The Emulator - A New Fanzine - Updated 31/12/12

[RetroRevival]

I have decided to give the idea of creating my own fanzine one last bash after getting all teary eyed at looking back on the 4 issues of RetroRevival that were produced back in 2004-2006 and wanting to get involved once more in something as good as that.

The Emulator will be a digital based publication with content concentrating on, yes you have guessed it, emulation.

Before anyone bemoans the idea and starts getting visions of a poor mans PC Action Emulate (if that's at all possible!) this foray into the scene will cover more than just SNES9X and ZX Spectrum emulators. No, The Emulator will take a much broader viewpoint entirely.

Expect to see articles and reviews on open source hardware, peripherals to accompany emulating classic games, decent homebrew coverage across all formats, plenty of arcade / mame features including build guides and other technical writings, game reviews and of course how to's on all manner of topics. Lets not forget interviews with those that matter in the scene, developer look backs and a whole host of other features that are currently missing from the wealth of publications already available. (Sorry have to mention fruit machine & pinball emulation here too as it simply gets little to no coverage anywhere right now.)

*** EDIT 31/12/12 ***

Have decided to do away with the sampler after convincing a few others to help with contributions, so will be going into the first full issue proper. Of course these things are only as good as the people who are working on them so if anyone is interested in contributing or helping in any way the please get in contact.

A few pages to whet the appetite ...

[Stainy]

Ooooh

Looking forward to it

[RetroRevival]

Anything in particular Stainy?

[Greyfox]

Best of luck with it..RR, I love emulation myself and very interested to see where you take it.

Until then, Merry Xmas and a happy new year to you sir

[paranoid marvin]

The emulation market is the big gaping hole in RG; but it's there for a good (legal) reason. I'm sure there must be (lawful) ways round this though.

Would love to see a publication (written or digital) devoted to all things emulation.

[koopa42]

I've got an article for you:

Emulation is ace by Koopa42

Emulation is well ace.

The end

[RetroRevival]

The emulation market is the big gaping hole in RG; but it's there for a good (legal) reason.

Writing about emulation is fine as long as you are not linking to copyrighted materials (roms).

Referring back to the abortion PCAction Emulate was under the Live years, they managed to legally publish a mainstream magazine with content covering emulators and the like, without fear of legal ramifications. At no point as far as I known (or looking through the issues I have here) does the magazine mention places to get roms from, so cannot see, unless for non legal reasons, why RG does not cover it as a subject matter.

I am open to correction on this of course.

I've got an article for you:

Emulation is ace by Koopa42

Emulation is well ace.

The end

Nearly as good as your Jungle King review mate.....nearly

[paranoid marvin]

The emulation market is the big gaping hole in RG; but it's there for a good (legal) reason.

Writing about emulation is fine as long as you are not linking to copyrighted materials (roms).

Referring back to the abortion PCAction Emulate was under the Live years, they managed to legally publish a mainstream magazine with content covering emulators and the like, without fear of legal ramifications. At no point as far as I known (or looking through the issues I have here) does the magazine mention places to get roms from, so cannot see, unless for non legal reasons, why RG does not cover it as a subject matter.

I am open to correction on this of course.

I've got an article for you:

Emulation is ace by Koopa42

Emulation is well ace.

The end

Nearly as good as your Jungle King review mate.....nearly

Are there not some issues regarding emulators using copyrighted material (for example kickstart ROM on the Amiga)? Also it's very dificult to talk about emulators without mentioning game ROMS.

I've always assumed that is why 'new' RG steers clear of the subject. As has been said , Emulate! and even 'old' RG discussed it at length (RG used to have emulators on the covermount DVDs) so there must be ways around it - unless I'm missing something?

Like I've said I would love to see a magazine devoted to the subject as where would retro gaming be without it for many?

[RetroRevival]

Are there not some issues regarding emulators using copyrighted material (for example kickstart ROM on the Amiga)?

The Amiga, the PSOne, The PS2 and any other device that needs a bios is subject to legal issues, but again there is nothing stopping people talking about them. I have no intention of providing download links for rome bioses or anything that may infringe copyright.

I've always assumed that is why 'new' RG steers clear of the subject. As has been said , Emulate! and even 'old' RG discussed it at length (RG used to have emulators on the covermount DVDs) so there must be ways around it - unless I'm missing something?

The emulators as far as I am aware were open sourced, and therefore free from legal issue. Any games on those DVD's were aloowed to be used due to permission being granted from the original programmers.

Issue 13 of RG under the Live banner had Amiga Forever on the cover disc, but was granted permission from its authors to use the bios included.

Like I've said I would love to see a magazine devoted to the subject as where would retro gaming be without it for many?

I have a personal view that emulation is the only reason retro gaming is as big as it is. There are very few people who are fortunate enough to be in the position either personally or financially to be able to devote disposable income on buying games from yesteryear. Emulation is for everyone else.
It is a massive part of the scene, regardless of your moral standings or the legalities of it all. Without emulation you would not be able to play games you had never heard of before and sometimes, just sometimes, a game or two is purchased off the back of it.

It also allows access to games that you simply would not be able to afford to buy in quantity (Mame, Daphne, Naomi etc)

[koopa42]

@RR - Rod Hull and Romulans are ace! But you KNOW teh anals are gonna get sore over teh romulans

Also NOTHING is as good as my Jungle King review

[RetroRevival]

@RR - Rod Hull and Romulans are ace! But you KNOW teh anals are gonna get sore over teh romulans

Sod the anals (if you pardon the pun!)

Also NOTHING is as good as my Jungle King review

Level four is the hardest part of the game, and so it should be as it is the last level. Ms King’s raspberry ripples are beginning to melt and the cannibals want to chew her a new @rsehole.

Thats better than reading Razzle, no really it is

[koopa42]

I know LOL that's how I roll

edit:

You should check some of my modern game reviews, they're up on RP2MP main site, in the 360 section

[RetroRevival]

You should check some of my modern game reviews, they're up on RP2MP main site, in the 360 section

Will have a butchers hook in a while mate.

[boyo]

WOW - where did this come from?

[RetroRevival]

Just added a few sample pages to give an idea as to what this publication will look like...

Comments are welcome.