Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts

Monday, April 25, 2011

GamesTM 108


The latest issue of GTM which, as per usual, I received for free. So I am totally biased here as a non-paying reader, plus they send me cash monies every month for writing stuff. Even so, I think the quality stands for itself. Infinitely better than that utterly worthless garbage that was the relaunched EGM (I paid for my 6 issues – I’ve earned the right to bitch until hell freezes over). GTM still doesn’t credit their writers, which is both stupid and unforgivable, but that doesn’t detract from the anonymous people who write this. (I would have put an entry up for 107, but my inside contact was very busy and couldn't post it until recently)
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The cover is an in-game screenshot from Epic’s new Next Generation hype nonsense everyone is talking about. I know they’re very proud of their cover, but I inherently dislike CG renders, even if it is in-game and therefore real-time, and I’ve never quite understood the obsession over increasing graphical muscle. I’m still happy playing my retro consoles – which has led to me being viewed as a Mr Retro figure among the gaming press, but I like to think of myself as more all-encompassing, able to play Perfect Dark on the N64 in the morning before playing Metro 2033 on my killer PC rig in the evening. FUN FACT: both aforementioned first-person shooters are excellent, despite the disparity in their graphics.

Taken from Twitter, posted by alialsawaf, another mag cover with in-game screen.


Also, as for the names of the authors, I managed to get the truth out of a mole I have at the publisher of GamesTM. So now we can really know who wrote all these. Bolded for convenience.


This is a sumptuous opening spread detailing all 108 Suikoden characters, because, you know, this is issue 108 of the magazine. In a way I hate this spread, since I many times pitched something similar for Retro Gamer's double pages, but was always shot down because Suikoden is apparently too obscure. So in a way, seeing this is like seeing someone else fulfil my artistic vision. Still, it's a bit goregous, innit?
GTM Author: Tori Black



This 4 page feature on Catherine is reason enough to buy this issue. It's an in-depth, extremely intelligent feature (it could be the most intelligent thing I've read in a games magazine this year), and not only is it fascinating, but it moves beyond mere games. It looks at Japanese cultural trends, their "elevator society", norms and values for the young and older generations, Japan's declining birth rate, the fact that young Japanese are less interested in getting married or having kids, and a decline in people taking adult responsibility. It's also a preview and review for the Catherine game - my god, it is such a forward thinking feature, that it's almost beyond the vanguard of description. I'm going to incur the ire of my superiors, but since it's not on their website, I've included hi-res scans for you to read. It reminds me of my Japanese sociology classes at university, which looked at various aspects of Japanese culture and society - but don't let my academic comparisons put you off. It's woven into the fabric of the Catherine game and the current Japanese game industry. It even draws attention to Haruki Murakami's 1988 novel Dance, Dance, Dance. Bloody fantastic. Best article of the year?
GTM Author: Lexi Belle


A good feature on El Shaddai which reveals fascinating info from the developers, along with a serious and level headed discussion of the religious source material. I'm expecting a lot of other mags to dismiss the religious subtexts, and I think this is wrong, because whether you're an atheist or not, I expect my writers to try to understand what the games they critique are covering. Which is why I was especially pleased with mags that reviewed Okami and made the effort to research Japanese myths and legends.
GTM Author: Ashlynn Brooke (aka Ash)

I haven't read this, but the design is nice and I'm pleased with how GTM continues to cover the niche and obscure.
GTM Author: Dana DeArmond

The showcase section is ace, since it gives you a bite sized chunk of lots and lots of little games which might not get coverage in other magazines which only grant single-page coverage to titles but not less. This is great, because right now, if I hadn't read about these on websites or forums already, I would totally be psyched for: Gungnir, Akiba's Trip, Unchainable Rexx, Rochard, Fancy pants Adventures, A Valley Without Wind (hole bloody hell this looks FANTASTIC), Red Johnson's Chronicles, Fallen Frontier, Yakuza of the End, Amy (by Flashback guy Paul Cuisset, yes yes yes yes yes yes yes YES), Robotics;Notes, Nin2-Junp, Akai Katana Shin, and Earth Seeker.
GTM Author: Chayse Evans

