Nordic Scene Review 06
From C64 Diskmag Wiki
Contents |
Nordic Scene World Review Again
Nordic Scene World Review Again
[Puterman]
Radiantx wrote a review of issue 5
over at CSDb, which I think is worth
some comments.
[Radiantx]
Good issue, though nothing
breathtaking. Of course, given the
sparse amount of releases since the
last issue, there isn't really much to
be said.
One thing I've noticed is that NSR is
starting to feel a bit "mechanic". I
get the feeling that everyone involved
sees this as "just a side project",
something small to be thrown together
mainly when one has some spare time to
kill. This reflects even in the (for
him) uninspired tune by Zabutom. I know
this isn't entirely the case, and I'm
not actually complaining - after all,
I'd hate to see these people becoming
less active making quality demos just
because of having to do this mag. It's
mainly a reflection upon things.
[Puterman]
He is absolutely right, this is a side
project, and we spend very little time
producing each issue. Additionally,
crappy productions don't inspire us to
write great reviews, as they do with
ALIH. (No, you're not going to read one
single issue of this mag without some
praise for the great Game Over(view).)
And quite frankly, most of the stuff
that was reviewed in the last issue was
absolute crap.
This isn't meant as an excuse, though.
In my opinion, this mag shouldn't have
to be inspired and witty all the time.
I still think it's a great mag, actually
it's exactly the sort of mag I wished
that someone else had started a long
time ago, so that we wouldn't have had
to do it.
Having said that, there's a lot of room
for improvements. I've been doing a
pretty lousy job as an editor, but I'm
working on the processes to streamline
the production. I think most of us
have a tendency to want to work in a
very unorganized way with our scene
productions, because after all it's
just a hobby, and we don't want it
to feel like we're at work. However,
through the years I've come to realize
that discipline and professionalism
doesn't make it more boring - it just
makes it easier.
One of the things I've done a bad job
with is collecting music for the mag.
With almost every issue it's been a
case of scouting on IRC during the last
couple of days. After all, there are
so many musicians around, getting one
of them to give you a tune shouldn't be
a problem. Maybe not, but sometimes it
means that you have to get poor Zabutom
to finish a tune in a couple of hours.
Unfortunately my bad work as an editor
also resulted in some chaos around
the release of the last issue, so
Twoflower's editorial and an intro he
produced didn't get included. He was
late, but in a way it was mostly
my fault. I'm the one who does the
editing, linking and last minute code
changes. Therefore I'm responsible
for setting deadlines and informing my
co-workers about them. As I said above,
I'm working on the processes, and we're
getting there, slowly. The result will
be a better mag.
[Nightlord]
Here I am, trying to organize all
the thoughts echoing in my head. Is
NSR becoming automated, soulless,
uninspiring? Are the uninspired demos
that we are relentlessly trying to
cover, draining the motivation in our
hearts, undoing the flame we used
to feel about this project and the
provocation we hoped to instill on demo
makers? These questions were probably
what my subconscience had been asking to
my perception for sometime. When we were
finally faced with Radiantx's comment, I
could do nothing but pause for a moment.
I still can not say I can see the
whole picture in my mind, all I
have is disconnected fragments
of urges, questions, worries and
inspirations. Yes, NSR has been well
received generally by the readers,
encouraged other diskmags to invest
in their demo review chapters more
and therefore achieved one of my
strongest urges for being involved. We
are all able to read more demo reviews
compared to the time when NSR first came
out. Not all reviews are fair (should
they be?) or factual (they should be)
or well written (subjective anyway).
Nevertheless scene thinks (reviews),
therefore scene is.
Is it fun doing this mag. Well it barely
is. "Barely" because the deadlines
come at the most inconvenient of times
usually. And we effectively miss lots
of sleep and rest (or time slots to
spend on our own demos) in order to
cover tens of those "oldskool" rasters +
logo + scroll intros that people won't
give up on releasing. This way we have
a sense of achievement, an assumption
of an "identity". We are the relentless
warriors upholding an ideal of "giving
feedback" to every effort in the scene,
small or big.
Those who release small products as a
part of their growing need the feedback,
the recognition, for it hopefully
will fuel and direct them. Without
that feedback, that attention, one
feels lonely and sees one's efforts as
unjustified. I know I did feel this way
back in 2004 when mags of the day were
either not paying attention to demos or
were on a break. I sincerely believe it
is different now. Make a demo and you
will get feedback from many fronts.
Starting a mag is one thing, continuing
to write quality text is another thing.
I feel we are inevitably linked to and
limited by the quality and the amount
of releases. As our main inspiration
ALIH keeps proving this point wrong
month after month for two years, we
are still holding our ground by saying
ALIH is a special case, a demigod
with special powers of darkness. We
mortals should not be compared to that
being about our inability to write
mind-warpingly funny and intelligent
text about mind-warpingly non-funny and
non-intelligent productions.
