Amstrad Action Magazine

Lloyd Mangram · Post by **Lloyd Mangram** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 1:11 pm

CraigGrannell wrote:—like the anti-Edge.

You mean the Banana Monthly?

/gets coat

Post by **Iain** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 1:16 pm

What's the market like for multiformat mags, since C&VG closed because of the reduction of it (so they said anyway)?

Although to answer my own question, a lot of people do seem to own more than 1 current console.

Reviews have had their day though? Hard to fill up the mag with just features won't it?

CraigGrannell · Post by **CraigGrannell** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 1:27 pm

Iain wrote:What's the market like for multiformat mags, since C&VG closed because of the reduction of it (so they said anyway)?

Dunno. The point about K!K!G is that it's not trying to be something else anyway—it's for the many people hacked off at how shit current games mags are, and how little they care about gaming and the readers.

Reviews have had their day though? Hard to fill up the mag with just features won't it?

My point being that the news/previews/reviews thing has had its day. News can be found online. Previews are all just gushing "we love you" bollocks that mags do to make their advertising departments happy. And as for reviews, these days most of them are shite, not actually telling you a damn thing. That's not to say K!K!G isn't slated to include all of these things—it's just that they won't be the entire backbone of the magazine, and the weight will be more towards other stuff that you simply cannot get anywhere else. Plus the writers will actually have sense of humour, which already places the mag above Edge on the readability scale.

Lloyd Mangram · Post by **Lloyd Mangram** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 1:50 pm

Iain wrote: Reviews have had their day though? Hard to fill up the mag with just features won't it?

Reviews had their day!? I don't believe so.
Previews maybe.

With Edge, Games ™ , Gamesmaster (still around I guess) and Retro Gamer (sort of) there'd still be 'space' for an original games mag.
Original in the sense of content, not attitude, btw.
I'm pretty fed up with WotR's 'look how totally smart we are'. attitude.They seem totally lost in their search for the original spirit of videogaming recently, while they continue to be pretty good at making empty statements solely containing swearwords. Which is a shame. IMHO.

Humour is ok, as long as it's really funny.
Zzap! was good reading, how many swearing did it contain over it's entire history? YOu can count them on two hands, I think.
And Zzap! had the original spirit of videogame reviewing, who else?

CraigGrannell · Post by **CraigGrannell** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 2:17 pm

Well, one of K!K!G's other main attributes is that it won't be up its own arse, so that deals with your main worry there, Rob.

Lloyd Mangram · Post by **Lloyd Mangram** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 2:32 pm

CraigGrannell wrote:Well, one of K!K!G's other main attributes is that it won't be up its own arse, so that deals with your main worry there, Rob.

Cool!
Looking for an DTP assistant?

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 2:56 pm

Still, you never know... I might be interested. In reading and writing. If they'd have me. I presume this is Andy "Sickboy" Lowe here? Guessing that seeing as he's good mates with Rev SC...

CraigGrannell · Post by **CraigGrannell** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 3:37 pm

Mr.Zzapback wrote:Looking for an DTP assistant?

Oh yes!

Mayhem wrote:Still, you never know... I might be interested. In reading and writing. If they'd have me. I presume this is Andy "Sickboy" Lowe here?

Nope—a totally different Andy entirely. As for writers, I guess it depends on how well issue 0 goes (there's already content for that, apparently, and it's a "proof of concept" thing anyway at the moment).

Lloyd Mangram · Post by **Lloyd Mangram** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 3:45 pm

CraigGrannell wrote:
Mr.Zzapback wrote:Looking for a DTP assistant?
Oh yes!

Oh dear, I have to watch out then.

Umm, all depends a bit on the content though.
If Stu "all mouth" Campbell's writing lots of stuff for it, I'm not stepping in for sure.
Update me when there's news about the project though.

CraigGrannell · Post by **CraigGrannell** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 4:15 pm

I'd suggest it's more a case of Stu "very good writer who pisses all over most of the people in the industry, despite burning a few bridges along the way, largely because he's very opinionated" Campbell. Not as snappy as your comment, granted, but closer to the truth, I feel. (Go read his OutRun 2 review and compare it to pretty much any other OR 2 review of the time... Campbell's is far better than any other I've read.) As for how much (if anything) Stu contributes to K!K!G, I guess we won't know for a while anyway.

PaulEMoz · Post by **PaulEMoz** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 5:28 pm

Oooh, that was a hefty right hook there....

As for the swearing thing, ZZAP! couldn't have it or it wouldn't have sold nearly as many copies. It doesn't matter so much for a free online mag. As for me personally, I only use swearing now and then for emphasis, and I believe swearing works in this context. I can easily write without it, though (and frequently do).

Post by **Iain** » Thu Jul 01, 2010 9:30 am

Well it looks like they or someone else did it anyway

http://issuu.com/kachorro/docs/amstrad_ ... e_magazine

They got an interview with Chris Anderson and all. Must read it later. The magazine looks well done anyway.

PDF is available here: http://www.lulu.com/product/file-downlo ... ne/3121716 (Chris interview has been edited in this version)

Post by **Iain** » Thu Jul 01, 2010 10:10 pm

From the Chris Anderson interview:

You originally worked on other magazines previous to AA: Personal Computer Games and Zzap!64. Can you tell us a bit more about your time before AA?

Yup... Personal Computer Games was the first magazine I worked on. I had been bitten hard by the computer bug, and kind of bluffed my way into the editor’s chair. I really had no clue how magazines were put together, but unlike some of the other journalists in the field at the time, at least I was passionate about the content. I hired Bob 9 months into it mainly on account of his own absolute games obsession. Being smart and hardworking helped too. But after a year of commuting to London from Somerton (yup, a more than two hours each way journey), I was zonked, and when I heard about the planned launch of a Commodore 64 magazine by Newsfield, started talking with them about being editor.

Crash had been a big hit, and I thought it would be a lot more fun to work on a single-format magazine. They liked some of the crazy ideas I was throwing out, and so we struck a deal whereby the editorial office of Zzap would be launched near Somerton. (The last thing I wanted was another long commute to Ludlow). Soon after I announced I was leaving, VNU closed PCG... which meant the delightful Bob Wade could come join too. We found a funny little office in Yeovil and then hired a small team and dreamt up the launch of Zzap, which was greeted with huge enthusiasm.

Events took a very unexpected turn when, just three months later, the company decided it would move the office to Ludlow. This of course had nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that the owners enjoyed the company of teenage boys, and that I had hired some handsome devils, who they just needed to see a little more of. I protested at the betrayal, and happily... they fired me! The situation had become so unpleasant, actually, that I was exhilarated at being sacked and sang the whole way back down the motorway.

What a cheeky chappy Chris is!

Lloyd Mangram · Post by **Lloyd Mangram** » Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:43 pm

This of course had nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that the owners enjoyed the company of teenage boys, and that I had hired some handsome devils, who they just needed to see a little more of.

This kind of thing he also told me (suggesting a bit more IIRC) when I asked his cooperation for the DEF Tribute. I decided to keep it out of the mag and turned it into a "to be continued at page 202" kind of thing, y'know.

Oh well...