Significant Zero by Walt Williams - Book Review

Walt Williams ended up in the videogames industry almost by accident, but I am happy that he did as otherwise, he wouldn't have written this funny, revealing and extraordinarily self-aware book about his path into what many might think is the perfect career but ended up being very much not what might be expected.

Significant Zero shines due to William's approach to the narrative which, as you'd very much expect from someone whose job is to write for videogames, is pitched perfectly. There is snark, sass, anger, cynicism and even, at times, joy. From his beginnings as a would-be Marvel comic writer (he got to the front door), to travelling the globe, finding his own voice and surfing the currents of good and bad fortune, to finally settling down with a family (see, there is a happy ending here too), it is Walt's personality that carries you through the tale. And he needs to be engaging because at times he is a self-confessed dick.

Truly, there are moments where he comes across as the most arrogant, unpleasant person in the room. And that's ok, because you still get to find out that there are, at times, even more unpleasant people present and, even worse, far better people who are affected by that. But this book is more than just an ego trip/mea culpa (delete as applicable). It also about the games industry. 

Now, I know what you're thinking, things will have changed since this book was published and since Walt experienced the events he describes within, but if you've been keeping track at all of the industry and have read this book, you'll know that's not the case at all. There are long periods of crunch, of merely existing and robotically following the same routine, eating the same crap food and imbibing alcohol and medication just to get through the day. It feels like burnout (not to mention an early death) is constantly around the corner. If ever there was an advert for not working in the industry, this is it. 

It's not all dark though, as Walt shares his observations and experiences as the industry developed through the first decade and a bit of the 21st century. There is very pointed commentary on game pricing and DLC, which is all the more pertinent now due to different pricing regimes between platform holders and the ubiquity of micro-transactions even (or should that be especially) within full price software. The contributions from Greg Kavasin and Anthony Burch are the metaphorical cherries on the top and are well worth your attention too. 

What really struck home for me was Walt's involvement in Spec Ops: The Line, a third-person cover shooter that is one of the best of its kind to make it to market. The key hook in the game is the story and how it was presented. Whilst I shall not spoil anything here, go have a play of it if you can (and if you can't read up about it), so then you can understand that it was not only the journey of one soldier in a war zone, but one writer in a company - the real world scars of its production are eye opening. 

It's not all Spec Ops, of course, but for a man who has worked on Star Wars: Battlefront, BioShock, Civilisation and Mafia amongst others, it is the core of the book. Having said that, reading about The Darkness II made me pick up copies of that and the first game just to see what the fuss was about, and I have to admit, I enjoyed them immensely. 

Part memoir, part treatise on the world of videogame creation, Significant Zero is a book that anyone who is interested in how games are created should read, if only just for the anecdote of watching a voice artist (and their husband) complete a recording session. Time may make some of the points raised here moot, but as a snapshot of where the industry was and to a fair degree still is, this tome cannot be beaten and is well worth your money.

You can purchase Significant Zero from the usual places, and you can follow the author on Twitter here.

Archive Magazine - Volume 25.6 Review

Last week, an email arrived from Archive Magazine editor Gavin Smith containing a link to a digital copy of the latest issue, 25.6. It was a pleasant surprise to see such a copy being sent out to subscribers of the physical magazine a few days before that arrived in the post and, as it is the Wakefield (but in Bradford) RISC OS show this weekend (which I hope to attend), I thought it timely to provide a quick review of the final edition in the current volume.

There are the usual 56 pages (including covers) and it begins with a lovely picture from Tollymore Forest Park in County Down. After a brief but informative editorial, we hit the rather lengthy newsdesk, coming in at eight pages. There are notes on forthcoming shows, a new machine from R-Comp, various software updates and the like. Indeed, there is quite a lot to take in here. 

The first feature is from Richard Hallas and covers the use of the cog logo to represent RISC OS. It's an interesting piece, not only providing a bit of background to the use of the Acorn nut in previous years, but also the reasons and benefits of changing to the increasingly familiar cog. Following that is an update from Bernard Boase to a previous article (Archive 25.3) about the various distros available for RISC OS. Here, he provides further information about the Cloverleaf Distro and some thoughts on it.  