Yes, as long as people keep doing
unoriginal and uninspiring demos,
we will (and maybe we should) keep
pointing out that it is unoriginal
and uninspiring. Unfortunately there
are not too many different ways of
doing this and certain patterns of text
begin to be easily recognizable. Thus
comes the claim for becoming automated,
and soulless.
So, in an attempt to be a fair
mirror for demo makers we end up being
predictable and repetitive. If we become
predictable and repetitive, we will lose
our position as a provocative power. For
me this mag is about inspiring or
provoking people to express and unleash
their creativity. The hope and ability
to ignite an action in others is the
heart that pumps the blood in the veins
of this mag. Thus we can not allow it
to stop.
This is a dilemma, a paradox that we
will have to take care of in the coming
issues. This is the next challenge we
will need to overcome, as we will also
be continuously trying to convince
ourselves, that all this effort is
really paying off and is worth pixeling
one less graphic, coding one less demo
part or composing one less tune.
[Twoflower]
In the end it's all about what you
want a mag to be; that you have a
clear intent and clear goals to aim
towards. In our case (and GO(V)'s,
a mag we blatantly keep copying) the
intent and goals are pretty clear. We
want to release a magazine spreading
our views on the latest releases on
the C-64 demoscene. We focus on the
releases themselves, and I believe
that we can make people check out the
overlooked ones and possibly ignore
the overrated. Perhaps we sometimes
succeed in making people pissed enough
to improve themselves? Perhaps we
can encourage people to make more, and
suprise us a second time? Perhaps we
just make people depressed? Whatever
the outcome is, our intent and goals
are clear to us - and that's more
than you can say about most other C-64
publications. Yes, perhaps because we
have chosen an easy niche, but still.
As Puterman mentioned above; as editors
we have to make choices, concient
choices to make the production of our
magazine as smooth as possible. This
can't include an easy "let-go"-attitude
which includes waiting for years for
reviews to come, but rather to actually
try to set a deadline and keep it. The
scene benefits more from having a
regularly released magazine than
one badly updated magazine covering
three disksides, and I can't for the
world understand how magazine editors
possibly can see it in any other way. If
a magazine lacks a chapter or two -
or as in our case my last editorial,
reviews, intro plus the chance for
the dutch sceners to correct the texts
they contributed - then so what? The
scene needs activity. The scene needs
continuity. The scene needs magazines
with clear intentions and goals. I
hope we can keep our intentions and
goals clear, I hope we can bring you
irritation, enjoyment and sometimes
now and then an unreadable font - and
finally I hope we can keep up bringing
you an inspired NSR.
The intro (originally meant for the last
issue, #5) is a tribute to the now dead
(?) magazine Scene World. That magazine
kept beeing a clear beacon of warning
throughout its too long lifespan. As
a magazine editor, you don't always
know how to do things, but on the other
hand - you could always take a look at
Scene World, just to find out what you
shouldn't do.
The nice logo in the middle of the
intro was ripped from JSL, and the nice
tune was made by Yogibear. None with
the intention of beeing presented in
this intro.
[Puterman]
So what's up with the stupid choice of
releasing this mag the same weekend
that Breakpoint takes place, so that
you have to wait two months to read the
reviews of the demos released there?
Well, we have a release schedule, and
we try to stick with it. If we start
getting soft and not release the mag
until it's "complete", we'd turn into
one of those 3 diskside mags and PEOPLE
WOULD START DYING IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS.
Now let's never talk about this again.
Credits
Text by Twoflower, Nightlord and
Puterman
Music by Linus
Demos
Demos
Shudder 2 by Singular
[Twoflower]
One of the few demoreleases from Forever
7 was "Shudder 2" from Singular, and it
was about what you could expect. Small
demo, kind of standard effects on black
background, complete with a cryptical
theme which I don't know if I shall
connect to Alice in Wonderland or
to Jefferson Airplane? Hmm, perhaps
both? The texts in the demo are
mainly used to promote Arok Party,
Singular at Breakpoint and to claim
that Jailbird sucks at boozing;
in other words, texts promoting
quite noble causes. Furthermore,
the demo contains an original picture
by Leon featuring two watercreatures
with too short arms. I like the fact
that he dares to take a stand for the
neurosedyn-disabled. The stretching of
Jennifer Aniston did also contain some
nice, hidden symbolism. The nicest
part of the demo was probably Scorpy's
hiresblobs with vertical lines. They
would probably have looked nicer if they
have been done slightly different, but
they are quite nice as they are right
now. To sum it up: if some standard
stuff with a white rabbit does it for
you, this is what you are looking for.
[Puterman]
My thumbs always point towards the
sky when I'm watching this kind of
late nineties trackmos. This one has
most of the components we were spoiled
with back then, although not as nicely
implemented as in the really good demos.
The picture, the logo, the effects, the
music, everything is pretty mediocre,
but who cares, this demo isn't about
making history.
