the_hawk wrote:I'm really looking forward to the Jr Pac Man feature, especially if it's anywhere near as good as the excellent features the original & Ms Pac Man got.

It's shorter (four pages) but by the same writer (i.e. me), and so I hope you'll enjoy it just as much. The focus is slightly different, since it was a different interviewee for the most part, but I think there's still a decent story in there (and quite a few interesting techie bits and bobs).
Jet Pilot wrote:What the heck is with Japanese developers and their absolute refusal to talk to Retro Gamer about any of their past works?
Along with what Darran mentioned (only really interested in talking about new stuff, and conforming to what the PR people say), there's also the question of translation. Some Japanese people won't or cannot deal with English and so that causes quite a few opportunities to pass. (And sometimes even if you're lucky enough to get someone to translate, responses are often quite curt, as I discovered when doing the original Pac-Man piece for the mag.)
Darran@Retro Gamer wrote:I'd argue that we're definitely a throwback to the old days of investigative journalism
Also known as: journalism. And I agree: the sheer amount of first-hand info in Retro Gamer (rather than regurgitating stuff from Wikipedia) is something the mag should be hugely proud of. (Personally, I'm waiting for someone at Imagine to think "OK, we've got enough now" and release a bookazine of classic arcade game making-ofs: the Pac-Man series, Space Invaders, Joust, et al,
all with bespoke content and first-hand interviews. Lovely.)