette tape games during the 80s (I lived in UK from 1987 - 2004).

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    Strawberry (Level 2)
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    It's back, and it's as awful as usual. No wonder really, they're relaunching the magazine, and since it's a "new" magazine, they have an excuse for writing about the same games all over again.
    I could write an essay about what's wrong with Retro gamer, but I don't feel like it tonight.
    Still, as a magazine editor myself, I know that working in a commercial venture means you cannot make a magazine tailor-made for *me*, but then again, that means that I don't have to read it. Yet, the name of the magazine has on several occasions fooled me into believing that it's meant for me.

    I'm a bit surprised to see that the new editor comes from Games TM, since their retro section was actually a lot better than RG, new or old.

  17. #17
    Chaos Knight
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    Well, explain why it's "awful", and then we can do something about trying to change that :P

    Though the magazine is always going to not agree with everyone at some point, simply because there's so much to cover.

    Anyhow, issue #19 only had two weeks to be put together due to deadlines, likewise with issue #20. The next issue will be the first one with a full 4 weeks production time allocated to it.

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    ServBot (Level 11) tom's Avatar
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    Okay, I would like more professionalism for a start.
    For example, in an older issue of RG, when reviewing the ‘make your own game’ software, don’t miss out half of what’s out there. I mean there was no mention of Adventure Construction Set (EA), Steve Kitchen’s Game Maker (Activision), Arcade Construction Kit (Broderbund), The Slave and so forth.

    Another article, Repton, said games of the 80s had no editor. Untrue, many had editors, Lode Runner, Boulderdash, Fast Tracks, to name a few.

    Also, they always mention England was first with this and that….isometric, multi-screen or whatever. In the 80s, UK copied USA and Japan’s gaming industry, they did not innovate. If Ant Attack was a first real home computer isometric game, prove it that Crystal Castles on VCS or Zaxxon on Coleco wasn’t earlier.

    Less on Spectrum, that machine (I cannot call it a computer) always was and today still is, AWFUL. IT WAS A JOKE!!! I mean, the world had Apples, C-64s or XLs, and UK had….Spectrum, nasty.
    Get away from these terrible tape games, review disc games, features on (as already mentioned in RG) Wizardry (RG called it a niche game, which is naturally wrong, the series was a big seller on Apple computers and PC), Ultima series on C-64, Lucasfilm games on C-64 (the most excellent Zak McKraken), SSI on XL or C-64 (And don’t tell me that the games weren’t easy to come by, I managed to buy them in my local computer shop in Bournemouth on disc for my C-128 or Atari XE. My 1989 Software Link catalogue (UK software distribution chain) lists 1000s of disc based game for XL, C-64, and any UK computer shop could stock them).

    No more Jet Set Willy, read the real review in Page 6 (longest running single computer magazine in the UK (Atari XL 1983 – 1997), maybe the world), how awful that game really is (was).

    Also some articles on consoles would be nice. Do they know that there were consoles besides VCS, SNES, PS? Do something on Intellivision, Coleco, Vectrex, SMS, after all they were sold in the UK, and the SMS was quite big in the UK, generating it’s own SMS magazine.

    I mean, towards the end RG became a bit better, so maybe there’s hope for RG Mark 2 yet.

  19. #19
    Alex (Level 15) boatofcar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tom
    Okay, I would like more professionalism for a start.
    For example, in an older issue of RG, when reviewing the ‘make your own game’ software, don’t miss out half of what’s out there. I mean there was no mention of Adventure Construction Set (EA), Steve Kitchen’s Game Maker (Activision), Arcade Construction Kit (Broderbund), The Slave and so forth.

    Another article, Repton, said games of the 80s had no editor. Untrue, many had editors, Lode Runner, Boulderdash, Fast Tracks, to name a few.

    <snip>
    Obviously the best thing for you to do is not read the magazine.

    I love the coverage of the Spectrum, along with the BBC Micro, and all the other systems that never saw the light of day in the States. Just because you think the system sucks doesn't mean it's not worthy of covering; after all, by today's standards, all classic systems "suck."

    Ant Attack was the first original home computer isometric game. Zaxxon and Crystal Castles are ports. I for one would rather read about original games (of which computers have a multitude of) than arcade ports.

    I don't know why you think that RG never covered consoles. They've had excellent coverage of many consoles, including a wonderful expose of the Sega CD and Game Gear, as well as a Lynx article that had stuff in it I'd never heard before.

    I'm not sure what you mean about the lack of professionalism, but if RG doesn't have it, I sure as hell don't want it.

  20. #20
    Chaos Knight
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    I think Tom was making the point that Zaxxon and Crystal Castles were isometric before Ant Attack in general, but there's hardly the comparison when Zaxxon scrolls in one direction only, and Crystal Castles is a static screen.

    Ant Attack was the first proper isometric adventure game, that scrolled in all directions. Knightlore just came after and improved on it a lot

    There will be more console converage in new RG over time, Darran (the ed) is looking to make things a lot more balanced than before.

    As for the Speccy, well UK based mag, mostly UK based writers. Hence it's always going to be a fairly major interest and computer because of the user base.

    Yes there were lots of good disk based games, but even at the height of its popularity, only 10% of C64 owners in the UK had a disk drive (due to stupid price Commodore charged for it). Hence 90% of users were "stuck" playing from tape. THAT'S why the emphasis towards games on that format exists. Your shop was very good at stocking things and must have had a decenn turnover on them. Usually if I wanted a disk game for the C64, I had to ASK my shop to especially order it in for me. They wouldn't take the risk of buying stock and then not having it sell.

    Wizardry was a niche game in THIS country... you have to keep remembering a lot of this opinion and looking at stuff is from a UK perspective. I had never heard of the series until the 90s myself. The only Wizardry I knew was the game released by The Edge (called Spell of Destruction in the US).

    Coleco and Intellivision were tiny user bases in the UK, especially compared to the 2600. Having said that, console gaming never took off in the UK properly until the Megadrive, and then the SNES. It was always computers up until that point mainly due to price (both of the machine and the games... 40 quid for NES titles was a lot back in 1987!) and availability.

    I'll agree the SMS was popular. It certainly has a lot more titles available here than the US got! As for the Vectrex, well there would have been something on it had the old RG survived; I'd write a piece for the defunct issue #19 and it now is available on the Retro Survival CD instead. It may get "bought" to be printed in new RG but we'll have to see.

    Finally... regarding factual errors and/or omissions. Writers are human. They can't get everything right, nor know everything to write about on a subject. Having said that, research is key and having the broadest knowledge of things is always going to be of use. I'd say mine has come a long way since joining this place back in 2000. I know Darran has issued a directive to improve things on that front, so hopefully it will reduce over time.

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