Zzap and Crash Merged

Tell us about what Zzap meant to you as a lad
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alexhighnumber
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Zzap and Crash Merged

Post by alexhighnumber »

I'm afraid I was a Commodore User boy through and through, in fact I think I only ever bought one issue of Zzap! (Little did I know years later zzap would be remembered king with CU never getting much of a mention :-(

Anyhow, thought this might interest you but if you remember all the magazine rivalry back then. Well I remember in the letters section of one issue of CU someone wrote in and said that he'd heard Crash and Zzap were merging to form a new magazine called 'Crap'. Now even then I knew that was really poor but I must admit it did make me laugh at the time. I guess the likes of CU got equally panned in the letters section of Zzap though :-)
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Iain
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Post by Iain »

Well, other magazines didn't really get slagged all that much in the letters page.

It is interesting that Zzap is remembered much more than the likes of CU or YC etc. I guess it's down to the fact that Zzap (and Crash) really did break new ground in the gaming magazine market place and the ripples of that can still be seen today!
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Re: Zzap and Crash Merged

Post by LeeT »

alexhighnumber wrote: Anyhow, thought this might interest you but if you remember all the magazine rivalry back then. Well I remember in the letters section of one issue of CU someone wrote in and said that he'd heard Crash and Zzap were merging to form a new magazine called 'Crap'. Now even then I knew that was really poor but I must admit it did make me laugh at the time. I guess the likes of CU got equally panned in the letters section of Zzap though :-)
Funny thing is that Crash and SU (who they criticised quite a bit) were due to merge after the final issue of Crash was published, though IIRC SU was closed down straight away too!
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Post by alexhighnumber »

Yes, I guess the readership must've been much higher - at the time I never really thought of things like that but remembering now I think most of my friends did get Zzap.

Just had a look and noticed it was issue 22 that I got. I remember I'd read out CU and was desperate for another fix, so brought it and three days later told a Zzap reader and he laughed as the new march issue had just come out.
I didn't really mind as my fresh CU was in the pipeline and I did buy Park Patrol on the basis of the positive Zzapp review and it was pretty good.
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Post by LeeT »

iain wrote:Well, other magazines didn't really get slagged all that much in the letters page.

It is interesting that Zzap is remembered much more than the likes of CU or YC etc. I guess it's down to the fact that Zzap (and Crash) really did break new ground in the gaming magazine market place and the ripples of that can still be seen today!
Well if you look at the earlier issues of ZZAP!, CU and C&VG did get a bit of a roasting from some readers in the RRAP!, but I guess they stopped printing the letters eventually as
a) It got boring
b) 99% of the Newsfield staff went to work for EMAP anyway!!
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Post by Lloyd Mangram »

Yes Indeed!
What a shock it was when I got my hands on a '89 C+VG to see the pix of Julian Rignall, Paul Glancey & Ciaran Brennan!
Strange, since C+VG was not exactly the equivalent of quality in that decade.
I don't know when they left though?
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Post by LeeT »

I know that Julian Rignall persuaded Steve Jarratt to come down to London and work for EMAP, but thats another story..whenever the interview gets published!! 8)
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Post by Lloyd Mangram »

LeeT, I can't wait!
Do we get to read it over here before publication? (Nah?)

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Post by CraigGrannell »

I thought the Jaz-era C&VG was pretty good, actually... As for Steve, he's done pretty well out of the move south, seeing as he's now a senior editor at Future.
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Post by LeeT »

Well I will tidy the completed interviews up then contact the others again to see if they are still willing to be interviewed. As I said before, maybe a couple of the high profile name interviews could go in 108?

I agree that Steve has done well at Future, but all will be revealed in the interview!! :lol:
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Post by Andy Haywood »

I never forgave Rignall for highly-rating the slothful Amiga version of Chase HQ. I went out and bought the thing based purely on my trust for Jazza and it was complete and utter crap. I guess he needed Penn's cynisism to kepp him in check...
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Post by CraigGrannell »

Oh well, at least they got the rating for the Speccy version right! :)
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Post by One Brain Cell »

Andy Haywood wrote:I never forgave Rignall for highly-rating the slothful Amiga version of Chase HQ. I went out and bought the thing based purely on my trust for Jazza.
Me too, as I remember at the time Chase HQ got a 93% rating in C&VG, and that was at the time Paul Rand, Julian Rignall and Paul Glancey were on staff (at C&VG).

Thay also gave a stupidly high score to the Amiga version of Ghostbusters II, and Hard Drivin'. Damn that game was slow and short lived.
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