What Amiga coverage do you want to see in Retro Gamer?

[Strider]

Hi there, I'm Darran Jones and I'm the editor of Retro Gamer magazine. We've been receiving numerous comments about more Amiga related coverage in the magazine and I was wondering two things. Firstly, if anyone here does read the magazine, and secondly, what you'd like to see in it from an Amiga perspective.

Darran

[CodyJarrett]

Considering that there is limited space for a particular platform in a multi-platform magazine it'd be good to see more specialised articles. For example, the recent Top 25 Amiga Games article was good but most of the games are well known and this kind of thing has been done many times before.

It would have been much more interesting to have one of the following (off the top of my head):

• The Top 25 Obscure Amiga games
• The Top 25 Games That Originated on the Amiga
• The Top 25 Public Domain Games
• The Top 10 Amiga Doom Clones

You could also do articles about the Amiga scene today. Some suggestions might be:

• How WHDLoad game installers are created
• Upgrading real Amigas (USB, wireless internet etc.)
• PowerPC emulation in WinUAE
• Creating game level maps with Maptapper for the Hall of Light
• etc.

[Adrian Browne]

Something about the A1200 maybe. Hidden gems, as in lesser known games that are quite good? Project walker? Petro tyschenko has a real prototype.

Us Gold? Good arcade to amiga conversions?

[Rob 1]

Yeah the magazine is well read on here it’s been discussed a lot. Especially when it was featured last year and Graham gave an interview.

[CodyJarrett]

You could also have a monthly page or two dedicated to the key platforms - including the Amiga obviously! It could cover what's happening in the world of the Amiga and other material.

[Strider]

We've actually got a 4-page Minority Report on the Amiga 1200 in the next issue. There's some good suggestions made so far. I quite like the idea of delving into emulation, but I'll have to find a suitable expert first who's a good writer. Some good list suggestions as well. Oh and we have a making of Hired Guns soon which I'm quite excited about.

[rogersyd]

Darran,

Great to hear that RG is connecting with Amiga fans! I never miss an issue of your awesome mag here in the US.

Although not so much gaming related, I think some coverage of the amiga Demo scene would be fun. It would be fun to read about the shenanigans of Fairlight, Tulou, Black Lotus, etc...

[Retro-Nerd]

Please, don't do any Top Lists anymore. Write stories about single games with as much details you can find. I'm bored of this lame page waster. Top Amiga games, Top SNES games, Top imports, blablabla.

[Galahad/FLT]

I like the magazine, but frankly your communication skills with people are piss poor, and you know full well what i'm talking about.

In this day of instant communication, its not really on to not keep people abreast of whether or not you want a certain plan to go ahead or not.

On a lighter note:

I'm in agreement with others, I hate top ten/25 lists of anything, its page filling nonsense, one persons top ten game is another persons bottom 50, top lists are subjective to the person writing the article.

I would like to see more Amiga coverage simply because from a history of the software business, it was quite simply one of the most important machines that existed.

Without it, there would have been no Psygnosis worth Sony buying (and then fucking discarding! Sigh), lots of the major talents in the industry have a VERY Amiga centric background, and I feel the Amiga is given far too much of a raw deal when it comes to retro gaming publications (not necessarily Retro Gamer) in general.

I picked up a book in a Garden Centre (shush back there, I was dragged there!), and I think I saw the name 'Amiga' once, and a mention of three games in a 300 page book of Amiga games, the rest was console and early 8bit, its as if when the C64 and Spectrum died, everyone went out and bought Megadrives and SNES's and the computer 16bit era didn't happen

Do some interviews with people currently in the industry that hark back to the days of Amiga and if necessary Atari ST.

Hey, maybe to a guest spot each month with an outside writer?

[Strider]

I'm pretty sure I apologised about what you're talking about and it's my bad. I'm am also more than happy to look at the other games you've worked on (I'm assuming we're having the right conversation ).

We've got big plans for the Amiga, so I certainly want to get more content to appear on a regular basis. It's obviously important to remember that we are covering around 40 years of history and it wasn't just the Amiga that happened in that time.

I'm just aware that our ties with the Amiga community aren't as good as they could be and I'm trying to rectify that.

Darran

[Galahad/FLT]

Originally Posted by Strider

I'm pretty sure I apologised about what you're talking about and it's my bad. I'm am also more than happy to look at the other games you've worked on (I'm assuming we're having the right conversation ).

