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Simon Forrester in pre-final CF issue

Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 6:39 am
by Sixteen Plus
just a general nit-pick here... apologies for being a total bod about things :?

Commodore Format, issue 60, page 3... simon forrester giving his intro speech entitled "STILL HERE"... seemed a little harsh with faster machines naturally taking over anyway. if mr forrester reads this...oh well, what can i say? :wink:

i sort of understand the point he was making but did sort of get the impression of a little generalisation... and what with the remaining loyal readers/c64 owners left, i remember it left the CF legacy on a slightly sour note, an influential, popular uk national magazine :roll: ... not sure how he thinks now< maybe it was just one of them momentary lapse of reasons, or didn't elaborate it well enough... or maybe it's the david brent with that realised p45 feeling coming lol.

back then (like now with more powerful consoles/pc's), most 8/16-bit owners were just gameplayers with no real interest in the programming aspects (i had some interest and a little knowledge then but couldn't figure much of it out)... most people just eventually (with all the commercial hype) upgraded to a faster computer/console and eventually i did also... me and the other remaining c64 owners that were left scattered in the latter years during the run-up to the c64's final demise in the computer hardware/software/magazine market had little to no choice of new products, we started to rely more on re-releases and bargains until the shelves became totally empty... then onto the bootsales.

right through with owning a c64, the only pirated games i owned were disk backups from my rather large legit tape collection... i bought all issues of CF which has now probably been sold on ebay since i did lose the lot (somehow)... now i own the dvd version and have just re-read the article properly again after ten years, it's it's left me a little perplexed now lol... a rather ironical c64 moment... considering the c64 has been the most successful long-running 8-bit machine ever.

but he was half-right about the world-wide-web... although the c64 proved it was cut out for it... the potential is here again and in a bigger way than i first originally thought.
_____________________
welcome to silicon heaven

Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 11:27 am
by CraigGrannell
With the exception of Zzap! staff that worked on CF (Steve, Gordon), I don't think any ex-CF staff have ever been here, so I doubt Simon F will read your post. I don't think I ever read that editorial either, so maybe you should reproduce it here along with your reaction to it.

Simon Forrester in pre-final CF issue

Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 3:10 pm
by Sixteen Plus
lol i ain't fussed about it really...it was the final uk c64 magazine to go under (probably the final 8-bit mag) and reading again now it all seemed to end a little sourly... i understand though to a point with the c64's total demise, but i suppose it's techonogical progress which dictates.

Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 3:36 pm
by CraigGrannell
Most of what he says is fair enough, but two points were kind of interesting:

1. He says the next issue will be one to remember—wasn't that the issue CF was cancelled? (And it certainly wasn't one to remember—at least not for the right reasons—because it was a piss-poor final issue.)

2. He complains about not enough people supporting shareware, but I seem to remember the mag put some of Jon Wells' stuff (complete games) on the cover tape without his permission. *cough*hypocrite*cough*

Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 4:30 pm
by Professor Brian Strain
*waves hands in the air*

I used to write on Commodore Format as well.

Yes, you could read that editorial as meaning "we're here to stay" or "well, that's it, game over".

From my point of view, no freelance budget for issue 60/61 meant I had no work. :(

Someone I know bumped into Mr Forrester at a computer show just before issue 59 (I think), and Simon apparently said "Oh, it's around for a long while yet". And then it closed.

(If you look closely, there's no subscription page/offer after issue 48...)

Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 4:56 pm
by Mayhem
Professor Brian Strain wrote:(If you look closely, there's no subscription page/offer after issue 48...)
I actually spoke to the Future subs dept around issue #50 time about this. It was essentially running on an issue-to-issue basis and the only way to get hold of the mag was to get your newsagent to directly order it for you. So that's pretty much what I had to do with one shop near me.

It seems Future only made a certain number and then shipped out the ones they definitely had orders for. Naturally the number they made was based on the number of definite orders they had for it. Which is why some of the very late issues are VERY hard to track down (especially #59 and #60).

Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 5:38 pm
by CraigGrannell
That'd never happen these days—even mags on "kill or cure" still have subs pages in their final issues (many of which don't actually say it's the final issue, of course).

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 5:35 pm
by Sixteen Plus
it's just amazing that after ten years has passed how things seem somewhat clearer and different, from a teen to adult view... zzap/commodore force final official issue 106 had no final farewell, just kept us dangling on a piece of string for eight years instead lol... but the promise has been eventually kept including the favourite game of all time megatape (revised to a top-5 instead).

i can move on finally... or i would do but i'm now wondering whether there ever will be a most definite final issue...with gordy at the helm and more fanzine based especially it could go on for eons (and no bad thing)
___________________________
welcome to silicon heaven...or hell

Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2005 3:59 pm
by Professor Brian Strain
Interesting development... just exchanged e-mails with Hairy... I mean, Simon Forrester. He's going to sit down and write about what was happening back then and I have permission to share it with you guys.

Should make interesting reading.

Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2005 5:29 pm
by LeeT
Professor Brian Strain wrote:Interesting development... just exchanged e-mails with Hairy... I mean, Simon Forrester. He's going to sit down and write about what was happening back then and I have permission to share it with you guys.

Should make interesting reading.
Looking forward to reading that Andrew 8)

Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2005 2:02 pm
by Sixteen Plus
nice one.. although i somewhat feel like the small fish swimming around and flapping my fins about in a big(gish) pond right now, i am really looking forward to reading all about it :)

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 10:57 pm
by debit
I'll be really interested to hear what Simon's got to say on the final months of Commodore Format.

I came to the C64 very late and now - as a 27 year old man - totally appreciate what Zzap! did for the machine, and how great it clearly was. I'm really jealous of those who enjoyed it at the time!

But I got a C64 in early 1990s, when Zzap! was on the wane, and in the month CF came out. So I bought every issue of it. And I loved it to bits. It's funny reading all the politics and stuff behind both it and other magazines years later - as a pre-teen, and then teenager, all I cared about was it keeping me up to date.

It was sad how CF got spun out but I - like the other 5,000 who appeared to stick around, if you read the contents page of the last issue! - would love to hear more about its final months/days.

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 9:00 am
by fgasking
Sorry to dig up an old thread, but did Simon get back to you Andy? :)

I hated the last issue... considering that YC had a special fairwell issue with extra pages, CF could have done something. There were numerous ideas to drop the tape, make all the pages b/w and increase back up to around 60 or so pages to keep it all going... but I guess they'd never have done that :)

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 10:12 am
by Professor Brian Strain
Still waiting to hear from Simon... if I get time I'll drop him an e-mail and remind him...

Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2005 2:44 pm
by debit
Go on Prof...I'd love to hear the story!

D.