John McCartney gives us a article on running RPCEmu on Linux Mint, as well as a link to his guide to the process, followed by four pages from Andrew Rawnsley, who provides a beginners guide to what RISC OS Developments do, their past achievements and how they operate. Chris Hall made my head explode with four pages on how to calculate the filled area of an arbitrary shape - this has nothing to do with his writing or coding, it's very much to do with my brain and maths! Once I got my head around the workings it all made perfect sense. 

Brain hurts... :-)

Gavin Wraith talks readers through queues and objects in Lua, John Schild delivers an amusing tale about printer drivers, and then Mr Wraith pops up again with two tales about text. Chris Hall's hefty five and a half pages on the steady march of progress relating to data connections from your home is one that certainly informs and gets the reader to ask questions - the most immediate one being "Is that really progress?" 

Bimal Jangra delivers some good advice on keeping your Windows PC's up to date in PC Bits, whilst in Mac Matters, Mark Stephens delves into using RPCEmu on the Mac. We get a half page for letters and emails (and yes, I remember TopModel too!), before Rob Sprowson starts a new series on the topic of PIC's - Peripheral Interface Controllers. It looks like there will be four parts to this series and I am looking forward to seeing where this goes. 

Colin Piggot returns with another Acorn Retro, with news snippets and the like for BBC Micro and Electron users, before we finish the issue off with Kevin Corney's Lives and Loves of a RO fanatic, a lovely appreciation of one person's interaction with RISC OS. Add to that a couple of small hints and tips box outs and an advert for the Wakefield show this weekend on the back cover, and that's it for a packed final edition for this volume. 

I really do like Archive, it's never less than informative and entertaining, even if the subject matter taxes the brain (which is no bad thing at all), and it's great to see the updated magazine website in operation. As you can probably have guessed, I renewed my subscription at the end last year and look forward to seeing what the next volume brings. Check Archive Magazine's website out here, where you'll find all of the relevant details about subscribing. You can also follow the magazine on Twitter here. 

Handbrake! by Mariano Sciaroni and Alejandro Amendolara - Book Review

Handbrake! is the latest release in Helion & Co's increasing Latin America@War range and covers the use of the Dassault Super Etendard by the Argentinian Navy in the 1982 Falklands/Malvinas War. Written by Mariano Sciaroni and Alejandro Amendolara, this 102-page tome aims to bring forth the relatively little-known story of the Super Etendard from its initial introduction into Argentinian Navy service, its use in the 1982 conflict, and finally to the decades of service after the war that kept the Argentinian Navy involved in carrier operations.

The usual Helion & Co quality is on display when you first open the book. There is a quick preface followed by a forward by Roberto Curilovic, callsign "Toro" (Bull), who flew the mission the led to the sinking of the Atlantic Conveyor. 

The main body of the book begins with a description of the Super Etendard and the AM39 Exocet anti-ship missile. We then get a brief history of the Second Naval Fighter and Attack Squadron up to it's formation with the Super Etendard, before the book takes us on a quick side step to the first half of April, where clear descriptions are given about how tactics were put in place to attack a missile defended target, as well as those countermeasures to try and defend against a missile attack.

Subsequent sections are written in a chronological order, the squadron's deployment south, the initial missions, and then highly detailed descriptions of the attacks on HMS Sheffield and the SS Atlantic Conveyor. There are interlinked chapters on the changing tactics as the war progressed, as well as the final attack on the Task Force that led to perhaps the most controversial (certainly from an Argentinian perspective) event of the naval campaign: the claimed strike against HMS Invincible. After that, there is the withdrawal of the squadron and the aircraft's post-war career to the modern day. 

As befits a Helion & Co publication, there are numerous maps, diagrams and photographs, almost all contemporary and from private collections. The art in the centre of the book is also of high quality and useful for future reference. 

