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Retro Gamer
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Retro Gamer is a British magazine, published worldwide, covering retro video games. It was the first commercial magazine to be devoted entirely to the subject. Although launched (in January 2004) as a quarterly publication, Retro Gamers soon became a monthly. In 2005, a general decline in gaming and computer magazine readership led to the closure of its publishers, Live Publishing, although the rights to the magazine were later purchased by Imagine Publishing.
first 18 issues of the magazine came with a coverdisk.
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Encyclopedia
Retro Gamer is a British magazine, published worldwide, covering retro video games. It was the first commercial magazine to be devoted entirely to the subject. Although launched (in January 2004) as a quarterly publication, Retro Gamers soon became a monthly. In 2005, a general decline in gaming and computer magazine readership led to the closure of its publishers, Live Publishing, although the rights to the magazine were later purchased by Imagine Publishing.
History
The first 18 issues of the magazine came with a coverdisk. It usually contained freeware remakes of retro games and emulators, but also videos and free commercial PC software such as The Games Factory and The Elder Scrolls: Arena. Some issues had themed CDs containing the entire back catalogue of a publisher such as Durell or Llamasoft.
On 27 September 2005, the magazine's original publishing company, Live Publishing, went into bankruptcy. The magazine's official online forums described the magazine as "finished" shortly before issue #19 was due for release. However, rights to Retro Gamer were purchased by Imagine Publishing in October 2005 and the magazine was re-launched on 8 December 2005. The magazine is now £1 cheaper, but lacks a cover disc. The website was relaunched with a new forum.
Highlights
Highlights of the magazine included interviews with leading 1980s programmers including David Crane, Matthew Smith and Archer MacLean. Regular columns included Next Level Gaming, Desert Island Disks (what games would a gaming celebrity take to a desert island) and Games That Weren't (a look at unpublished and unreleased titles for computers and consoles).
An anthology issue, collecting together articles from the first six issues, was published in December 2004.
In June 2005, a tribute to Zzap!64 was included, "The DEF Tribute to Zzap!64", celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Commodore 64 focused magazine.
One of the lesser-known features of Retro Gamers CD-ROM was the Easter egg, introduced in issue 5. This file was hidden on each disc inside the "adverts" directory, and included a Super Mario Bros. speedrun video and the infamous "Leeroy Jenkins" clip from World of Warcraft.
Issue 48 (February 2008) contained a rare exclusive interview with Manic Miner creator Matthew Smith, written by free-lancer Paul Drury after a visit to Smith's family home in Liverpool.
One of the magazine's most popular recurring features are its 'Making Of's' in which well-known developers are interviewed about the creation and design process behind their games. Classic titles covered in past issues have included Breakout (Steve Wozniak), Smash TV (Eugene Jarvis), Starfox (Jez San), Rescue on Fractalus! (David Fox/Charlie Kellner), Prince of Persia (Jordan Mechner), Berzerk (Alan McNeil), The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Steve Meretzky), Crystal Castles (Franz X. Lanzinger), Tetris (Alexey Pajitnov) and Sheep in Space (Jeff Minter).
Collectable
Despite being a relatively recent title, copies of the early issues (especially issue 1) have become collector's items in their own right, and often change hands for prices that are many times their original cover-price on auction sites such as eBay.
Recently, Retro Gamer binders have also attracted high bids as they are no longer available from the publisher. Other merchandise included T-shirts with slogans such as "Waggle my joystick"
Fortunately for fans, most of the articles for the missing issue were complete, and the freelance writers quickly got together to publish the otherwise lost work on the Retro Survival CD magazine.
Retro Survival
is a commercial CD retrogames magazine put together by the freelance writers of Retro Gamer when Live Publishing collapsed. The CD was published in November 2005 and contains articles that would have appeared in Issue 19 of Retro Gamer, as well as several extras including a foreword by celebrity games journalist Mr Biffo.
Contributors
The majority of Retro Gamers content is supplied by a core team of regular freelancers. These include:
- Stuart Campbell
- Richard Burton
- Martyn Carroll
- David Crookes
- Damien McFerran
- Andrew Fisher
- Sean Smith
- Mike Tooley
- Kim Wild
- Craig Ritchie
- Mike Bevan
- Paul Drury
- Craig Grannell
External links
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