We've got big plans for the Amiga, so I certainly want to get more content to appear on a regular basis. It's obviously important to remember that we are covering around 40 years of history and it wasn't just the Amiga that happened in that time.

I'm just aware that our ties with the Amiga community aren't as good as they could be and I'm trying to rectify that.

Darran

I dunno champ, I don't recall an apology, but i'm also not that thin skinned that I was too bothered or needed one, so apologies if I gave that impression, I was no doubt in a piss because of something the missus said (anything she says!).

Yes, Amiga wasn't the only machine, but in the annals of 'history', its sidelined quite a lot as well, considering how much of non-machines both the NES and Master System were in the UK, the coverage both enjoy in UK publications is frankly a mystery to me.

Maybe you want to cover the piracy/cracking scenes of various machines?

And maybe cover the software industry's rather simplistic acceptance of what various hardware manufacturers told them about the security of their machines........... One particular software company were all out for Playstation because piracy was apparently nil....... until they were shown a Bulletin Board that had downloads for ALL their current Playstation titles...... sick as a parrot I think the term is!

[alkis21]

I would like to see a feature about the communities that still hold actual Amiga games tournaments, like the Kick Off Association or Sensible World of Soccer United.

[Strider]

The master system was actually very popular in the UK, way more than the NES, but that's a story for another day ;P It's also worth noting that we have a lot of overseas readers, particularly in the US, which means why we don't concentrate predominantly on the UK. Again though, that's for another day.

The piracy thing you mention is interesting. While there's obviously a very interesting story to tell, readers in the past have been concerned that said pirates would be treated in too positive a light, and wouldn't be happy reading something on it.

Anyhoo, keep everything coming, some good ideas at the moment.

[Strider]

Originally Posted by alkis21

I would like to see a feature about the communities that still hold actual Amiga games tournaments, like the Kick Off Association or Sensible World of Soccer United.

I will try and contact someone and see if we can get a moment with or something similar together.

[alkis21]

Thank you, feel free to contact me at alkis21{AT}freemail.gr about the former. During the recent 14th Kick Off 2 World Cup in November in Copenhagen, some of the Sensible Soccer guys actually came to visit us.

[dekarAF]

Holy ... I've been reading RG for years. YEARS! Picking it up (digitally on my iPad) every single month. Anyways, the only thing I have been missing is more Amiga related stuff, so I was happy when I read this thread.

I understand the Amiga scene might be too unrelated to cover in a retro gaming mag, but what about hooking up some interviews with the old developer and publishing legends from the past (there are several on this forum)? I'd love to know more about the development process of all the Amiga classics and also random late 80's/early 90's nostalgia about being an Amiga developer/user back then. I have so many good memories from that time period myself and can never get enough nostalgia.

Other ideas; - what about doing play-throughs of old Amiga games? Including screenshots and strategy guides etc? If only for the nostalgia.

Either way, I'm sure it will be good!

Here's for many, many more years of Retro Gamer magazine!

[Havie]

I love RG and have read every issue and been a subscriber from way back at the beginning (sadly I don't still have my free Namco plug in arcade console).

I really like reading about games and systems I didn't get a chance to play in the past or as a computer owner was to snobby to try (I now know why Supermario 64 is one of the best games of all time).

As an Amiga lover I would of course be keen to see more coverage. suggestions I have:

Modern hardware interfaced
The FPGA revolution
Companies still supporting tthe Amiga
Emulation (not just Amiga) - RG seems to avoid this topic?
Old hardware modern tv and how to get the best image
Vapourware - software and hardware
Modern ports of older games - Novacoder is your guy
Chasing the Doom

There you go - I'll stop now.

[Hewitson]

Originally Posted by Strider

The piracy thing you mention is interesting. While there's obviously a very interesting story to tell, readers in the past have been concerned that said pirates would be treated in too positive a light

So they should be... Very little of this retro software would be preserved if it wasn't for them.

[fitzsteve]

Hi Strider.

I'm an occasional reader, I enjoyed issues such as the one with the Lucas Arts Games special feature.

I'm hosting a blog (link in my sig) if you are interested to use anything from my blog please feel free to contact me to discuss, I've written reviews on some of the new Amiga hardware such as USB and accelerator cards.

Steve.

[amigakit.com]

@strider

Welcome!

I am a monthly subscriber to your magazine and I am always disappointed to not see more Amiga coverage - of course I am biased