More bias on Retro Gamer...

[remax]

still they may not even spot the difference...

MO5

Speccy

<bias="on">This speccy game is far more beautiful!</bias>

[seanb]

Wah?  Did they?  Whoever it was deserves an egg thrown in their face!

Maybe they didn't. I'm sure someone in this thread said something about dizzy someone claiming dizzy was first made on the speccy

[Gryzor]

I think the MO5 and Speccy shots will make their lives much easier, since it's probably too difficult to take screenshots from the MO5

(Oh wait, there's a MESS driver for MO5, so...).

@remax : lol

[chinnyhill10]

If you're upset about Retro Gamer, well... you won't be happy about the new documentary "Bedrooms To Billions". Not a single solitary mention of the Amstrad. Just one 2 second clip of Robocop.

This is exactly why we as a community need to plough our own furrow. Nobody else is going to do it for us.

[MacDeath]

Also we want more MSX as well :

[chinnyhill10]

I think the MO5 and Speccy shots will make their lives much easier, since it's probably too difficult to take screenshots from the MO5

(Oh wait, there's a MESS driver for MO5, so...).

@remax : lol

I have zero sympathy for anyone who claims its difficult to take screenshots. You should see the mess of cables my gaming corner now is since I started doing the videos! I used to have all the video out cables all neatly laid out and everything! 

[Gryzor]

Heck, the CPC is even shown in the 2600 E.T. Documentary, Atari: Game Over (which I'm watching right now).


Apologies for the quality and the inability to remove the UI when paused:


[attach=2]

[Gryzor]

I have zero sympathy for anyone who claims its difficult to take screenshots. You should see the mess of cables my gaming corner now is since I started doing the videos! I used to have all the video out cables all neatly laid out and everything! 

Yeah, no. You can't claim you're a journalist and being unable to do something so basic. It means you have exactly zero idea about how computers work.

[seanb]

I remember a Dizzy article in RG seemed to ignore the CPC... they also claimed Dizzy originated on the Spectrum..

I'm glad I hadn't imagined reading it 

[Gryzor]

Ah, the author replied!

Good evening all, and especially Gryzor.

I'm the freelancer who wrote the Driller feature. Thank you Andrew for your defence and you're correct there is no bias. But as Grzyor rightly points out, it is not hard to source screenshots and indeed I did submit several Amstrad and C64 screenshots, but unfortunately I failed to specify in the feature that the Amstrad ones (and C64) should have been included and the spectrum less so, or at least evenly. It's up to us as the writers to ensure the designers are informed on this as we can't expect them to be au fait with all the systems, so that's my bad.

I would point out however with the issue of "lead" platforms however that all the Z80 versions were developed on the 6128 using Devpac and the amstrad and spectrum versions were developed concurrently by Chris Andrew. Saying it was originally an amstrad game would be like saying most other latter games of the 8-bits' lives were PC games because they were coded in that environment or anything developed on a Sage computer system was actually a "sage" game. I think the article focuses mainly on the engine (which is what I thought readers would be most interested in, how they did it on the 8 bits, let's be honest it wasn't anything special on the 16 bits) which is why I didn't have room for mentioning little things like the c64 music unfortunately.

So there you go, no bias, no anti-amstrad sentiment, just one little thing I missed because I was probably overstretched for a couple of weeks (I did an article for GamesTM this month too although I'm not offering this as an excuse). I'm a bit disappointed if you thought the article was shoddy, I didn't think it was that bad, but I hope it didn't spoil your enjoyment of the rest of the mag too much.

Now I'm off to play some Sorcery+ and Roland Goes To Hell

Going to reply tomorrow, I'm already in bed. He may have had good intentions, but the magazine certainly screwed up, and the article is spectrum-focused indeed regardless of screenshots. Anyone knows the exact history of  Freescape?

[seanb]

I have zero sympathy for anyone who claims its difficult to take screenshots. You should see the mess of cables my gaming corner now is since I started doing the videos! I used to have all the video out cables all neatly laid out and everything! 

What do you use to capture your amstrad videos?

[chinnyhill10]

What do you use to capture your amstrad videos?

I don't want to derail the thread so I'll keep it brief. If you want to capture from a real CPC you have to convert the RGB to component. From there any professional capture card with analogue component inputs will do it. This applies to screenshots or video.

[seanb]

Cheers

[andycadley]

Ah, the author replied!

Going to reply tomorrow, I'm already in bed. He may have had good intentions, but the magazine certainly screwed up, and the article is spectrum-focused indeed regardless of screenshots. Anyone knows the exact history of  Freescape?

