Improving the magazine

[TwoHeadedBoy]

The question is: do we need one? These games must be so over-exposed. Anyone reading the magazine must already know enough about the history of the series, and know enough about the design ethics of Shigeru Miyamoto. I mean come on, who doesn't already know the story of why the Jumpman sprite was designed with a moustache, cap and dungarees? Who doesn't know that Mario was named after Mario Segale, the landlord of Nintendo of America's warehouse? I'm sure there are some fascinating secrets you've never heard, but getting them out of Japanese developers is not likely.

Exactly: It's be a waste of paper. "The clouds and the bushes are the same" - Gosh, really???

[stejay215]

I know not many people may want it but I would like to see more retrobate reviews in the magazine, rather than just one. You could put two or even three in each issue, if you are feeling generous I always enjoy reading other peoples views on games, even if I have or haven't played on them as it helps me go out and either play them for the first time or even replay them once more. You could also improve the retrobate reviews in the mags by adding some of the comments left by the other retrobates and the retro gamer crew could even give their perspectives on the reviewers views on certain games. Hope this is a good idea.

[Jet Pilot]

You have to get it into your head that Retro Gamer is a UK mag.

Really? I had no idea. I guess all of the Amstrad and Spectrum coverage should've been a clue right.

The Mario franchise is not a US only franchise. It's not a Japanese only franchise. It's worldwide franchise. At the last check of my globe, the UK was indeed located on the Earth. When I last visited, I took a plane, not a rocket ship.

Second...I never really was bothered by the lack of Mario coverage until the feature was advertised last fall only to be pulled for some unknown reason.

Look...I'm sure you have a game or series that you would really like to see featured in the magazine (and I'm sure most people do as well) as well as other suggestions. Darren asked for suggestions...that was one of mine (among several others that were more general to the magazine as opposed to specific topics such as this). I read other suggestions here and added some commentary of my own. I'm not looking for an argument nor am I looking to bash the opinions of others. However as a subscriber, I felt that it was appropriate to add to the conversation. I may not live in the UK (is the UK the center of the universe? ) but I still enjoy being able to comment on my favorite game magazine (and I also appreciate the fact that the editors actually care about what the readers have to say, unlike most publications).

[bensonrad]

Oh, and bring back Archer. Always looked forward to that little section of the mag.

Here, here, his page was fantastic reading

[the_hawk]

is the UK the center of the universe?

No, of course it isn't.....












It is the centre though!

[lanky316]

I may not live in the UK (is the UK the center of the universe? )

perhaps not the universe but geographically it's the centre of the Earth (it is the Greenwich meridian line right?) and as the home of computers I suppose a UK centric thing makes sense...

The "problem" with Mario is that we've seen it all before. He's a big gaming character and obviously iconic (poxy gorilla-napper ) but an article would need to be justified ultimately with what it brings to the magazine. A definitive with all the spin-offs would take up pretty much a whole issue on it's own. A making of would bring nothing that you couldn't read in the latest issue of Nintendo magazine or that most people with an interest in games already know. I guess you could do a whole "Mario" issue but overall that'd be boring for the average reader.

[Timothy Lumsden]

Oh, and bring back Archer. Always looked forward to that little section of the mag.

Here, here, his page was fantastic reading

After the (rightful) low score Imagine Publishing's other mag Games TM gave his Wheelspin game, I'm doubtful he's looking to do anything for IP again.....

[chinnyhill10]

I haven't posted here for a long long time but thought I would drop in and see what was happening. I then saw the thread about the magazine improvements.

From Issue 4 onwards I religiously bought every edition of RG from a proper newsagents. I didnt want to sub as I find if you go down that route you are willing to put up with a substandard magazine because it gets delivered to you each month and there's no incentive to cancel. I've been caught out by this before. Better to go into WH Smiths, flick through it, get excited by the contents and then buy it.

However over the last year or so I've found myself buying RG less and less. Part of the reason for this is the shoehorning in of modern stuff such as Tomb Raider to coincide with a new release. I'm not complaining about what is and isn't retro here, but what I am complaining about is what feels like a press release from whichever publisher has a new game out that week. It just makes RG feel like any other mag with the PR of the software company dictating what the mag contains. Some of the puff pieces with people who just want to talk up their new game are more suited to a magazine like Edge.

The mag also needs to get over its user content obsession. If I want to read what people on this forum think, I'll come to this forum. I guess this'll make me massivly unpopular, but I don't give a stuff what the forum members have to say and I'm certainly not paying for it, I want to read the professionals.

Oh and the fact the new columns are about as lame as they come. Go back and read Archer's stuff. Genuinly fascinating. We now have a celebrity and a writer from C+VG when it was way past its prime. You'd do better to give that space to the Richard Littlejohn of computer gaming, Stuart Campbell. At least he could write something of interest even if people would then violently argue over it.

I now only find myself buying RG on average every other issue. Think my last was in June. I guess I am still buying it so it can't be that bad, but it really needs to get that "edge" back again.