[Nightlord]
Some demos definitely grow on you when
you watch them a couple of times. When
I first watched this I was completely
unimpressed by everything in the demo
except for the plasma. After transfering
and watching a couple of times on the
correct platform I am more entertained
by the demo. I find the picture by
Leon to be his worst among all the
ones I have seen from him. I am not
a graphician and it probably is not
my place to comment on this but oh
my god the form of those creatures
and the overall emptiness of the
composition... About the soundtrack I
must add that I especially enjoyed the
end tune. Very classical type of SID
but nice I think.
Spirits and Vamosabailar by Jumalauta
[Twoflower]
Jumalauta keep on bugging the scene
with their releases. Two, this time.
Somehow I can't help feeling that stuff
like Jumalauta's is needed to set some
kind of lower standard of the somewhat
serious scene. Falcon Soft and JML are
top notch in setting such standards,
pushing out totally pointless releases
which you really know aren't worth
checking. They're taking nothing and
adding nothing. But their brand is still
a nice one. And now I mean the logo,
not the group.
[Nightlord]
I do not know how much Jumalauta serves
as a low standard. I doubt if anyone
looks at their productions and say "hmm
we need to be better than this". It
seems there is no boundary in lowness
these guys can reach, so if we were to
name them the low standard then that
would mean our low standards would
continually move down. I have to admit
that even the thought scares me.
Mortalis Arisen by 64Ever
[Twoflower]
The biggest release featured in this
issue is no doubt the doublesided demo
from 64Ever, "Mortalis Arisen". As
you might have guessed, this demo is
pretty connected to Ravens "Insomnia",
released a couple of years ago. Kind of
wicked to see the same kind of strange
narration again, especially considering
that the narrative was the really weak
part of "Insomnia". But if "Insomnia"
was strange in its somewhat coherent
story, "Mortalis Arisen" is downright
confusing. Cybernator has tried hard,
and he isn't that far out in certain
areas. Mostly the demo has a nice flow
without too much black screens and
waiting, the effects are kind of nice
looking and the music really fits this
kind of demo like a glove. But then
suddenly things just get too much. I
get AEG vibes. It might be the crude
graphics, it might be the threats of a
sequel, I don't know. Perhaps I just get
overloaded by too much black background
or some kind of twisted, abstract story
hidden within the demoplot? I have a
hard time reading this demo. And the
scenepoetry doesn't really help it out.
What I really liked in this demo is
the beautiful shaded vectorpart they
call 9-11 in the note. Eventhough it's
possibly an animation, i'm fond of the
aesthethics. I really think this part
should have been a demo on its own, with
a nice presentation. Somehow I end up
thinking about the amigademo "Mobile:
Destination Unknown". To sum the bad
parts up, there are two things I really
like to stress: 1) The demo contains
a horrible misuse of several different
fonts. 2) From now on blueshaded bumpmap
screens and 4x4 resolution Commodore
logos are added to the list of things
which will get an automatic thumb down.
Now, this demo is a good attempt, and I
respect that, but it isn't a really good
demo. Things are just too confused and
incoherent in style, I can't really give
you a clearer explanation, and neither
can the demo.
[Puterman]
I think it's easier to just treat this
demo as a collection of effects, because
that's what it is. The "story" is so
superficial that's it's better to just
ignore it (and the story is just one of
the many things in this demo that makes
me think of AEG). As a collection of
effects, it's pretty disappointing, not
because the parts are bad, but because I
seriously believed that when Cybernator
finally delivered something else than
forum postings, it would be good.
At least technically. I had expected
to see a collection of unoriginal but
well-implemented effects, and what we
got was a collection of unoriginal and
not too well-implemented effects.
But to be fair, some coders can only
dream of making effects as good as
these, and some of them are actually
pretty good. That fact makes me
wonder why some of the crappier ones
were included at all. I would have
preferred one diskside with the best
parts, because the others just look
out of place. Still, it's nice with an
ambitious demo by a new competent coder,
and I'm sure Cybernator's next demo will
be better.
[Nightlord]
Since you guys mostly covered what I
have to say about the demo in general,
maybe I can elaborete a bit more on
the effects. First of all I have to
start by saying I am completely OK
with a coder trying his hands on some
unoriginal effects. Whether it is for
self assurance or learning, it does have
a use to redo some of these effects. I
personally think, there needs to be an
urge to add at least a tiny personal
touch to the effect (that is if you are
not breaking a record or beating all the
previous implementations in any way). I
have to say that I missed this urge in
most effects in Mortalis Arisen.
My favorite parts are the Booze style
x-y stretch, x-ray, sand watch and
the end part. I think the fire and
landscape parts are really slow. I have
to disagree with Twoflower about 9-11. I
personally do not get the point of this
kind of vector animation parts, unless
they involve some kind of an original
coding idea (such as the 'streaming'
concept in Sphaeristerium). I especially
dislike the odd-even lines updating
trick in animations like these.