Feature on the next generation of graphics. I read it, and I was a bit depressed by it. Rather like last month's article on independent consultants. It all points to an ever greater bloating of games, with hundreds of people slaving away to make something which lacks soul or creativity. I miss the cottage industry days of 4 guys in a house making games. Still, if you like your graphics PUMPED, then this is a nerdcore article which - to me - appears to revel in geek love for the technology.
GTM Author: Jenna Haze

An article on games which can be played as a family. I didn't read it, and I won't, because I don't care for this. Still, at least they're not afraid to look at unconventional subjects.
GTM Author: Kayden Kross

An excellent feature on the perceived value of games. I can't be bothered to scan it hi-res like the Catherine article, but it's a topical and important subject/feature. The AppStore has let the genie out of the bottle with regards to a better pricing model, and no one is going to be able to get him back in. We're growing accustomed to cheap and free games, which is the way it should be. I hear people still pay $60 for console games? What for? I've recently bought several new PS3 games for $15 each, because I waited a couple of weeks and looked for bargains. The DEATH of expensive games starts NOW.
GTM Author: Jesse Jane

Review of Gemini Rue. A good score for a good game. Glad to see someone on staff like adventure games. I can't wait for GTM's review of HG101's Guide to Adventure Games!
GTM Author: Amber Rayne

A 6 page making of Guilty Gear, complete with photos and concept art from the guy behind it. Nikki clearly likes some one on one 2D action!
GTM Author: Nikki Rhodes

A retro feature on compilations. Sadly it's not very good, and I'm saying this purely because the author doesn't heavily condemn Backbone Entertainment for the utterly shoddy and dreadful emulation work they did on the Genesis collections. Hideous filters, nowhere near as good as what I can get on PC emulators or even the emulators put out by Sega's AM2 division, and no ability to play Sonic 2 or 3 locked on to Sonic and Knuckles. Unlike Sonic Jam, which allowed this. Backbone, aka Digital Eclipse, appear to be utterly insipid and pathetic in their way of handling compilations, and any article which fails to condemn them to the 7th level of damnation, just doesn't pass muster in my book. The rest of the feature was OK, I guess, but I wanted - no, I NEEDED - to see more Backbone vitriol. Those Genesis compilations on PS3 and Xbox 360 were TERRIBLE.
GTM Author: Ann Marie Rios


And finally, I leave you with a letter praising GTM's review of Deadly Premonition. Nay, praising the reviewer, whoever that dashing genius may be. I don't know who it is, but clearly said reviewer is a writer worth his salt, one to watch and lavish praise on (as this letter writer did). Some might even call said reviewer a god amongst demigods, and they would be right. They would be so right. If only we could know who this Messiah of men really is. Such a good review.

SPARTACUS!
Posted by Sketcz at 10:01 AM 6 comments
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Thursday, December 9, 2010

Retro Gamer issues 80 to 84



In the spirit of Christmas my friend, and ex-boss on Retro Gamer, Darran Jones sent me some copies of Retro Gamer. I praise the magazine’s many positives, but first I must share some flashbacks.
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Despite my reservations, these are actually really amazing. In fact, they kind of make me wish I’d taken a subscription, or at least accepted Darran’s offer for a monthly column, which would have guaranteed me a regular supply. Unfortunately I’ve never bought a copy, and never will, since despite having left 4 years ago, I still harbour what many would call undue psychological baggage. So although I praise the magazine’s writers and skilled designer, I do have reservations.

As staff writer I earned £12,000 per year. That’s £1,000 a month. After tax and national insurance it was more like £750 (income tax was 22% in 2006, NI was on top of this). Then I lost something like £400 on rent, plus there were utility bills on top of that: electricity, gas, phone, water, food etc. I lived on a diet of boiled rice and tinned pilchards since that was the cheapest food I could find. Each month after all the above deductions I had £100 of “fun money” to play around with. Also, working on a retro mag, I didn’t get free games like my colleagues, unless it was retro compilations. And apart from the Sega ones (which I gave 96% to once), these compilations were mostly crap. So I was poor, hungry, overworked and seldom had games to play. My average hours per week regularly reached around 45 hours. Sometimes more.