[Jet Pilot]

The "problem" with Mario is that we've seen it all before. He's a big gaming character and obviously iconic (poxy gorilla-napper ) but an article would need to be justified ultimately with what it brings to the magazine. A definitive with all the spin-offs would take up pretty much a whole issue on it's own. A making of would bring nothing that you couldn't read in the latest issue of Nintendo magazine or that most people with an interest in games already know. I guess you could do a whole "Mario" issue but overall that'd be boring for the average reader.

I guess that's why I was so excited to see Retro Gamer doing a feature back last fall. The writers here have a knack of being able to cover games from a new angle...even games that have been covered a dozen times in other publications. Even when I read about games I already know about, I learn something new. Retro Gamer prides itself in presenting articles that you can't find anywhere else and being much more in-depth than any information you'd find in a Google search.

No, of course it isn't.....It is the centre though!

perhaps not the universe but geographically it's the centre of the Earth (it is the Greenwich meridian line right?)

Yes, the prime meridian runs through the UK, but technically the molten iron core is at the "centre" of the Earth and according to the current theories there is no center of the universe as every body in the universe is moving away from everything else at an ever-increasing rate. So from wherever one sits, they appear to be at the center, because from that perspective, everything else is moving away. So there!

[FatTrucker]

I know not many people may want it but I would like to see more retrobate reviews in the magazine, rather than just one. You could put two or even three in each issue, if you are feeling generous I always enjoy reading other peoples views on games, even if I have or haven't played on them as it helps me go out and either play them for the first time or even replay them once more. You could also improve the retrobate reviews in the mags by adding some of the comments left by the other retrobates and the retro gamer crew could even give their perspectives on the reviewers views on certain games. Hope this is a good idea.

If its added content at no cost or loss to the mag then its fair enough, however I wouldn't like to see other things making way for this. Reason being I can read the Retrobate stuff on the website and I don't buy the mag for reader generated content that's available on the site. I think its interactive enough as it is in terms of the amount of content thats included from the forums and wider RG website. I understand RG has a budget and there's space to be filled every month after that budget is spent but too much filler from the forum and website would be a step backward IMO.

Oh, and bring back Archer. Always looked forward to that little section of the mag.

Here, here, his page was fantastic reading

After the (rightful) low score Imagine Publishing's other mag Games TM gave his Wheelspin game, I'm doubtful he's looking to do anything for IP again.....

Don't see why this would be an issue. Archers a veteran developer not a pouty adolescent, I can't see a mediocre score for one of his games in a different mag albeit from the same publisher stopping him from writing a column for RG.

You'd do better to give that space to the Richard Littlejohn of computer gaming, Stuart Campbell.

I totally agree with this but only if its editorially hands off, not much point if most of it is sterilised during editing as most mags seem to be required to do nowadays.

[the_hawk]

The mag also needs to get over its user content obsession. If I want to read what people on this forum think, I'll come to this forum. I guess this'll make me massivly unpopular, but I don't give a stuff what the forum members have to say and I'm certainly not paying for it, I want to read the professionals.

On the contrary I think many will agree with you on this one.

I'd be the first to admit that when I see my "name" in my favourite magazine it does give me a little buzz. However I'm sure most people would want to read the views & opinions of the excellent writers RG has amassed than an idiot like me!

[Timothy Lumsden]

@fat trucker

I agree - sure he's a grown man - but I've read gamesTM for a long while and it was pretty harsh by their standards

[Gabe]

It's pretty disappointing that you consider a whopping 4 pages of content to be "plenty" of coverage for the franchise that helped pull the entire home console gaming industry back from the brink. Just because you don't like a particular franchise doesn't mean that franchise doesn't have a huge significance to the gaming industry as a whole and should be ignored by the definitive magazine on the retro gaming topic.

If you truly believe that to be the case, than that's more an article about the industry, rather than Mario, isn't it? Reading about the game would tell you nothing about 'saving the industry', so I don't even know why should be relevant to any article.

Besides, if we are using sucess as a barometer for what should be in the mag I shall look forward the the feature on The Sims, for saving PC gaming.

[CraigGrannell]

After the (rightful) low score Imagine Publishing's other mag Games TM gave his Wheelspin game, I'm doubtful he's looking to do anything for IP again.....

I spoke to Archer a couple of months back, and his Retro Gamer column came up. As I said elsewhere already, he stopped writing it due to a lack of time, and not for any other reason.

[MulderWasTaken]

I'd like to see an article/s about Spanish developers or games. Maybe also from other countries as well, but the Spanish market was huge in the 80's with companies like Topo Soft, Dinamic, Zigurat, Opera, etc. Covers usually were drawn by Azpiri, Gimenez or Royo. I believe that only a few titles were released in the UK.

http://elblogdemanu.com/25-anos-de-spec ... s-dinamic/

In my teens I used the read Micromania magazine, a Spanish publication that's still on the market.

Regarding the content of the magazine, I really like: What If?, Same name, Different Game, The covers, Pixel Perfect and The Making of...

I skip the following: Back to the Eighties & Nineties and Retro Price Listings.