This is another well-written history and one that shows the challenges, spirit and courage of the Argentinian pilots and their support crews. A great deal of research has been undertaken here along with numerous interviews of those who experienced the conflict. Very much like the history told in other books in this series (I have reviewed two previous books by Mr Sciaroni here), it is a tale of professionals trying to achieve the military aims (driven by political leadership) in circumstances that were less than conducive to success. The fact that, with some help, they managed to get four of the five aircraft in to a war and prosecute attacks without any formal training on the missile system itself speaks volumes. There is a camaraderie on display that feels so familiar if you have read about pilots during wartime from any nation, and something that is mirrored in their British opposites (check out David Morgan's Hostile Skies, Jerry Pook's RAF Harrier Ground Attack, Falklands and Sharkey Ward's Sea Harrier over the Falklands for a British view of air operations. The first two I have read and enjoyed, and I still need to pick up a copy of Ward's book). Of particular interest in Handbrake! was the efforts of Captain Jorge Colombo, an officer willing to push as hard as he could to protect his men whilst still trying to get the job done, despite the potential consequences for his career. 

Handbrake! is a timely history that provides a window on the men and aircraft that taxed the British Task Force so much. It also demonstrates how precarious the countermeasures were to the danger of low level anti-ship missile strikes and the wider implications that could have ensued if the ballon had gone up in Europe in the 1980's. It is another excellent addition to the Latin America@War series and should be on the bookshelves of anyone with an interest in the period or post-WW2 naval combat in general. You can pick up a copy from Helion & Co here. 

Vita Means Life by Sandeep Rai - Book Review

Stop me if you've heard this one before, but there was this Sony PlayStation Vita fan who wrote a three volume guide about Sony's second handheld wonder and published them via Kickstarter campaigns... oh, what? You have heard this one before? Ah, yes, here...

Sandeep Rai produced three excellent volumes on the PS Vita that provided a wonderful history of the handheld up until 2019. But the Vita continued on for another two years, with a last gasp of titles and an outpouring of grief from fans who didn't want their favourite handheld to just fade away. After positive feedback from his original work, and requests to provide them in hardback form, Rai created this hardback wonder with over 440 pages of Vita goodness. 

The contents are divided into the following sections: The PS Vita story, interviews, game retrospectives, a full library list of physical and digital titles that were released on the system, a short hardware guide and a timeline of key events in the Vita's history.

There is a lot carried over from the original trilogy, which is no bad thing if you have read my review here.  Four new chapters have been added to the Vita story, plus a new interview (although correct me if I am wrong, please) whilst a lot of the game retrospectives remain as before. Production quality is superb and this would not look out of place on the shelves of Waterstones. 

As a benefit of being a Kickstarter backer, an additional reward was the PlayStation Vita Collector's Handbook, a small pocket book listing all of the retail, limited print run, Asian English, and rare games, alongside the various models of handheld. Each game entry contains brief details of its release date, developer, publisher, genre, Metacritic score (where applicable), whether it received a Platinum release and a tick box for you to use once you have that title in your collection. It's a nice touch to the main volume and if I ever get into collecting for the Vita (cost and space issues aside), it will be a handy reference.

Indeed, the same compliment can be given to the main volume. It is a handy reference but, more than that, it is a truly passion filled tribute to the little console that could, even if Sony themselves gave up on it far too early. 

This is quite a short review, but one I felt needed writing to highlight the care and love that has been spent on this beautiful tome. If you are a PS Vita fan, you need to own a copy. You can follow the author on Twitter here, where you'll find links to his YouTube channel. If you want a copy of this fine book, pop over to Etsy here and grab a copy. You'll also find more excellent gaming goodies there as well.

Oh, one last thing. Sandeep has announced that he is to publish a book on the PlayStation 3, "It Only Did Everything." This should be launched on a Kickstarter later this year. Given the quality of Vita Means Life, that's sure to be a corker and I look forward to supporting it.

NZ Retro - Magazine Review

The small scale retro gaming and computing magazine market has exploded over the last few years. As readers of this blog will know, I have covered a fair few of them here, as well as actually writing for one. However, most of these publications are either UK or US based, so it was lovely to see another new magazine try it's hand on Kickstarter, this time from New Zealand. NZ Retro had a good funding campaign, reaching 425% of its original target. After a few hiccups here and there (always well explained by the creator, Karl Burnett, in regular backer updates), the first issue arrived last week. Was it worth the NZ $30, including shipping? Read on.

Signed too. A nice touch.

First impressions and I have to say that the physical quality is really good. At 88 pages, the magazine feels weighty and the quality of the stock used gives it a wonderful feel. This is a point I have remarked upon in previous magazine posts, but with these niche publications, the physical quality goes a long way to justify the higher prices you pay. 