After 6 months I thought bugger this, quit, and landed a job as sub-editor at a massive corporation, doubling my salary (yes, DOUBLING it), and halving my workload. Instead of running around to meet ludicrous page quotas per week, my days were spent casually proof reading articles in an unrelated field. This is when I realised that getting a job based on your hobby is NEVR a good idea. A hobby is fun because you’re in control of it – when it becomes a job there are rules to adhere to and you’re doing on someone else’s time, to someone else’s schedule. I stopped playing games and ended up hating them – they represented the prison cell I had volunteered for. I didn’t play games again until the winter of 2007 I ended up so burned out. Also, when your job is also your hobby, there is no middle ground, everything ends up becoming AMAZING, or ABSOLUTE CRAP, and you lose any sense of impartiality.

My advice is always this: aim for a job which pays AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, because screw the hippy liberals, by the time you hit 25 money is the only thing that matters anymore. And make sure it’s a job which is EASY and which you are mildly apathetic towards, so you can do it proficiently 5 days a week, 48 weeks a year, FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. I really liked my new job and my new colleagues were wonderful and very carefree (working in games magazines my colleagues were all underpaid, underfed and psychologically abused by upper management). I gave my new job after leaving RG all my effort, because I could still leave it at the office, whereas on Retro Gamer I never left the office, my home became the office, the pub was the office, wandering the high street was the office.

Anyway, long story short, I wasn’t paid enough, I was worked too hard, and all of us were treated very badly by the CEOs at the top. It’s traumatised me somewhat – made worse by the fact that I volunteered for the position. If I had been forced into it, I could maybe forgive myself. And so although seeing these issues today makes me think it’s a fantastic looking mag, with some great written articles, I will never be able to see Retro Gamer without having really awful flashbacks of working long under-appreciated hours and only being able to afford a scummy apartment, drinking neat Stolichnaya and occasionally punching the wall with anger at life’s unfairness. Jeez, they paid me so little it’s disturbing. Never again.

If you’ve never worked as a professional games writer on a UK magazine though, and I implore you not to, then Retro Gamer is a pretty good magazine with the best design I’ve ever seen. Still, they don’t pay their staff anywhere near enough fucking money, so when you enjoy it, pause for a moment and think of the poor individuals who are burning away the best years of their life to create it.


THE MAGAZINE



The Mario cover had this neat gimmick like an advent calender, where you could lift each square to find a screen from a Mario, with a date of release and info. This must be one of the coolest covers I've ever seen on a games mag. Ever.

I'm not a fan of the author behind the Axelay article, but the design is so incredibly beautiful.

Retro Gamer also covers things like TV shows based on games - in this case it's Bad Influence, a UK TV show covering technology and videogames.

A big feature on the adventure games of Dynamix. Pretty good, with a lot of interesting inside anecdotes.

Desert Island Disks with Larry DeMar, written by the always excellent Paul Drury. These have always been a highlight of the magazine, with fantastic writing and some incredibly personal stories from the interviewee. DID is the gold standard for video game interviews I feel, and blows away a lot of the basic Q+A pieces phoned in by other magazines.

A detailed Making Of feature on Ms Pacman. This is another strong point of RG. EDGE magazine does one making a month, RG sometimes does three. In 50 or 100 years time, these Making Of articles will still be read, and will still be worth something. How many other magazines can claim that?



GamesTM's deputy editor Ashley Day wrote a 4 page on the Pokemon Mini, one of the most intelligently written features I've read in a while - a personal favourite in fact. So many games commentators today take the Seanbaby or AVGN approach, of moronic criticism, without trying to understand what's being covered. The Pokemon Mini might not be a hugely relevant piece of hardware, but it's still a fascinating topic when handled with decorum.

I like these Complete Guide To articles, since by showing every level, every boss and every enemy, it negates any need to play the game any more. For me, it helps put the game away, so I feel like I can move on to other titles.

Making of Day of the Tentacle. They like their adventure games almost as much as HG101 does.

The Mario issue featured a massive article on Mario as a character. It was OK, not badly written. But for my money I would have liked a bit more coverage on the Hudson ports, and perhaps an explanation for them. And furthermore, they claim that Hotel Mario is a bad game, when in fact it's a fantastic single-screen arcade style game, like a cross between Elevator Action and Donkey Kong. Also, for a laugh they really should have included a boxout on Mario as a communist. Maybe also some weird Mario fan-art for good measure. Still, without an author's byline it must have been done in-house, which meant they didn't have much time. So I can forgive them. They got famous games people like Carmac and Hawkins to explain what they thought of Mario, which is ingenious. I want to see more of the industry commenting on itself.