An Amstrad was used to write it (as was the case for a lot of non-PDS developed stuff) but I'm pretty sure the Speccy was considered the most important target of the Z80 machines, in much the same way the graphics in Dizzy were specifically designed to be a good fit for the Spectrum's attribute grid.

It may look like bias, but the simple truth is that back in the day the Spectrum was a larger, and thus more important, market to sell in (hence Amstrad buying it out)

[AMSDOS]

I think his argument is "we're not biased, just useless". I mean, how the fuck is it possible for a geek NOT to be able to take a screenshot? It's not like he's got to learn advanced photoshop skills!

I'm not so sure, it's something to ask them. When I send screenshots to CPC-Power Kukulcan prefers screenshots without the Interlace lines, but I don't know what RG want, for example taking screenshots from the Emulator is straightforward, but what if RG want screenshots from the Real Computer?

[MacDeath]

CPC wasn't really marked by scanlines effect on screen... surely the CRT pixel and moiré was there, but I quite never saw any scanlines/interlace lines.

Sure pixels and colours weren't as squared and clean as on modern renditions, but still.
To me this "scanlines" effect is a legend.

[McKlain]

I think that the scanlines thing comes from arcade machines, in wich you were playing very close to the screen. But still, I don't remember seeing scanlines everywhere on the arcades either.

[seanb]

CPC wasn't really marked by scanlines effect on screen... surely the CRT pixel and moiré was there, but I quite never saw any scanlines/interlace lines.

Sure pixels and colours weren't as squared and clean as on modern renditions, but still.
To me this "scanlines" effect is a legend.

If you played on the green screen you saw Scanlines.
have a Sony crt for my megadrive etc and there are lots of lovely scanlines as well as on my colour plus monitor.
Maybe you never noticed them when younger because they were always there and that's how it was.

[Gryzor]

Please open a new thread.

[TMR]

Sorry for the bulk reply, i was away at Play Blackpool for three days, the last of which saw me going home with a cuddly Spiro The Dragon and a raging toothache - right now i'm propped up on all manner of painkillers and been told to stay off work for a couple of days until i can get into the emergency dentist, so i'm slowly and erratically catching up...

I'm curious if the RG team actually know which computers are used by their customers.

i'm assuming it's combination of direct feedback from readers via various sources, indirect feedback from sales (some things shift more copies on the cover than others for example) and the home computer market of the 1980s.

Would they Generally go for relevant stuff that gets sent to them, or are they usually are specific material?

There are requests from "on high" for specific pieces once in a while, but generally speaking the freelancers pitch ideas which interest them and the ones that the editorial team feel would make a good story are commissioned.

in much the same way the graphics in Dizzy were specifically designed to be a good fit for the Spectrum's attribute grid.

The Olivers' website was a bit vague about Dizzy's origins the last time i looked and they use Spectrum screenshots and cover art for it's entry as well... has anyone ever asked them for a definitive answer?

[Carnivius]

The Olivers' website was a bit vague about Dizzy's origins the last time i looked and they use Spectrum screenshots and cover art for it's entry as well... has anyone ever asked them for a definitive answer?

Did you not see them at the play blackpool thing?

From their Let's Play: Dizzy video on youtube it sounds like it was built simultaneously on CPC and Spectrum with the graphics and memory being designed to work around the Speccy's limitations (like the way Dizzy constantly bobs up and down is so you can still see him when attritbue clashes would otherwise camoflage him against the background) and their previous games (Super Robin Hood and Ghost Hunters) were produced on CPC.

[Gryzor]

Well, that was easy:


[attachimg=1]

[Carnivius]

I thought of asking them but I felt I'd possibly tweeted them too much recently. 

[Gryzor]

Haha doesn't matter, the truth is out there

[Gryzor]

Regarding how Darran, personally, and RG generally handles criticism and complaints.


I mentioned the Sega/Nintendo issue, and Darran replied, so the following ensued:


Darran: That's a drum that's not been beaten for a while...

Me: Really not sure about whatever on earth you might mean. Unless the comment was directed elsewhere, please don't assume I'm au courrant with what is being said.

Darran: It's a reference to everyone constantly saying we are pro Nintendo, when we're really not. It comes and goes until a new flavour of the month comes along.

Me: Yeah, well, in my book "boooring this has been said before" is not an effective form of assessing critique... And if others have been saying it, well then...


So, it seems that complaints are "flavour of the month" for them. Screw it, I'm really not renewing my subscription. Not only because the quality of the magazine has gone south, but also because I don't feel like being treated like an idiot, whining child.