The magazine begins with an introduction by Julian 'Jaz' Rignall, a name familiar to those of you around in the 1980's and 90's. There's a short editorial from Karl before we reach the contents page, divided between Features and the regular departments. 

For the features, we have a look at the most important space-based videogames as well as Auckland Coin Machines. The regular departments include a news section, a Vs section, pitting two retro titles against each other, games reviews, hardware (focusing on the A500 Mini for this issue), a nice piece on a New Zealand based retro collector, and then finally, an interview with YouTuber Wrestling with Gaming.

The Vs section was quite neat, pitting Transbot against Astro Warrior. Whilst I have never played the latter, I do recall the former being more than a tad disappointing, so can agree with many of the comments made here. Gaming reviews covers a smorgasbord of formats, from the Spectrum to the Amiga, the NES to the Atari Lynx. All are graded out of ten, with individual scores for graphics, sounds, playability and lastability. Having played some of the titles featured, I'd say the reviews were mostly fair.

It must be noted that Karl has done the majority of the writing here, with some additional writing by Alan Bell and the excellent cover (and poster art - remember the days of unfolding the staples to take a poster out - that's what you can do here) by Trevor Storey. Each writer lets their voice shine through, and this really was an entertaining and fun read. This was also helped by the layout, which as you can see is clean spaced out and really does help with my tired old eyes. Some might suggest that the layout is to cover the lack of content (certainly some mainstream magazines are guilty of that approach), but that is certainly not the case here. This is a good read!

Of adverts, there are a few, but they are not overly intrusive and hey, ads help get the mag made, and as a UK-based reader, it's interesting to see what other countries have with regards to retro-themed companies. Similarly, this magazine was my introduction to the Fountain Console, until a quick Google led me to this page where I vaguely recalled seeing magazine adverts for the UK variations back in the dim and distant past. You learn something new every day!

So that is NZ Retro, another fine entry into the retro gaming magazine market. It is, as it proudly proclaims, New Zealand's only retro gaming magazine, and it's always good to see how video gaming developed in countries other than the usual suspects. You can check out their website here, where you can visit their shop and purchase a digital copy of issue 1 (physical copies are sold out), as well as pre-order a copy of issue 2. The cover price of NZ $14.95 for the standard edition isn't bad, coming in at about £7.80. In my humble opinion, that's not stupid for the format and quality you receive. After all, it's a small run, niche publication. The digital copy of issue one is only NZ $5.95 (or £3.10-ish). What about shipping, I hear you ask? Well, for issue 2, that's listed as NZ $8, so about £4.20. Yes, the total is pricey but it's cheaper than the KS campaign and it's travelling half way across the planet.

I have ordered issue 2, as I'm intrigued to see how this title will develop. Given an option, I might start hankering for a digital only version, but that's a decision for Karl. After all, the economics of creating and publishing a magazine is a tricky business, and the aim of the original Kickstarter was to get the golden age of Kiwi gaming in print. We shall see. In the meantime, check out issue 1 if you can, issue 2 will start shipping in May. Oh, and you can follow the magazine on Twitter here. 

Attack of the Flickering Skeletons by Stuart Ashen - Book Review

The follow up to Terrible Old Games You've Probably Never Heard Of, The Attack of the Flickering Skeletons once again takes the reader of a rollercoaster ride of videogame nostalgia as yet more titles find themselves under the ever piercing gaze of Mr Ashen and friends. And yes, those of you who are old enough to remember those dark years may have many an unpleasant memory or two resurrected...

As with the first book, this is an Unbound published title, so there are no issues with the physical quality. It's a colourful tome and you really do want to show it to your friends, especially if they're of a younger generation who never had to suffer the trauma of buying random pocket money titles from the local newsagents. 

Games covered include Butterfly, Castle Top, Deathkick (I remember that one well, and yes it was complete poop), The Flinstones, and Roland on the Run (another classic so to speak). There's more, of course, so below is the contents page. As with the first book, there are plenty of screenshots so you know exactly what you're looking at as you read about the features (ahem) of each title and why they are included. The sense of humour is still here as well, and let's face it, you had to have a sense of humour back then, because if you didn't, you'd cry. Some of these games really are that bad.