I know the artwork shown above has been discussed online across various forums, but I wanted to mention it again. The Mario 3 article was by Ash Day and, as usual, was of an excellent quality. Considering how flogged to death the Mario 3 topic is, he handled it quite well. Also, the design, look at how gorgeous that design is. If you look at the collection of sprites on page 2, you'll notice that every Mario sprite is doing a different animation. One is standing, another running, another running with his hand out, one kicking, another jumping, then jumping with hands out, and so on. It's not all standing poses, each is different. And that map double spread - oh lord is it beautiful. Every single magazine should look this good. Only GameFAN has matched this level of style.

A making of Leather Goddesses of Phobos. Very detailed, very interesting.

The Making of Gorf - RG usually has a good blend or arcade, computer and console coverage.

Parker Brothers!

Sid Meier!

The Primal Rage making of was fascinating. I had no idea they'd implemented so much copy protection. And I didn't even know about PR2.

This article is a personal favourite. It covers copy protection in games, from old computer games right up to Earthbound and its super difficult mode that occurs with a pirate copy. Six pages, and one of the best researched pieces I've read in a long time. Actually, I'm tempted to scan the entire feature and put it up - this is the kind of article everyone should read and have access to.



A big Donkey Kong arcade feature, including an interview with the guy who did the Atari 2600 port.

I love these spreads where they show a version of every port. Now, I've read every RG since it first started, and I'm fairly sure that this level of obsessive detail was done first by HG101. In which case, imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery.

Harvest Moon is a great series, and this is a great look at it behind the scenes. TRUE FACTS: Kim Wild isn't actually Kim Wilde, plus I used to live just two streets down from her after I left RG. Always does well researched features.


And that about wraps up the 4 issues I got. I didn't cover everything, because it doesn't all appeal to me. There's lots of stuff which I don't even read - but after flicking through these 4 issues, it does tempt me to start picking it up.

Interestingly, Retro Gamer recently won an award in the UK for best games magazine. Which they deserve considering the effort that's needed compared to other magazines.

Ignoring the fact that management DON'T PAY ANYONE ENOUGH, the writers and designers do a great job, a far better job than they should considering the low pay.

But perhaps I'm just a bitter old scoundrel.
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PS: they don't pay their staff enough.
Posted by Sketcz at 6:45 AM 7 comments
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Monday, February 8, 2010

UK PSN – what exclusives are there?

As part of a new series which I’m likely to abandon the moment I become bored with it, I intend to look at the exclusive items on each region of PSN. Meaning you’d need to specifically start an account in that region to enjoy them. Starting an account is easy, and I have four (UK, USA, Japan and Hong Kong). First up the UK, mainly because there’s not much there, so I won’t have to type much!
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The UK PSN sucks. It’s the worst out of all countries, beaten only by places like Germany, Saudi Arabia and South Africa, and then only because these places receive the censored, butchered, edited-down carcasses of what the UK receives. Actually, I’m not even sure South Africa has an official PSN.

I’ve read Americans on forums complain about their PSN, but trust me guys, you at least get a few decent Konami games on your PS1 classics list (like Suikoden and Symphony of the Night), and you always get demos waaaaay before the UK does. I also seem to recall there’s a couple full games you have, which we don’t. PSN has the potential to be an amazing service which syphons money out of my bank account at an incredible rate simply by virtue of its excellent - except that unlike Japan and America’s PSN, the service we have in Europe is an embarrassment.

Furthermore, the UK PSN is stoic in its defiance NOT to show screens of the PS1 games available to buy (unlike Japan and Hong Kong), and it also refuses to tell you how big each file is going to be, until you’ve actually started downloading it. Which is infuriating if only because of how insignificant it would be to implement – why can’t I know that a demo is going to over a gig in size? It’s little more than some numbers typed into the main description. Other countries list the sizes! The menu organisation also sucks.

