Retro Gamer 168

[paranoid marvin]

I think you will find its a one off. I didn't had problems at all reading it but can see why some will have suffered with bad eyesight or having to squint. For me, I could just make the words out.....

Bloody excellent issue though, one of the best yet if not the best!!

You know Darren has been editor since December 2005? I've been re-reading the old magazines and its amazing how much the magazine has evolved over those years and the many contributors who are no longer with us. Also the reviews section used to be bloody massive and the magazine was jam-packed with lots of different things. Don't get me wrong, I still love the way the magazine is now and in fact I think it is better than ever, I just really enjoyed re-reading them again.....

Oddly enough I've several dozen issues that I have hardly scraped the surface of, and which I'm currently working me way through. Yes, the mag is very different; far less involved with reader input, smaller features , but it feels now like it's found the 'happy medium'

[psj3809]

I say it every few years but i'm still amazed that now in the year 2017 we have a monthly retro mag out there in the shops. Issue 168 !! Only seemed like it was yesterday with issue 100 !

Still loving the mag, been re-reading some old issues and theres just SO much great content. Love it

[greenberet79]

Really good issue, very much enjoyed reading it (on holiday).

Highlights included the Imagine piece, Sly Spy. Rogue Squadron and the interview with that Mark dude - has he got some CV! Never played Alien Breed but enjoyed the article.

[greenberet79]

Oh, have to say, some of the text on the Imagine article was very hard to read.

[ianpmarks]

Many complaints this month about hard to read articles in the magazine. No comment from any magazine employees.
I expect they are too busy bannng people for clearly satirical posts, they've no time left to think about making a magazine where you can actually read the excellent articles.

[jdanddiet]

I can't read half the Imagine article in my copy of the mag. Some pages ok but others have a darker blue background and all the white text is blurred. Like looking at it without glasses on

mine is the same, was tempted to send it back, it's a disgrace it has been passed fit for sale, do they even have a QA department?

A shame really, as looks like a good piece and Martyn Carroll is always worth a read.

The Star Wars article is also headache inducing but I think that's down to the design rather than a printing smudge.

#shambles

Unfortunately the printing of the magazine is completely out of our hands. It might be worth contacting customer service if you're having issues.

[ianpmarks]

Oh alright they did comment. I missed that. Apologies to Darran.
Still you'd think the editor would have some sway if lots of people can't read the articles properly.

[jdanddiet]

Oh alright they did comment. I missed that. Apologies to Darran.
Still you'd think the editor would have some sway if lots of people can't read the articles properly.

I would probably reckon that if enough people call customer services they might take notice.
I doubt anyone from there reads the forum. And it does seem to be getting worse going by
the complaints!

[ianpmarks]

Just seems a shame. Particularly as the Star Wars article and the Imagine articles were two of the best in the magazine. Yet were the two most ilegible.

As an aside though, the Star Wars article was hard to read not because of poor printing, but poor art design choices, surely the editor has a say on that.

[PostieDoc]

It's not the most colour-blind friendly magazine going. Whoever is responsible needs to have a flick through RGs stablemate PC Gamer which is always very easy to read.

[ianpmarks]

I think the art direction of RG is ambitious and from a distance the magazine looks beautiful. However some of the text to background colour choices are maddening. White text on light orange backgrounds for example. Also putting pictures behind the text makes some articles harder to read than they should be.

As someone said earlier I"d rather it was just black on white on every article. At least it wouldn't be such an effort to read.

I know I'm just moaning. But the writing in RG Is really good at the moment and I want to enjoy reading it. I've said before I subscribe to a few other magazines and they are never the pain to read that RG is. It isn't my eyesight either. I can read Practical Classsics magazine perfectly and easily without my reading glasses. RG I can struggle to read with my reading glasses. I'm sure some people will say that they don't have any problem reading the magazine. Well you are very lucky. Because I really do.

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

I'm just going to weigh in with regards to the readability of the magazine.

It's very hard to gauge how serious this issue actually is because no one apart from a few members on the forum complain about it to us. No complaints filter down to us from social media or other parts of the company, so all we can do is continue making a quality magazine.

We check the magazine at both paper level and onscreen and myself and Drew always make changes when we feel they are necessary and we won't pass anything we can't read. I wear glasses and have poor vision without them, but I've never found anything in the magazine unreadable. We've also looked at the last few issues of PC Gamer and their layout is pretty much identical to ours. They have a lot more black on white text admittedly, but we don't want that style in Retro Gamer as I don't feel it's a good fit for the magazine.

We always note these complaints when they crop up, and we'll continue to take them into consideration while we're making the magazine. As we always do. Sam is going to look at making a few tweaks so that issues like the Rogue Squadron article are less likely to happen.

[antsbull]

Have you guys who couldn't read the text had your eyesight checked recently? I just got the issue, and didn't have a problem with the Rogue Squadron or Imagine articles, didn't find them any different from the rest of the mag. The Rogue Squadron article in particular has white text on a black background - you can't get much more contrasting than that?

[flatapex]

Have you guys who couldn't read the text had your eyesight checked recently? I just got the issue, and didn't have a problem with the Rogue Squadron or Imagine articles, didn't find them any different from the rest of the mag. The Rogue Squadron article in particular has white text on a black background - you can't get much more contrasting than that?

I think regular eyesight tests are a good idea, then again i am almost completely blind in one eye so I would say that

Seriously though, a lot of us work on computers for our jobs and should be getting eyesight tests, if you work at a larger place they will probably publicise it, if not then a lot of places usually have offers on

[Antiriad2097]

a lot of us work on computers for our jobs and should be getting eyesight tests

Why? I understand the need for eye tests once in a while for everyone (since it can pick up issues like glaucoma early), but working with computers is irrelevant. There is no evidence to support the common myth that VDUs are damaging to eyesight.