Alongside the author's selections, there are contributions from the likes of Jim Sterling, Daniel Ibbertson, Laura Kate Dale and others. There are also sections on Commodore C64 arcade conversions, the worst joystick ever and the weird tale of Hellraiser: Prelude and Finale. That was a piece of videogame history I did not know about and it was great to learn about such a grandiose folly. 

As with the previous volume, there is a list of the Unbound supporters at the back of the book, as well as an index that is as funny as anything else you'll read in the book. It's that good.

In fact, this second volume more than matches the quality of the first, and it's a shame that there hasn't been a third one, or at least, not one I can find. Still, you have this and Terrible Old Games... to keep you occupied and I really do recommend you pick both of them up. You can buy copies from Amazon here and you can follow the author on Twitter here, where you'll also find a link to his YouTube channel. 

The Story of the Commodore Amiga in Pixels by Chris Wilkins and Roger M Kean - Book Review

After enjoying Florin's Haul and being on Fusion Retro Book's mailing list, it was quite a nice surprise to find out that there was a one day sale on the this book. Why not, I thought, and an order was quickly placed. A few short days later, a well packaged and rather tasty looking hardback arrived in the post. Was it worth the £12.50? Read on!

At roughly 19x20x2cm, this is not a small book by any means, and as soon as you pick it up, you know you've got a decent quality tome in your hands. It's in full colour and the dusk jacket displays the famous King Tut image that defined the Amiga to prospective users (or at least those that remember Deluxe Paint II). There are about 290 pages and very nicely laid out, with plenty of screenshots, photographs and the like. 

It begins with a forward by David Pleasance, whose name may be familiar to those who've been reading this blog for a while - I've reviewed two of his books here and here). The proper start of the book is a history of the Amiga stretching to 54 pages and interspaced with two page spreads of specific machines. This is a bit of a potted history, but respectable, and if this were your only book on the Amiga, you'd be pretty well served. I do have two minor niggles though. The C64GS was never high-tech. NEVER! And I question Windows 95's affect in the Amiga market. Anyhoo...

The next section is all about creativity and graphics, being divided into four main areas: PD (Public Domain) and Shareware, Anarchy and the Demoscene, Scoopex and the Demoscene, and AGA - too little too late. Each of these was, for me, extremely enlightening, as I never knew much about either the PD or demo scene apart from what I read in magazines at the time. The 28 pages dedicated to these subjects are an eye opener and give you a real feel as to how wild and passionate coders were, and where it could go wrong. Some of the demo's created were breathtaking at the time and still, to this day, are bloody impressive. The last ten pages, on the subject of the AGA chipset, is another useful section. I was surprised as to how few genuine AGA titles actually existed - I had always presumed there were more. 

The following 90 pages are dedicated to games from throughout the Amiga's history. Each gets two pages, pictures of their artwork and some screenshots. You get a brief write up and sometimes a piece of trivia. What is particularly nice is that it's not just the usual suspects, though they do make up the majority of the titles covered. Sure, you get Lemmings, Populous, Xenon 2 and the like, but you also get the likes of Wings of Death, Airball and Lionheart. 

The last section is the largest, at just under one hundred pages, and this covers the memories. I'll put a picture below of the contents page, but as you can see, there are some familiar and maybe not-so familiar names here. What it does mean is that you get a lovely range of stories about the Amiga from a period of home computer development that is long gone. Truly, every single entry has its worth and I would say that this section makes the book worth the cover price alone. 

The Story of the Amiga in Pixels is a lovingly produced look at, what was for many people, the pinnacle of home computers. Alongside the Atari ST and, to a degree, the Acorn range, this was the golden era of relatively powerful and productive machines before the PC and Mac took over Yes, I have said this book has niggles (still not letting go of that C64GS description...) but these are teensy compared to the stories and wealth of knowledge contained within. The physical quality shows off the artwork and screenshots brilliantly and, to be honest, I would have happily paid full price. 

You can buy your own copy of The Story of the Commodore Amiga in Pixels directly from Fusion Retro Books here, and I would recommend signing up for their email service in case they do have flash sales on their other titles. It is also worth noting that there is a Kickstarter ongoing for their latest title: The Commodore 64 Collector's Guide to Mastertronic. This is another title by Chris Wilkins and I have already pledged for my copy. There's only a week or so left and it looks to be another corker.