I feel like I have, though, after flipping through the pages of the first issue of the ZX Spectrum Gamer ezine produced by Paul Weller.
Along with the aforementioned humor (a good example: on the zine's first page, Weller promises that "the next issue will be available when I write it, or perhaps a little later than that if nobody reads this one"), the inaugural issue of ZX Spectrum Gamer includes reviews of Discs of Death, Killer Kong, Olli and Lissa and Trashman. It also includes a pair of features that contemplate various Speccy game covers and loading screens.
Weller is the man behind another fanzine I've mentioned in the past, by the way: PC Engine Gamer. Check out its first five issues here.
See also: 'Someone really needs to make Famicom Gamer and Mega Drive Gamer magazines, too'
16 comments:
Audio cassettes! The software (mainly) came on standard audio cassettes. You had to hook it up to a cassette recorder. Then you played the cassette, waited ten minutes, and prayed that it worked. It was brilliant.
Audio cassettes? My god, that's crazy! And here I thought the giant floppy disks of my youth were weird. Anyway, thanks for setting me straight, whoever you are :)
Ooh, thanks for the link! I've gotten really into zines lately so I'm always happy to have more (even though I've never touched a Spectrum).
My Commodore has some cassettes too which you load data off... Unfortunately don't have the player though so can't do anything with them at the moment. :(
You're welcome, Marcus! Read through the issues of PC Engine Gamer, too, if you haven't already. Paul's got a great way with words, IMO :)
This cassette thing is too crazy. I know I've heard of it before, esp. in regards to certain computers of the past, but still... So strange!
I love the tagline for the Spectrum mag: "Guaranteed more interesting than stereo instructions." I sure hope so!
Man, all these wonderful zines make me wish I could make one. I've been a collector of horror zines for years now and always think about it... but really they seem like far too much dedication (at least for me).
Ha ha! I was going to mention that tagline -- and the one on the cover, too ("more exciting than a tin of Spam at the opera"), but I settled on the one about the next issue instead. Regardless, Paul's a hoot, isn't he?
As for starting a zine: Yeah, it seems interesting to me, too, but definitely too much work. Hell, maintaining a blog is enough work for me! I'm certainly glad folks like Paul put in the effort, though.
Sweet, thanks for pointing this out, Bryan! I love the PC Engine fanzine so I'll definitely be checking this out.
Regarding the Speccy, it was a British computer and only really popular over here, but it was a lovely machine with a large and loyal fan base. I was one of them too, and had never played a Commodore 64 game until I started Red Parsley!
A majority of its games did indeed come on audio cassettes, much like the Amstrad CPC and C64, but later in its life there was a model with a 3 inch disc drive. It was the one I had so I was fancy :)
Yes, check it out, Simon. You won't be disappointed, I'm sure!
Thanks for the info on the Speccy! BTW. Now that we're talking about it, I have a feeling I've read about the system on your blog in the past. I distinctly remember you writing about its three-inch drive -- although maybe I'm not remembering correctly?
Now I'm going to have to go to your blog and dig around for posts about the Spectrum :)
Yes, I feature Speccy games now and then, it's my favourite of the early computers. Fortunately for just such an occasion, all the relevant posts are tagged 'ZX Spectrum' ;) I believe the post you're specifically referring to, however, is Gaming Memories Part 6, by the way :)
Ah, that's great that you tagged the Speccy posts. I'll read through them this weekend :)
That does look cool! Like you I`ve never even seen a Spectrum, but I`ve become quite interested in the system from reading Simon`s posts about it (esp. that Gaming Memories one).
I don't know about you, Sean, but when I first saw the graphics of some of this system's games, I was at least mildly turned off. They're definitely growing on me the more I see them, though. They kind of remind me of MSX graphics, which tend to be similarly bright and contrast-y -- at least in my limited experience...
A friend of mine had a Spectrum, but we went with the Atari 400. Both had tapes though, so neither of us could have a "quick game" of anything! I used to put a tape on to load as I went downstairs for my tea, then curse when I went back up to find it had crashed :(
Looks like a great fanzine, there really need to be more of these about!
Playing games off of tapes took that long to load, Kimimi? My gosh, what it must have been like to finally play games on cartridges!
I don't really remember how long they took to load as it was so long ago, but a quick Google seems to indicate 15 - 20 minutes would be considered normal tape loading time (for an Atari 400). Luckily it did have a cart slot so I could play Centipede or Joust instantly, but from what I remember there were far more games on tape than there were on cart (and I imagine carts were significantly more expensive too).
15-20 minutes to load? That's nuts! I guess it's lucky (in a way) that I came into gaming when I did -- during the NES era :)
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