Floppyshop 2

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Wrap

Text File | 1998-10-23 | 20KB | 567 lines

CCCCCC IIIIIII H H C I H H C :: I :: HHHHHH :: C I H H CCCCCC IIIIIII H H OF MAGGIE DISK MAGAZINE INTERVIEWED BY JAMES L. MATHEWS Maggie. The disk magazine that used to be edited by The Lost Boys was then passed onto Delta Force who then passed it onto someone completely different and that was C.I.H. and here we are with an exclusive interview with him for you to enjoy. HELLO CHRIS! Hello James, are we taking those tablets like the nice doctor suggested then? (Damn, I forgot today! - POWER). WHAT IS IT THAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO TAKE OVER MAGGIE? A bloke called Richard (Felice, the Joanna Pacula man seen around various issues of Maggie) suggested we do issue 11 after Mike Schussler (Sammy Joe of Ex Lost Boys and deceased Delta Force) gave me the source code in Easter '93.. It just sort of carried on with an unstoppable momentum thing from there.. HOW LONG HAS MAGGIE BEEN RUNNING NOW? We have just had our fourth birthday this year.. June 1990 was the first issue release date for all you historians out there - Atari show at the Hammersmith Novotel.. I was there.. It coincided with the Lost Boys Mindbomb demo coming out.. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN CONTROL OF MAGGIE YOURSELF? This has been my first year of editorial control.. HOW MUCH LONGER DO YOU SEE MAGGIE RUNNING FOR? We are confidently heading towards our fifth anniversary, or first Lustrum issue as a certain R. Karsmakers would have it, for this time next year.. We will then decide on where it will go for the future from there.. WHAT IS IT THAT YOU ENJOY ABOUT EDITING A DISK MAGAZINE? The stretched limousines, the women, the 3am brick through the window, the chance to invade smaller and weaker neighbouring countries than yourself, the chance to shout from balconies, the years free supply of condoms.. All of these things and much more make it all worthwhile.. HOW LONG DO YOU THINK THE ST HAS LEFT IN ITS LIFE? Hard to say really.. Commercially, in the UK software house sense, it is very much dead, and now stiffening and going green at the edges.. As a demo coders 'scene' machine, also pretty moribund (big word for the week!) but as a hobbyists computer, still a fair bit of life in it as long as the individual users don't fragment too badly, lose touch with each other, and get totally disheartened.. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE MAIN CAUSE FOR THE 'DYING' OF THE ST? It is always difficult to suggest one particular overriding 'reason' for the commercial death of the ST.. The death in the last two years consisted of the software companies migrating to the Consoles and the PC, and the ST simultaneously losing out at the retail level when so many of the independent computer shops 'went console' or closed altogether in the recession.. The software companies would suggest piracy as the main cause, and try to adopt a totally blameless facial expression for their part.. WHICH COMPUTER WILL YOU MOVE TO WHEN THE ST IS FINALLY DEAD? I have already gone over to the Falcon, but my trusty STFM sits waiting in the corner still.. I like the sound of the suggested 'Jaguar Computer' but I won't hold my breath for that one.. WHICH PREVIOUS COMPUTER(S) HAVE YOU HAD? Some weird ones.. The ZX81 at the dawn of time, a funny but brilliant 8-bit machine called the Elan Enterprise which came out at the end of the 8-Bit 'boom'.. Brilliant specifications, a programmers dream, but totally failed to sell due to BAD MARKETING.. I have also had another STFM which died, a nice 4 meg STE with the old Atari SH204 hard drive.. That's it.. WHAT COMPUTER(S) DO YOU HAVE NOW? One (1) Falcon 030, 4.01 TOS, 4 meg of RAM, 65 meg IDE Hard drive, one (1) 520 STFM, 1.2 TOS, 1 Meg of RAM, painted black (true!!) WHAT HARDWARE DO YOU HAVE? One external cased 80 meg SCSI hard drive for the Falcon which is my 'E' and 'F' partitions, one Atari Jaguar Powerpad joypad, one semi-knackered Crystal 9-pin joystick, a broken Canon BJ10 inkjet printer, lots of different leads, one Philips RGB monitor.. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS YOUR MOST USEFUL PIECE OF HARDWARE AND WHY? The extra Hard drive, it was getting very,very, cramped on 65 meg only.. The joypad is starting to get quite a few things supporting it on the Falcon as well now.. WHAT HARDWARE WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO GET YOUR HANDS ON? A huge capacity Syquest type removable cartridge SCSI II hard drive so I can grab loads of FLI animations from PC's and play them back on my Falcon.. Also a working printer.. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE ATARI FALCON? Lovely machine, shame about the company, but unlike a certain other computers manufacturers, at least they are still being made.. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ATARI'S MANAGEMENT? Atari management? That would be a good idea, perhaps they should try some sometime?? DO YOU THINK THE ATARI JAGUAR CONSOLE IS GOING TO BE A SUCCESS AND WHY? Yes, but only as a second or third ranker behind whichever big Japanese format eventually dominates.. Jaguar should do well in the USA with Atari's ultra-nationalistic "Made in America" approach, but they simply cannot make enough of the things to go around in Europe.. Jaguar should be enough to keep Atari alive in the next two to three years, but Atari will need to make some damn good decisions to take things further from there.. WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT BEING INVOLVED IN THE P.D. SCENE AND WHY? The sense of sheer fun and personal involvement you just cannot get from the commercial side.. WHAT DO YOU LIKE LEAST ABOUT BEING INVOLVED IN THE P.D. SCENE AND WHY? Certain people who do not get back in touch.. I have no axe to grind with individual contacts there, I'm certainly not perfect in that regard, but big libraries should know better.. One particular large concern based in Kent seems to take anything from sixteen to thirty-two months to get back in touch with me!! (rather subtle hint to the P.D.L. you were referring to there Chris! - POWER) WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT THE ST AND WHY? The general grooviness of the (majority) of people on the ST scene, this has always been our greatest asset.. WHAT DO YOU LIKE LEAST ABOUT THE ST AND WHY? The fact it has been under-supported and underrated in certain areas.. The sort of areas in which Amiga triumphed.. HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT CHUCKING IT ALL IN? Only very occasionally when I have read 'learned' articles in the trade press with the words 'PC', 'Multimedia', 'CD-ROM', 'Small- home/Office' and 'Future of home computing' all together.. But never for long though.. HONESTLY, HOW DO YOU THINK ISSUES OF MAGGIE THAT YOU HAVE EDITED, COMPARE TO EARLIER ISSUES? Honestly, I think that Maggie recently has had to stand on its own as a disk magazine, rather than as a ego exercise yard for demo coders.. I would like to think we have been successful.. The spirit of the early days with the Lost Boys in charge were pretty good though.. ARE YOU GLAD THAT YOU DECIDED TO TAKE OVER THE EDITING OF MAGGIE? Without a doubt, YES!! IF YOU WERE TO PASS MAGGIE ON TO ANYONE ON THE ST SCENE THAT YOU WANTED, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY? Hard to do really, I would not suggest any other diskzine editor, as they produce their magazines to their own style, and passing Maggie to one of these would mean nothing less than the loss of Maggie as a distinct entity in its own right.. There are one or two people I might suggest, but they tend to be chronically lazy, or involved in other projects, so you would only see one issue a year, if you were lucky.. As long as Maggie is going, I'm stuck with it! WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IN FUTURE ISSUES OF MAGGIE? "The young Jenny Agutter - Those secret nude Railway Children tapes.." "Chroma Studio 24 out now and only £24.99.." "Falcon version of 'Doom' the best yet!!" WHAT -DON'T- YOU WANT TO SEE IN FUTURE ISSUES OF MAGGIE? "Commodore Amiga springs back to life.." "Bill Gates becomes President of the USA.." "Printer ribbons reviewed, we list the top ten!" DO YOU SOMETIMES WORRY THAT YOU ARE NOT KEEPING MAGGIE UP TO THE STANDARD OF PREVIOUS ISSUES EDITED BY THE PREVIOUS MAGGIE EDITORS? Not really.. Ask me that question again if I suddenly turn German and go to sleep for the next ten months.. PERSONALLY, WHICH DO YOU THINK WAS THE BEST GROUP WITH MAGGIE, THE LOST BOYS OR DELTA FORCE. WHY? The Lost Boys. Delta Force did that magic menu shell but took the writers for granted and killed off the 'spirit' of Maggie the Lost Boys created.. It took a long time to live down the 'adults only' section in issue 10.. Maggie was better looking by far, but much more snide and distant as a publication under Delta Force.. We hope we are more friendly as a publication now.. HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED WITH MAGGIE IN THE FIRST PLACE? I came to the Atari '90 Show, I saw, I liked what I saw and got writing for issue two.. From there I started doing games reviews and developed a more systematic relationship with Mike Schussler which culminated with me getting the lot eventually.. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE GLOSSY ST MAGAZINES SUCH AS ST FORMAT? The whole glossy mag scene has been a bit grim and lifeless ("Ten sheet feeders reviewed - we rate three!") But 'Format' have apparently got a new editor called Trenton Webb.. Great things are expected of him as he has had a gaming mag background prior to getting the editors chair at ST Format.. HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT LEAVING THE ST FOR ANOTHER MACHINE? Yes, I did think of the PC very briefly last year, but I am now on the Falcon.. WHO WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO THROW YOUR ST AT AND WHY? The obvious answer would be Sam 'Let's waste this golden opportunity' Tramiel.. But I would aim the ST at Bill Gates for his services in promoting the PC and diminishing the range of choices for the rest of us who actively do not want to buy a PC.. SO FAR, WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE BEST ISSUE OF MAGGIE EVER RELEASED AND WHY? Lordy, lordy, a tough one.. I personally think the very first issue by the Lost Boys was the best.. Out of our recent ones, issue 14 (so far..) DO YOU THINK P.D. IS GETTING BETTER OR WORSE AND WHY DO YOU THINK THAT IS? PD is getting much better as it is having to substitute for the lack of commercial software in certain key areas such as new games.. The Falcon thrives on good PD and shareware of the sort of calibre which would be commercial but for lack of a distributor.. WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOUR DISK MAGAZINE, MAGGIE? It's bouncy bouncy bouncy bouncy, fun fun fun fun fun!! WHAT DO YOU LIKE LEAST ABOUT MAGGIE? No Falcon shell (yet..) Our modification to use the Delta Force shell was a quick and dirty fix done in Wales.. WHAT DO YOU HONESTLY THINK OF THE AMIGA COMPARED TO THE ST? Better in the whizzy eyecatching areas such as graphics and sound, but a much less stable and reliable computer than the ST.. WHAT DO YOU THINK WE HAVE THAT AMIGA OWNERS DON'T? A future!?!?!?!? WHAT DO YOU THINK AMIGA OWNERS HAVE THAT WE DON'T? About $400 million of debts, the most paranoid whingy bunch of losers ever to pollute the letters pages of the glossy mags with their moanings about why the CD32 isn't supported like it should be, some really great creative graphics people, mainstream commercial games releases, and an embedded washing machine controller chip as the CPU of the A1200.. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE MORE OF IN THE P.D. SCENE AND WHY? More great games and demos, especially Falcon specific stuff, loads of FLI animations, PC multi-channel module files.. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE LESS OF IN THE P.D. SCENE AND WHY? Weird little disk formatting utilites in German.. WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR IDEAS FOR THE ARTICLES YOU WRITE IN MAGGIE? You had better ask my psychiatrist, I have a busy and perverted mind.. The review stuff depends on what I can get my hands on between issues.. HOW DO YOU FEEL WHEN YOU SEE THE LATEST ISSUE OF MAGGIE FINALLY COMPLETE? Sweet relief, followed by a numbing panic when I have to post them.. HOW DO YOU FEEL WHEN YOU HAVE JUST STARTED WORK ON A NEW ISSUE OF MAGGIE? I don't, I just sort of drift into a few articles, other things turn up, then the next issue reaches a 'critical mass' where I start to take it seriously again.. Issue 15 has the rare distinction of having a plan for over 90% of it.. All I have to do is to write the thing now.. DO YOU EVER WONDER WHY YOU BOTHER DOING MAGGIE? No, just sheer force of habit.. I would otherwise write for other diskmags as I can't stop writing.. WHAT MAKES YOU KEEP ON GOING WITH MAGGIE? The feeling of "I did that" when a new issue is finished.. It is sort of a way of life now.. GOT A JOKE YOU CAN TELL US? (IF SO TELL US IT) Oh hell.. Why don't you get Lenny Henry to do your interviews?? WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ST P.D. LIBRARIES? There are one or two really great ones with a genuine love of the machine, Caledonia PDL is one such.. The rest of them seem to be a bit behind the times with reference to the sort of things I collect, such as Falcon stuff, and seem to be primarily money motivated.. I have not used a PDL for some time now.. CHRIS, YOU REALLY DISLIKE PC'S. WHAT IS IT THAT YOU HATE ABOUT THEM SO MUCH? So it's that obvious then? You want a list?? Well I could start with the fact that they are so f*ck*ng expensive.. They are some of the least efficient memory, disk and processor burning dinosaurs to darken the face of computing.. Windows is a bodge fix for the lack of a decent GUI.. PC's are sold to shit ignorant first time users when they are clearly the least suitable computer of the last fifteen years to give to a first time user.. They are business machines and should stay as such.. They have only got into the home thanks to the complacency of both Atari and Commodore who were more than happy to stick with existing hardware for far too long.. PC's are not computing, they are a bad smell that leaves you at least £1500 out of pocket in the first year.. DO YOU THINK THAT TOO MANY P.D.L.'S EXPLOIT THE CUSTOMERS AND ARE JUST OUT TO MAKE MONEY? I think there is a tendency to this, but it is not as pronounced as the commercial software houses strategy for easy money and greed.. WHAT'S THE BEST P.D. RELEASE YOU'VE EVER SEEN AND WHAT WAS SO GOOD ABOUT IT? The (recent) best has to be a Falcon modfile editor and composer called 'Digital Tracker' it can do up to 24 channels of 16-bit sound!! My all-time demo favourite is a close run thing between the Exceptions B.I.G. demo and the Cuddly Demo by TCB, with any of the better Lost Boys stuff coming close behind that.. WHAT'S THE BEST COMMERCIAL RELEASE YOU'VE EVER SEEN AND WHAT WAS SO GOOD ABOUT IT? The first 'megagame' for the ST was 'Carrier Command' which lifted the whole expectation thing of what the 16-bit machines could do.. I am looking forward to 'Chroma Studio 24' for the Falcon for the ultimate art package.. I have seen an early beta-test version with about 30% of the expected features, and even that is damn good! WHAT ARE YOUR FEELINGS ON ATARI IN GENERAL? Please could their sales and marketing remotely match the abilities of their research and development people.. It would be nice if Atari support certain products that they launch, and not just drop them with indecent haste when the next 'big thing' is rumoured.. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE ATARI COMMERCIAL SCENE? The companies that are left are the ones that are really bothered about the ST and Falcon rather than their next company funded BMW Cabriolet and expense account lunches.. Unfortunately, these are a tiny handful now, compared with what went before.. HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN COMPUTERS ON A 'SERIOUS' LEVEL (I.E. NOT JUST USING IT FOR GAMES)? Am I using it 'seriously'?? I got bored with most games once I had reviewed so many for 'Maggie'.. I got involved in a mission to explain the benefits of the STE, and eventually the Falcon when I took over Maggie.. I still don't consider myself a 'serious' user as such.. Is there such a category as a frivolous user?? HOW MUCH OF YOUR TIME DOES MAGGIE TAKE UP? Hard to say, more towards the end of producing an issue.. Almost none the first month or so after I have finished the previous one.. DO YOU SOMETIMES RESENT THE AMOUNT OF TIME THAT MAGGIE USES UP? Not at all!! The nightlife in my area is utter shite and consists of the sort of pubs infested by 14 year olds whose idea of a good night out is a punch up outside.. (show me the way! - POWER) WHAT KINDS OF THINGS DO YOU LIKE TO DO WHEN YOU'RE NOT ON THE COMPUTER? Eat, sleep, work, **CENSORED**, spending too much time on the phone, listening to music, hanging around with other disreputable computer freaks, a bit of telly, but only the good stuff.. WHAT'S THE BEST FILM YOU'VE EVER SEEN? For a lifetime thing, either, 'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly', or 'Starwars' and related films.. WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO EAT THE MOST? Edible food.. It would be easier to ask me for a list of what I DON'T like.. WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE DRINK? Coffee, ice-cold coke, ice cold beer, wine, spirits, any combination of the above mixed together.. WHAT KIND OF MUSIC DO YOU LIKE? Anything electronic, Jean Michel Jarre, the Orb, a lot of the early 'eighties stuff, a bit of rock n' roll, Pink Floyd, the odd female vocalist (Bjork), good module files, good soundchip music. (Yes I am that kind of weird!!) WHAT -TYPE(S)- OF P.D. DO YOU LIKE THE MOST (E.G. MODULES, GAMES ETC.)? I love DEMO's and can't get enough of them.. WHAT CAN WE EXPECT TO SEE IN MAGGIE #15 Lots of words, some new Falcon stuff reviewed, a trip to Caspian software to see their new stuff.. Further adventures of me in Sci- Fi convention land, certain DISK MAGS reviewed, more silly stuff etc.. BEFORE YOU GO, TELL US A BIT MORE ABOUT YOURSELF: Oh must I?? Alright then, if I could get organised, I would be REALLY dangerous!! I have so far avoided that 'settling down' thing which either makes me very sad or very lucky.. My bedroom looks like Hiroshima after the Enola Gay gig back in '45, but it does not matter as my parents are safely fifteen miles away now.. I could do with a bit more money and excitement, but so could everybody.. THANKS CHRIS! That's alright my son.. NOW FEEL FREE TO ADVERTISE AS MUCH (OR AS LITTLE) AS YOU WANT BELOW: Ok then, BUY MAGGIE 15 or the puppy dies!! And no, not a humane death swiftly brought about by the passing of a high-velocity 7.62mm NATO-issue bullet through the unfortunate animals skull, but instead a long drawn out ordeal at the hands of my assistant, Ted 'Steamroller' Skuggins.. (Are the RSPCA likely to read this by the way?!?!?) Goodbye..