About the concept thing, I can not
take it as lightly as Puterman for
this demo. I think there clearly is
an attempt for conceptual coherency
in here. Thus when they fail to achieve
that I accept it as something negative.
I really enjoyed the soundtrack by the
way. Especially in the end part. The
graphics on the other hand, I could not
make up my mind. There is certainly
something fresh here, and kudos for
that. However the color schemes of some
of the screens were a bit disturbing
to me. My favorite graphics components
are the sand watch and the three color
booze stretch gfx.
After all it is not everyday we
get double sided demos. And I always
respect the ability to pull off such big
projects. Thus greetings to the team.
What impressed me more than the demo
itself is the reactions it got from some
of the big coders. It seems a good way
of doing public relations, is indeed
asking people for help on effects. I
am not saying 64ever did not deserve
good reactions and yes there is nothing
wrong with having good public relations,
and it inevitably effects the reactions
you get. I am only surprised by the
supportive big brother attitude some big
coders have towards Cybernator. And yes
I do expect some possible flaming after
this paragraph.
Exit by Defiers
[Puterman]
"Wow, a new demo by Mahoney", I thought
and envisioned something as great as his
last production, the Back in Time Live
demo that was released a few years ago.
Unfortunately this one is nowhere near
that one. I guess I was expecting
too much. The actual effects are
still fresh, although familiar, but the
roadsign story kind of makes me want to
kill myself.
[Nightlord]
I actually found it fresh at the first
minute or so. Later it became really
dull. Unnecessarily long I guess...
More demos
More demos
Psyche by Panda Design
[Puterman]
Radiantx keeps releasing stuff at a
pace that makes me think of myself
when I was young and handsome a couple
of years ago. It's really cool that
someone actually can be bothered to
throw out some releases, instead of just
hanging around on IRC like everybody
else. There's a lot I like about this
production, which I consider to be
another step in the right direction.
Some of the graphics are looking
pretty good, and it's obvious that he's
adding new coding abilities to his bag
of tricks. But what I like most about
it is still the potential. With some
more experience and coding skills,
this guy could produce excellent demos.
[Nightlord]
I, too, see similarities between
Radiantx's work and your early
products. Not only in frequency but also
in style and text. Anyway, it really
is fun seeing him active like this, but
this demo somehow did not entertain me
much. The first screen with the eye and
the Panda logo are the nicest points for
me. The unlimited bobs part suffers from
the stuck-in-the-first-256-coordinates
problem that Radiantx's seems to
be having trouble letting go. But
having taken on a project with bigger
linking problems, I assume he must have
learned a lot and must be feeling more
confident. I share your (and I guess
everybody else's) enthusiasm about
future Panda productions.
7D6 Invitro
[Puterman]
While an invitation to a party in
Turkey isn't very interesting to me,
it's nice to see that Skate is busy
coding. The one part in this small
production reminds me of something that
I've neglected to mention in reviews
of earlier productions that he's been
involved in: that he's obviously doing
some creative thinking. This guy
doesn't just copy other people's
effects, he uses the components to make
things that look new. That's the kind
of stuff I like, so thumbs up to Skate,
and I hope he'll remain active.
[Nightlord]
I think it is a shame that not many
people noticed or reacted to this
invitro.
Breakpoint 2006 Invitation by Metalvotze
[Puterman]
This is pretty ambitious for a
Metalvotze production.
Independent God by Civitas
If all you do is move 5 sprites over
the screen, you should be able to fix
the bugs.
Ruling in 2006 by Crypt
This one refuses to start on my 128D,
which is pretty rare for a onefiler.
I don't have much else to say about it.
Kitgum by The Dreams
You never know what to expect from The
Dreams. This one might not be one of
their more memorable releases, but at
least it's a little bit heart-warming.
[Nightlord]
I have to add that I especially liked
the Crayon-like style in the picture
where the school girl is holding out a
flower to marching soldiers.
Find the Lamer by [random fake group]
[Puterman]
I should be happy about this, because I
like hate demos, but the whole Wanderer
vs. Slarti and Stash thing is starting
to feel really old. And who cares about
who uploads the most stuff to CSDb?
I sure don't.
Introfx by Nofx
Another small production. Thumbs up
for choosing a nice (and overused) tune.
I Code with my Sunglasses at Night
by Speedfisters
So how did Speedfisters get the idea to
release a demo at a small Swedish party?
I have no idea, but I suppose Data-Pata
was involved in some way.
[Nightlord]
May I add I kind of liked this one for
what it is. It is small, complete and
neat. The text is funny, the music is
nice. I do not know how else to explain.
Gunnar sa det var ok! By Swappaz with
Attitude
[Puterman]
Uhm...
Stillout by Triad
The stuff that Omar-S does might seem
simple. All you have to do is to run a
straight beat with a dirty kickdrum and
loop a sample for ten minutes. But for
some reason it works, the grooves make
you move. There's something he does
right. If some detail was different,
it could just as well have been crap.
That's if you're in the right mood.