But, giving credit where it’s due, the UK account does have the following exclusives worth checking out (if these are available on another PSN, such as the US one, my apologies):

1) Dark Mist
A fairly average Smash TV clone with the burley men replaced by an ethereal anime girl. It’s alright, not bad, but not worth £6.25. It was recently reduced to less than a fiver at one point, which is when I bought it. Unfortunately it’s so repetitive I never made it past stage 4 (I think there’s 12 stages).
There’s no saving, so each time you start you need to play the entire game from scratch. Also, the online rankings are no longer working. On stage one I beat both the time and scores needed to tank around 400 out of 1000, and my score never showed up. I’ve read Halverson in PLAY complaining about the US not getting this, but really it’s not worth crying over. It’s also available on the Hong Kong PSN, in English, with the add-on which never saw release in the UK.

2) Bishi Bashi Special – PS1
At £3.49 this is an absolute steal of a bargain. A zany collection of 85 minigames in the Warioware mould, released long before Warioware. One minigame includes a bride throwing her wedding cake at guests. Awesome. A friend with a Japanese PS3 though found it wouldn’t work on his CRT – I’m not sure how it would fare on a US PS3, on either a CRT or HD TV. My guess is it will work fine in HD.

3) Movement series
Two dudes in a minivan tour Europe checking out new bands from Spain, France, England, and so on. The preview looked interesting but each episode is way too big to warrant me downloading it. I wish they’d included just the music videos, by themselves, instead of forcing you to also download the yawnsome interviews. I could do with a collection of music videos on my HDD.
There’s dozens of episodes all over the place and I downloaded a French one because it had a heavy metal band, but most of the file was a subtitled interview. I suppose if you have an amazing net connection it’s worth checking out. You’ll find it hidden under “other media”, or use the search function.

4) Shoot
A collection of short indie films, a couple of minutes long. Alas, the UK’s incomprehensibly stupid filing system means it’s bloody tough to find these. Once you actually reach the Shoot section, you’re presented only with trailers for the films. For a long time I’d assumed the films weren’t on PSN. Some time later I discovered that I needed to click on the Director’s names, each of which have their own sub-directory, and inside of which are about half a dozen files, like making ofs, a director interview, the director's pitch, and a whole bunch of other crap which no-one would ever want. Seriously, who gives a sh*t about some guy's pitch for a film? Just gimme the film already! The films themselves are actually hidden somewhere amongst this lot of irrelevant files.
Because displaying the films prominently as the first item in the Shoot folder, for easy access, is too much to ask, right? Because why would anyone be interested in the actual films when you could instead watch half-a-dozen other videos which are not the films? What a bunch of nobs Sony’s PSN department is. The whole of the UK’s PSN reeks of incompetent management.

Anyway, I didn’t like most of the films, but the following 3 are worth the effort of making a UK account:

1) Bitter
Surreal comedy with a very British sense of humour.

2) 8.3 Minutes
A bit creepy, and a bit gruesome. It reminds me of all those Sega CD FMV games. I can’t say anymore without spoiling it.

3) Prison Food – light-hearted comedy about 2 guys in prison, imagining they’re in a restaurant.

The other stuff includes some daft comedies, and a really awful art-house drama about some dude on a lake.

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And that, gentleman, is the sum of the “good” exclusive content on the UK’s PSN. Well, there’s also a movie trailer section, and some music tracks to download, but it’s all rather lacklustre. If there’s anything else you like which is exclusive, which I didn’t mention, please post in the comments...

Oh, I forgot, there’s also a ton of bloody awful Disney licenses in the PS1 section. Which is a fair trade I guess, because you know, America gets Castlevania and Japan gets Metal Slug, and we get Winny the Pooh and the Little Mermaid. *

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to hunt down the insipid, ineffectual cretin in charge of our PSN, and jam their head into a honey pot.


* I realise it’s the individual publisher’s who are at fault for not putting their games on the UK PSN, but if what I heard six months ago is true, the woman in charge of the UK’s PSN is a European who doesn’t even speak English properly, is forever swanning around getting her hair done and is hopelessly disorganised to the point where it’s impossible to work with her. If Sony Europe had any appreciation of money, they’d get their act together, sack the woman on grounds of failing to perform her duties, hire someone competent who understands their job, start organising additional content and make it easier for European publishers to put stuff up.

But hey, at least we get Pooh Bear, right?
Posted by Sketcz at 5:48 AM 9 comments
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