My first foray into writing for magazines (not fanzines) started in January 2002, and was first printed in the now much missed Micro Mart magazine. My first column appeared in a February 2002 issue and I continued to write on an eight week trial basis. By the time I'd written my 10th column, I realised that I'd passed my trial, although I don't remember ever receiving confirmation from the then editor Simon Brew. The subject matter of my weekly column was all about 8-bit home computers launched mostly in the early 1980s, although I did cover some 1970s personal computers, like the Commodore PET/CBM range, and branched out to some occasional next-gen machines like the Atari Jaguar, a 64-bit powerhouse providing you did the right mathematics.
After my retro column was establishing itself as something that people in the fledgling 8-bit communities were embracing, a new magazine called gamesTM (gTM) launched with a fairly substantial Retro section called just that. It was focused on only nostalgia with a lot of the articles seemingly written from memory with some of the writers opinions shining through. I can't say that I did much better when writing about purely nostalgic articles, but I did try to weave in factual truths remembering those simpler times and any technological constraints. For instance, the portable Commodore SX-64 was already a pretty hefty machine, and adding a battery to this wouldn't have made the thing any more portable, something that, as I recall, the gTM Retro section seemed to complain about; no one seemed to consider the limitations of rechargeable battery technologies of the time, nor the technical feat of making a Commodore C64 with a 1541 disk drive portable; in essence, the 1541 disk drive controller board was essentially another 6502-based computer.
And then came the original and best Retro Gamer (RG) magazine, which I think survives today, although it is in many ways a very different magazine from Martyn Carroll's and Mate Mabe's vision (with some significant contributions from Aaron Birch back then, as I recall). Those of you who know or recall those days may remember that I wrote a significant piece about Commodore's 8-bit machines for issue two [of RG], and was named in issue one. By issue four or five, on Tuesday, 4th May 2004 (my 27th birthday) I was RG's first official staff writer, which didn't last long and showed many of my own short comings as a writer. But anyway, regardless I somehow (with some breaks) managed to continue my weekly Micro Mart column for over 10 years.
And 21 years and a day after I became RG's first staff writer (and I say that Aaron did a much better job as a staff writer than I did) a digital copy of Gaming Culture landed in my inbox, a slightly belated 48th birthday present. Gaming Culture is hoping to offer something a bit different from other gaming mags, and hopefully my small contribution remembering the late, great Joffa Smith, and a reprint from this 'ere weblog - specifically this article - is doing just that.
If you are interested in procuring a copy of Gaming Culture to see what it's all about, head over to here, although at the time of writing, only the digital copy is available to purchase. Issue two of this will be launching on Kick Starter soon, so when it does, go back it if you are able to.