You might listen to the same tune the
next day and it doesn't move you at all.
After all, it's just a simple beat and a
looping sample. All the magic is gone,
because you've had a bad day.
[Nightlord]
Iopop seems to continue his search
for original effects in the realm of
visual perception. Stillout seems to be
a rather quick job to me. As if it was
implemented in one weekend per part. I
am guessing Triad pulled back their
forces for preparations until bigger
battles at BFP and X. My favorite parts
are the first and last parts, while I
would have enjoyed a longer scroll text
in the first part.
Technology by Digital Dreams
[Puterman]
I don't know what's wrong with me, but
I actually like this one. The picture
looks absolutely amazing, the music is
okay and well... It just works.
Axel also managed to release another
demo just before we finished up this
issue, called Samurai. Again it's a
small and simple demo, very much in the
same style as the first one, and again I
can't help liking it. This guy really
shows some spirit in his productions,
but I have a feeling that I'm not going
to be as easily impressed by future
productions. And some people actually
like long scroll texts...
Axis Of Evil by Fairlight
[Nightlord]
It is always nice to see Hollowman
flexing his coding muscles as he chooses
not to do it as often as he could. This
collection of effects is a bit ruined
for me by the same old loader screen
and the samples that my new sid can not
make audible. But the 3D metaballs is a
first I think (correct me if I am wrong)
and the squares part is an intelligent
idea. Actually as I said before, I do
not like the update half (or third or
quarter) of the screen lines each frame
tricks. But somehow it looks nice with
the metaballs. Camera moves in the city
part is also something that I really
appreciated. Also the odd-even lines
trick is applied here in an intelligent
way that does not show the annoying
artifacts at the vertical edges of the
buildings. Probably the only part that
falls behind the rest is the last part
with the faces. I actually liked the
color scheme there. But somehow the
blocky head vector at the bottom does
not seem to fit there in my eyes. Or
maybe I would have prefered a little
bit movement of the entire head, not
just the chin.
The music is nice and fitting except
for the samples I think. There probably
is a joke there again that I miss
(a Swede thing). But anyway the three
effects there are enough for me to like
this work.
Collections
Collections
Catollica by Samar Productions
[Twoflower]
I didn't really know what to expect
when I was about to open the new
musiccollection from Nata. The name is
somewhat cryptic and might be connected
to the polish scene-tradition of
having an aggressive stance towards
the religios authorities, but never
the less, the collection is a quite
nice one. In his own compositions,
Nata is quite connected to the
Hungarian musicians from ADSR, and
you can hear clear echoes of both
ADSR and Natural Beat in tunes like
"Turbo" and "Red Eyes". Unfortunatly,
the collection isn't solely about his
own music. It's flooded with classic
TV-game covers, like f.ex a remix
on the Super Mario Bros calypso and
tunes from Final Fantasy and Zelda. It
might sound strange to you, but when
I want to hear classic TV-game music,
I prefer the real thing. I simply fail
to grasp why people keep doing this? To
learn the structures, perhaps? One
classic videogametune, ok, but five or
more? Graphically, the collection is
more than competent with its converted
hires graphics and a kind of layered
touch to the outfit. I also like the
vibe of the interface; that the music
keeps rolling, the counter and the
touch of the details. Definitly worth
checking.
Flashback by JSL, Tropyx
As an answer to our prayers in the last
issue, JSL and Tropyx deliver. After
"6:th", we now get "Flashback",
the third picture collection from
JSL. Just as with his logos, the images
themselves contain a rather naivistic
language, an easy approach, few (if any)
attempts towards realism and a minimum
of antialiasing. If you compare his
graphics to mine, he is really having
sort of an opposite approach. Where I
tend to focus on the composition and the
colors and ignore the background, JSL
really spends some time on the entire
image and doesn't mind too much about
the pixel perfect aesthethics that we
have grown used to in this scene. That's
good. More and more graphicians are
heading in that direction, and I really
feel that this might be good. It's about
time we focused less on the craft and
more on what we want with our images.
Talking about images, this collection
really contains a lot of them, complete
with a rather halfwit menu and a lodaing
screen. Visually, this collection
contains 4 or 5 really horrible Boris
style conversions, loads of images made
for games and magazines, aswell as
some really original and nice stuff,
like f.ex. his Wolves composition. I
really like the stuff where he just made
a picture, without any intentions of
it being a part of a game or in front
of a magazine. I like this collection
for JSL showing his own style, not for
slick graphics or a good presentation,
for this collection has neither. There
are a lot of technicalities to complain
about; the loader, the packing of the
images, the outfit. But somehow it feels
secondary to complain about such things,
but please keep it in mind 'till next
time. The will to improve is the key
to success.
[Puterman]
I felt like I had to add something about
the music here, but I don't know what to
say about it. It's totally hysterical.
There.
