Merry Christmas Dave Perry
I wonder if this still bothers him
(
Ambegris likes his tea stirred anti-clockwise, Wed 20 Dec 2023, 1:39,
Reply)
There's a great article on Eurogamer
about the history of Gamesmaster.
Simpler times. It's sad to see the direction the gaming industry (and the community) has taken since then.
(, Wed 20 Dec 2023, 7:09, Reply)
"Oooohhh i mmmmaaaaAAAAAaaah day..."
That was indeed a good article thank you. They didn't mention the info dump (or whatever it was called) before the end credits where you had to pause it to see the cheat codes.
(, Wed 20 Dec 2023, 14:33, Reply)
The Datablast!
That was Bad Influence, though - not GamesMaster
www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_0uwMOi_XA
(, Wed 20 Dec 2023, 15:54, Reply)
You forgot about Violet Berlin...?
Hand in your horny teenager gamer card!
(
Happosai _,,,,_(O ; o)_,,,, Fri 22 Dec 2023, 0:36,
Reply)
Dominik Diamond does a decent occasional column in the Guardian games section, worth a read
(, Wed 20 Dec 2023, 8:58, Reply)
Nah. The only reliable way is to pirate before you buy, since no one does demos any more.
The regular press tend to gush over whatever’s popular at the time; if you must read a review then go to dedicated gaming channels/publications.
Take RoboCop for example: rave reviews but priced at twice what it’s worth if you ask me.
Alan Wake: cringingly pretentious wank, great reviews though.
Zelda BoTW: heralded the second coming apparently, but I found it unplayable.
Yes, yes, tastes vary but the thing to take away from that is that the best person to tell if you’ll like a game is probably you. You know what you like more than anyone else.
And as far as pirating is concerned, you don’t even need to do that if you buy on Steam; two hours is generally plenty of time to tell if you like a game. Of course if you play on consoles then you pay your money and you take your chances.
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jonbob loves you, Wed 20 Dec 2023, 10:37,
Reply)
Technically, just about anything on the Steam Store can be demoed.
As for Console platforms, demos are certainly more numerous than they were during the cartridge era. There are usually around ~200 demos available on the XBOX Marketplace, I'd guess that Sony is pretty close to that number, too. They might not all be AAA titles, but the demos on the front of Amiga Format weren't frequently AAA, either.
I pirate games far less now than I did back then, too. My only motive for piracy back when I were a lad was affordability. Nowadays, my only motive is availability.
(, Wed 20 Dec 2023, 11:56, Reply)
The book that came out on it the other
year is an enjoyable read.
Dave Perry claims not to be bothered, but still sounds annoyed by people not taking his side. To be fair, the wider context does make it look a bit like bullying.
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monkeon schmonkeon, Wed 20 Dec 2023, 19:15,
Reply)
I'm absolutely certain that Perry perceived it as bullying.
But I don't think Diamond and Co. were acting maliciously. It only ever came across as friendly teasing to me, the same way a bunch of mates might constantly take the piss out of that one friend that gets a bit too emotionally invested in the footy or in tabletop gaming.
I'd put money on Perry being a notorious sore winner/gloater whenever he came out on top of the competition, so I can totally understand them ripping the absolute piss when he lost the end of series challenge.
In hindsight, they should have been a bit more considerate of his feelings, but this was the late '90s and it wasn't really the done thing between groups of young blokes back then.
(, Wed 20 Dec 2023, 19:45, Reply)