I used to love those animatronic shooting ranges in the arcades of yore. So I was freakin’ amazed to find that pretty much every one you’ve ever seen are made about 8 miles from where I live! So, I went to visit Pan Amusements and wrote about them for Retro Gamer.
Jesus Christ, that was a [...]
Writing Archive
Retro Gamer: Old Zeke Kicked The Bucket
Retro Gamer: ZX81 Hardware Retrospective
I admit I’m a Speccy boy, but prior to this article I knew ‘nowt about the ZX81. Retro Gamer were left hangin’ by a writer, and asked me to put together this hardware retrospective instead.
I had one week to learn about the ZX81 and deliver a full article. A significant machine, as it turned out. [...]
GamesTM: Binary Belief
Tron might be considered a bit of a camp gay-wad these days, but I think the film rules! The original game kinda suck donkey balls, but Discs of Tron was alright.
This was a feature for the revamp of GamesTM’s retro section, when they wanted to take the direction more toward videogame culture, rather than just [...]
GamesTM: Nintendon’t
I actually have a semi-on for Nintendo, although you wouldn’t know it from this article I was commissioned to write for GamesTM. They wanted an alternative to the usual Nintendo “love in”, that concentrated more on the company’s ruthless side. Pretty easy to find stuff out like that, to be honest. Still, it’s good that [...]
Retro Gamer: Retro North Event Coverage
Retro North was a classic gaming charity event which I covered for Retro Gamer. A great day, packed with top games and friendly nerds.
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Total PC Gaming: Jericho Review
I was approached by the new PC gaming magazine from Imagine Publishing to review Clive Barker’s Jericho for their first issue, which was nice.
I’m a huge Barker fan, and while Jericho carried all his great hallmarks, the actual gameplay was a bit one-dimensional for me. The wicked, Cenobite-esque characters saved it, though.
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GamesTM: Doujin-Ka
I sometimes wonder why we ever actually pay for games (not that I do, being a reviewer), especially when I’m ploughing the depths of Japanese home brew software. What those crazy Japs don’t know about hard, fast, surreal escapism just isn’t worth knowing.
So I wrote about it for GamesTM.
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Interzone: Three Lepers Leg It
This is a daft short story I wrote in two hours – right before the deadline after the editor got in touch to say they had an emergency gap in the schedule. It could read better to be honest, but for such a rush job, I was pretty impressed with myself.
Three Lepers Leg It
A short [...]
Protected: Viz: Dodgy Comic Script #6
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Protected: Viz: Dodgy Comic Script #2
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Protected: Viz: Dodgy Comic Script #1
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Retro Gamer: Quest for the Rings
This is the title that began my love affair with games. The first system we ever owned at our house was the awesome Philips G7000 Videopac, and Quest for the Rings was the pinnacle of intuitive game design on that fantastic machine (which I still own and play). Here’s my thoughts on it as seen [...]
Retro Gamer: Bitmap Brothers Company Profile
The Bitmaps made one of the best loved games ever (Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe) so it was an absolute delight to interview them and write their corporate biography for Retro Gamer. Have a gander:
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Retro Gamer: Home Brew & PD Game Reviews
I always do my best to keep editors and producers happy (the secret to a good writing business), and to that end I’ve done a lot of work for magazines that strays more into editorial writing than typical freelance features and stuff. In particular, I help out around Retro Gamer a lot, and I always enjoy [...]
Retro Gamer: Gauntlet
I love these articles for Retro Gamer. They focus on how arcade games were converted to the old games systems; a task not unlike trying to get smoke into a milk bottle using a cricket bat. Gauntlet was a great game, and it made a pretty good article too, if you don’t mind me saying. [...]
Retro Gamer: Leisure Suit Larry
Such a great game on the Amiga, it was every bit as exciting to talk to its creator, Al Lowe. An all round, thoroughly bloody nice bloke, Al is quite the inspiration for anyone interested in learning how great games are really made. Here’s the interview I did with him for Retro Gamer, right as [...]
GamesTM: The Sounds of Richard Jacques
An interview for GamesTM with game’s musician extraordinaire, Richard Jacques. I was particularly psyched about this one as he did the music for Sonic R on the Sega Saturn – some of the best music since Out Run.
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GamesTM: Elbow Room
I look back at the arcades of yesteryear as a format of it’s own – and the best one that ever existed, at that. I took a nostalgic look at multi-player arcade machines for GamesTM. It broke my heart to think of those long lost coin-ops…
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GamesTM: 8-Bit ‘Em Ups
Beat-’em-up are my favourite gaming genre, so I wrote this article for Retro Gamer and GamesTM (it’s been printed in both) about the history of fighting games on the old 8-bit systems. I got to speak to a lot of people who really brought this style of game home, which was paritcularly exciting for a [...]
Writer’s Journal: Taming Technology
A small piece I wrote for The Writer’s Journal about how working writers can make good use of a PDA. I’m never without mine. I can’t imagine having to return to the dark ages and use a pen and paper. It’s, like, so last century.
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The Examiner: Classic Cinema
A nostalgia piece commissioned by a local newspaper recounting the cinema of our youth.
Click = big picture.
Retro Fusion: For Mash Get Smash
A jovial look back at the Martians from Cadbury’s Smash instant mashed potato advertising campaigns for Retro Fusion magazine.
Click the pic to unmash it.
Model & Collector’s Mart: Hokey Religions & Ancient Weapons
An interview I did for Model & Collectors Mart magazine with creators of the renowned Force FX lightsabers, Master Replicas, followed by a piece on how to build your own lightsaber.
Tickle them with your mouse finger to make them enlarge.
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Retro Gamer: R-Type Retrospective
An article I wrote for Retro Gamer magazine about one of my all time favourite arcade games, R-Type.
Clickie the piccie to make it biggie.
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Diet of the Dead: Script Excerpt
An excerpt from: DIET OF THE DEAD
An overly chewy comedy of eight pages
by Spanner
Synopsis:
A SCIENTIST and a JANITOR are trapped in a lab, with the rest of the building’s zombified inhabitants outside the door. Their nearest way out is on the other side of the building through PHARMACEUTICAL RESEARCH. Despite the supply of anti-necrotics (a [...]