Los Magazinos
Los Magazinos
Game Over(view)
[Puterman]
So here I am, sitting in front of
the computer after a day's hard work,
feeling bored, when all of a sudden
another issue of Game Over(view)
enlightens my sorry existence. There's
nothing that can get me into the right
data spirit like a good diskmag, and
this one's almost always good.
I think ALIH has misinterpreted our
appreciation for his mag. There are
plenty of sources for profanities
these days (I have a 10mbit connection
to the Internet), so there's obviosly
something more to Game Over(view) than
random websites.
[Nightlord & Twoflower]
We don't think ALIH meant us.
[Puterman]
(Any you guys are obviously wrong,
as I'm always right.) Funnily enough,
the editorial in this 27th issue (oh
my fucking god, can you believe that,
27 fucking issues?) manages to describe
pretty much why I enjoy this mag so
much. No, I'm not really interested
in games, although the reviews in Game
Over(view) sometimes make me download
a game and play it for 10 minutes.
But there's something about C-64
diskmags that make my heart vibrate
with metallic love. The reason for my
reading and enjoying almost each issue
of this mag isn't that I'm into games
or get a kick out of seeing the word
"fuck" used twice (or indeed 19 times)
in a single sentence. It's that it's
a good diskmag, and a good diskmag
is always a good diskmag, just like a
good demo is always a good demo (until
you've watched it too many times and
grown bored with it).
I've suspected for a long time that
everyone who posts on the Lemon forums
(including me) are braindead, uncool
carbon-based robots (as opposed to
real, cool robots, who are mechanical
warriors of steel). Well, the extended
quote from Monk proved that at least
some of them have some real metallic
robot spirit. If I was into C-64 stuff
because of nostalgia, I'd be playing
Commando and posting my highscores at
Lemon, not reading Game Over(view).
It's all about spirit and soulful data
magic, and Game Over(view) has plenty
of it.
[Nightlord]
Really the text by Monk was well
thought, well worded and gracefully
inspiring.
[Puterman]
Super mega bonus thumbs up for giving
our favorite billionaire Karl Hornell's
game such a nice review too. The world
is a wonderful place, where green
mushrooms fill my view and speak to me
in silent, slightly erotic whispers.
I think I'll give in to them now.
[Nightlord]
Issue 28 was just out by the way. I do
not have much original things to say
on it other than it continues to be
the best read around. However there is
something that ALIH said on CSDB that I
wanted to comment on. He suggests that
the regularity of the release period of
Game Over(view) might be shaving the
surprise / treat factor of it off. I
can only elaborate on my personal
feelings. At the beginning of each
month an expectation starts building
up in me. For about 9-10 months now I
have been checking any new games when
they come out, just to have more fun
when I read about them next month. What
will ALIH write about this one? So the
beginning of the month wait is slightly
harder now and makes the treat factor
stronger when the new issue is finally
out. The disappointment of loosing the
only fully reliably periodic mag there
is, would be a far greater prize to pay
in return of slightly more surprising
release dates. It would not be worth
it. So damn it ALIH! Don't scare us like
that again!... We want GO(v) every month
(twice a month would be even better)
[Twoflower]
Yes, I actually believe that ALIH have
succeeded in putting back the focus on
the worthless games released on this
machine. I have become more keen on
checking new titles out. I do adore
the fact that he spends enough time on
them to gain some insight in how the
different titles actually work. The
review of "Weird World II" in #28
was really hilarious. Releasing that
magazine twice a month would be a little
far-fetched in my humble opinion.
Recollection #1
[Nightlord]
Now this is something that I
personally have been needing for
a long time. Getting acquainted
with the scene as late as in 94 and
being quite isolated during those
years until 2003, I perfectly fit the
definition of a "newbie" in the sense
that the Recollection authors keep
mentioning. Beginning with the scene
town article, reading through certain
lines like "...then I created the first
mag on a disk", Recollection provided
many answers to the loose ends of my
scene history knowledge. Sincerely
thanking Jazzcat and everyone else
involved is the least I can do.
If you are not completely off the
scene, you should have read this by
now, without us encouraging you to do
so. I think this really is something
very different than a diskmag. This
is an anthology, an e-book if you
will, serving entirely different
purposes. This is reference material to
a person like me. Well I am sure most
European and American sceners would
already know about the majority of the
content here, but there is seriously
lots and lots of material that I learned
from Recollection for the first time.
My favorite articles are Scene Town,
Differentiate or Die, Importing Scene
and History of G*P. Especially Scene
Town paints such a clear picture in
multiple levels, something which
I always appreciate in text that
covers large scale material. I think
that article forms a very important
example to everyone wishing to write for
diskmags. Also one thing I enjoyed very
much was that the mag contained articles
from both sides of the Atlantic. The
complementing angles of those articles
paint a more complete picture no doubt.
The controversial roto-zoomer in
the intro does not look good to
me. I think it is not fair to call
it "flickering". It is a legitimate
shrinker but 8x8 is bound to look bad
no matter how precise it is. I do
not agree that the Arabian version
looks better. Yes color frequency
wise it has advantages, but I simply
think the overall Roman scheme looks
better. Partly because the Roman texture
tiles better I think. And the music in
the Roman version is also better.
The menu graphic on the other hand, is a
beauty to look at. It is so beautiful
that I sometimes have a hard time
pressing return to enter a chapter. I
can not let go of that view. There is
some incredible pixel work on the head
of the statue, and beautiful coloring
on the shadows. Kudos to Hein.
Also the mag has a really nice
soundtrack. One great piece after
another. I was really touched by Ocean
Reloaded, In Spite Of and Echoes of
Storm. I usually do not even comment
on mag musics. But these ones are of a
really epic scale. I am looking forward
to the next issue.
[Twoflower]
People today seem to settle for
mediocrity. For democoders, graphicians
and even for writers, mediocre results
is enough to release something. Instead
of polishing and doing your best,
let's just push something out and
gain some quick credits and perhaps a
thread at CSDb - just take a look at the
releases reviewed in this issue. This
attitude has stuck to almost everything,
save for the Jazzcat universe. David
might be a hell of an irritating
bloke at times, especially when it
comes to firstreleases of games and
when he's bugging you for an article
(which you don't really feel like
finishing off) for half a year, but
he sure makes things move. This can
sometimes lead to really odd results,
like a magazine beeing the nicest demo
released in three months. I mean, with
that kind of graphics and soundtracks
like Ocean Reloaded, what can possibly
go wrong? Visually and sonically, this
beats everything I have seen and heard
since the last issue. I do adore that
kind of work, but I can't possibly
appreciate it. I can't help seeing
that some of this great energy spent
on graphics, intro and music should
have been put to use elsewhere. Why?
Because a magazine should focus on the
texts, and texts of this calibre could
(and should!) stand alone, without the
eyecandy. When it comes to criticism,
the only thing I would like to mention
is that the texts in these arcticles
shouldn't be taken as historical facts,
but more as historical anecdotes.
Memories do easily fail, and especially
after 15 years of absence from the
subject.
Further magazinations
Further magazinations
Vandalism News #46
[Nightlord]
VN makes its way into our breadboxes
once again. A bit of a delay, promise
of Wanderer related text and the disk
change request in the 3rd chapter makes
me a bit uncomfortable.
[Twoflower]
The Wanderer stuff was the #1 lowdown
subject in this mag. I had vain hopes
that this crap would have drifted down
to the bottom of the scene-lake by
now, but obviously I was mistaken. My
opinion is that as an editor, you
have a responsibility to filter. Let
me present a suggestion? Why not read
the submitted article and answer these
three questions - 1) Are there actually
sceners which only reads VN and don't
follow CSDb in one way or another? 2)
Do this chapter contain information of
any weight whatsoever? Will people enjoy
reading about this (once again)?
[Nightlord]
First of all the lack of intro does not
hit me as hard as other people. I really
do not care much about the intro of a
mag. VN will be a well expected mag for
me and I won't need an intro to get me
into VN-reading mood.
[Twoflower]
I don't miss the intro either. And I
must say that I really like the logo
this time. Just don't ask my opinion
about the news-chapter...
[Nightlord]
The mag starts off well with a nice
editorial, but unfortunately does
not perform too well with the news
chapters. There are some inaccuracies
and missing information. I must say
I am a bit disappointed about seeing
news about Super CPU coding compo,
but not seeing anything on Glance being
founded. As if ambitious new demo groups
are being founded everyday. Also the
last several pages are spent on party
results, which I think could be found
anywhere and does not carry much news
value. Well at least VN has not dropped
doing the news chapter. So despite my
criticism on the content of the chapter,
I still value and cheer for the effort
to have a news chapter.
I seriously hope that VN returns to
having charts again. One thing critical
about the votesheets is the irregularity
of release schedule. I would like to
suggest setting a deadline for votesheet
collection for each issue so that all
of us know until when we need to fill
that online votesheet. This goes for
Attitude and hopefully VN someday soon.
NTSC news provide uninteresting data
in an interesting way. Thumbs up to
Derision for the style. I also enjoy
the coverage in the market chapter.
A disappointing experience comes
in the demo reviews though. Firstly
Ed provides well written text which
unfortunately slided far too much away
from what I expect as demo reviews. It
has become more of an opinions article
about today's scene and his personal
Sunday afternoon experience mentioning
a few demo names here and there and not
really reviewing them at all. It could
have been a nice article if it was not
disguised as a demo review chapter.
[Puterman]
I just found Ed's reviews uninspired.
All I'm reading in these reviews is
"I don't want to write reviews right
now, please sweet lord Jesus Josephson,
release me from this horrible pain by
turning me into a kangaroo or some other
annoying animal that jumps around and
makes weird noises until it's shot by
some Oz redneck and left to die in a
pile of empty beer bottles".
[Nightlord]
Then Almighty God takes a more
closer approach to my expectations,
unfortunately he misses to mention
lots of technical points (technical
as in coding, pixeling or sound)
correctly. Unfortunately the sum of
four demo review chapters add up to a
low value for me.
Duke makes his return after a
one-issue-break. You might remember
I made comments about his writing
style seeming a bit naive and too
mid-nineties. Well I can say he has
heard. I sense a very different and
intelligent style this time aiming a
more mature set of readers. It makes
Behind the scenes a more interesting
chapter as well as making Scene Show
actually funny this time :). And hey
actually it is a great chapter because
it is dedicated to me. Think what you
want, OK. Wait a minute this is some
sort of bribery as well I guess. :)
Puterman, I will get you out of jail
buddy, if we can quickly publish like 5
more issues before X 2006. Twoflower and
I are blessed not to be in Sweden now.
Scene In Review is a nice idea,
especially when implemented for
products like Star Flake and sceners
like Drax. That is people that are
interesting and inspiring, talking
about how their creative gear worked to
produce some kick-ass quality work. That
kind of thing definitely motivates me
and educates me. But not everyone and
every production belongs to a chapter
like that. So may I humbly suggest some
selective filtering on that chapter.
The Interview with Alien has to be one
of the most interesting interviews I
ever read. Congratulations should fly
to Macx for that. Thanks to that and
Recollection I learned a lot of scene
history this month.
Meet the press performs a lot better
in reviewing the mags than the demo
review counterpart. There are actually
some detailed reviews, spiced up with
interviews, which actually works really
well compared to most separate interview
chapters. I think it put the interview
into a context.
The final two interesting chapters
I would like to mention are
Intensity's dream and the X2006
interviews. Intensity does a good
job of wording the detached alternate
reality. And if you have not read the
X2006 chapter yet you better go to your
64 right now.
[Puterman]
I have to agree about Intensity's
article. They should turn this into a
series: "Wet scene dreams". I'm sure
Optimus would have a lot to contribute,
and maybe this could get Ed inspired to
write something interesting again.
As for the overall view of this issue,
I'd say it's okay. Some of the articles
are worth reading, and some aren't.
The same criticism that I've regularly
given Scene World is applicable here:
bragging about how many blocks of text
you have in your mag just makes you
look silly if most of that text isn't
worth reading. But sure, it's not like
every article has to be interesting in
a mag, so I follow Jazzcat's advice and
skip a few chapters.
[Twoflower]
My opinion? Well, they have done it
again. And I don't mean "they've made a
brilliant VN", but rather made a 3 sided
magazine with 1 diskside of content.
Some quality text, some more or less
cut'n paste stuff, and generally a lot
of fluff. Please present this magazine
in a one-sided format in the future,
and please do it a bit faster next
time. Last issue was presented in
August 2005. I like this magazine,
I really do. That's why I care. That's
why I complain.
[Nightlord]
So overall I think this issue is a
bit worse than the last mostly due
to worthless chapters about Wanderer
and the disappointingly ignored demo
reviews. But it is still VN and you
know you can not miss a VN issue. A
returning charts chapter, and some more
attention on the demo reviews is bound
to make it a great mag again.
Nordic Scene Review #6
[Puterman]
Okay, normally you wouldn't review your
own mag, especially not the current
issue, which hasn't even been linked
yet, but I thought I should do it
anyway, just to prove that boring is
normal. Or something.
This issue is the first one to feature
an intro, and a really nice one it is,
including some ripped graphics and no
scroller whatsoever. Thumbs up to
Twoflower for producing that one, it's
a good trick to make the mag feel new
and fresh again, although nothing has
really changed.
The editorial is unusually long, and
the bulk of the text is the editors'
reactions to the fact that one of the
comments on the last issue did not
solely consist of ecstatic praise.
They go through a wide range of
defence mechanisms in response to this
insult: regret, excuses, denied
excuses and excuses that they'll come
to regret later. Oh well, who reads
editorials anyway? Isn't this mag
supposed to contain reviews? What's
the editorial doing there in the first
place?
The other 5 chapters do consist of
reviews, some very verbose ones on
other diskmags as well as some less
verbose ones on demos. Some of the
demos get almost no review at all (one
of the reviews goes like this:
"Uhm?"). Oh well, I suppose that's
what you get if you try to review
everything that's released. The
conversational style of some of the
more ambitious reviews are
appreciated by some, I'm one of those
who have liked this style of reviews
since it was introduced a few years
ago in Publication (where it was later
scrapped, as no seemed to be
interested in keeping it going).
As usual, this mag only features one
tune, in this issue it's made by
Linus of Triad, and it's a pretty
groovy multispeedy affair. Well worth
listening to while reading.
The colour scheme in this issue was
designed by the graphician and not the
coder, and hence it doesn't look
completely fucking stupid. Actually,
it's rather nice.
All in all it's more of the same old
Nordic Scene Review that some of us
love and some... well, don't love, I
suppose. Anyway, it's free, so it's
probably worth the money.
