next »

[Nreive]

Last updated: 24 February 2013

Hopefully, this magazine scan progress will help me - and inform you - on what I'm doing, what I've done, but mainly what I plan to do.  Although, I don't expect I will progress through the work as quickly as hoped (other projects take time as well ).

I was very fond of the UK Mega Drive mag MEGA and I have had issues 1-30, plus the special Gold issue, at some point.  In 2007, I made it my mission to scan all these issues into digital format.  I did get around to scanning about 15 issues, but later on, I wasn't happy with the quality of the scans and have now decided to go back and do them again, with better quality settings.  In contrast to my older scans, I am taking more time in editing these newer scans, and they are looking much better for it.

Magazines being worked on:
 Mega Drive Advanced Gaming issue 4 - December 1992 (UK) - Status: scanned (100%)
 DC-UK issue 1 - September 1999 (UK) - Status: scanning (100%)

Magazines planned to archive:
 PC Player issue 4 - March 1994 (UK)
 Arcade issue 3 - February 1999 (UK)
 Mega issue 6 - March 1993 (UK)

Magazines finished and released:
 S: The Sega Mag issue 1 - October 1989 (UK)

 Mega issue 1 - October 1992 (UK)
 Mega issue 2 - November 1992 (UK)
 Mega issue 3 - December 1992 (UK)
 Mega issue 4 - January 1993 (UK)
 Mega issue 16 - January 1994 (UK)

 Mega Drive Advanced Gaming issue 1 - September 1992 (UK)
 Mega Drive Advanced Gaming issue 2 - October 1992 (UK)
 Mega Drive Advanced Gaming issue 3 - November 1992 (UK)

 Raze issue 1 - October 1990 (UK)

 PC Player issue 1 - December 1993 (UK)
 PC Player issue 2 - January 1994 (UK)
 PC Player issue 3 - February 1994 (UK)

Special thanks: Martyn Chudley, Paul Mallinson, David Watson, homgran and Mort.

[meppi]

This setup seems somehow familiar.

Don't worry too much about the speed of getting these out.
The most important thing is that you're happy with how the scans appear in the end.
As you already know, I have gone back myself to my earlier scans and am in the process of doing this once more, just like you are.
It actually made me smile reading how you're not going to be going as fast as I am. I'm always kicking myself for thinking the same thing, that I take way too long for finishing an issue.
But like I already said, it's more important to put the quality of the scan first so you don't have to redo them later on because you realize you could have done a better job.

Looking forward to these btw as I haven't seen many of them myself.

[Nreive]

This setup seems somehow familiar.

Hoho, yeah.  Why come up with something different when something is already in place that works well. 

Don't worry too much about the speed of getting these out.
It actually made me smile reading how you're not going to be going as fast as I am. I'm always kicking myself for thinking the same thing, that I take way too long for finishing an issue.

With other commitments taking up a lot of my time, the plan is to get at least one magazine scanned/edited per month.  But it will be worth it to see the better quality scans and it will give me some time to chase up on the missing issues.

[meppi]

Hehe, don't worry about any of it.

I tried to make the original post so that it would be as synoptic (is that the correct word...) as possible, while still giving people a nice insight into how far certain magazines are and such.

As for the progress I'm making right now, it's going quite a bit quicker than normal since I'm still at home for the next 2 weeks.
After that I will gave to get back to the old routine of going back to work and such, mixing that up with hobbies and doing all the scanning.
So I'm trying to squeeze the most out of these last 2 weeks. 

[Gnash]

Wow that's quite a bit of work.  Yeah take it easy so it doesn't get tedious.

[Nreive]

Just a quick note to say that I will be away for a couple of weeks so may not be able to update this thread as much I'd like, if at all.  However, I may still be able to work on editing the scans for MEGA #1, so maybe have a completed release on my return.  See you then.

[meppi]

We'll try to keep this place in one piece while you're away.

Looking forward to seeing you back soon.

[triverse]

Take care Nreive, you will be missed while you are gone, and as always, you know you are more than welcome here when you can return.  We look forward to seeing you come back.

[Nreive]

Thanks guys. I didn't get as much editing as I'd have liked. I would like to get issue 1 edited and completed as it's quite a good issue with a couple of massive reviews. I will also be going back over it to make sure the scans line up with each other, as I noticed my last scans were a bit off. But after this is done I will be doing other things for a couple of months (Retroaction issue 4), but will be able to scan issues in while I work on this.

[meppi]

Glad to have you back.

Don't worry too much about it. These things seem to flow in waves.
Sometimes it feels like you're not getting any kind of progress, when all of a sudden work starts moving at a very speedy pace again.
The most important part is to try and not get discouraged and exhaust yourself to the point where you will find it hard to come back to working on scans again.

On the alignment part, again, I wouldn't put much thought into is, unless it's a scanning/editing error.
Many magazines don't line up perfectly themselves, so having to do that afterwards would cause a lot of problems I feel.

[triverse]

Welcome back Nreive!  You rock man!

[Nreive]

I've recently received the very first issue of Mega Drive Advanced Gaming from an OoPA member known as Homgran.  He was kind enough to lend his copy for me to scan, so kudos to him - that kind of generosity is very rare these days.

[meppi]

Oh man that's absolutely wonderful news! Certainly something to brighten up this otherwise depressing day for me.

I loved issue 2 from the moment I laid eyes on it. Can't wait to read the first one.

[triverse]

Wow!  Thank you homgran, it is wonderful to have members willing to help with the project like that.  Thank you so much for that.

Nreive, thank you for scanning it (for those that don't know, Nreive is the person responsible for Mega Drive Advanced Gaming #2 and the awesome quality that it came out with in the scans).

[Addicted to Chaos]

Thank you Homgran, I really loved issue 2, and was wondering why they started with that instead of 1? Wasn't sure if it was because they didn't have it. I'm glad to know that OoPA has fans such as yourself.

Also, thank you Nreive for scanning them as well. I'm really loving loving all these Sega magazines at the moment (can't get enough) alot more than Nintendo. Think I'll fire up the SNES soon enough to fix this problem, but in the meantime, keep up the great work, and I cab't wait for issue #1 of Mega Drive Advanced Gaming.

[Nreive]

Another bit of news and something I am thrilled about.  Paul Mallinson has kindly donated his spare copies of PC Player magazine.  This was a short lived PC games mag from Maverick Magazines (see Publisher Hugh Gollner's interview to get his view on the mag).  A great looking mag in the style of EDGE and you can expect to see these appearing here at Out-of-Print Archive sometime in the future.  Thanks again to Paul, who was also Deputy Editor on the mag. Here are a few thumbnail cover images of the great mag that was lost in retro time.

[Nreive]

To accompany the official release of Mega Drive Advanced Gaming issue 1, I wrote up a "making of..." type article over at Retroaction. The image below shows an example of the before and after restoration done on many of the pages:

[meppi]

Great article there. Really liked reading it myself as it's spot on.

Right now I'm fighting with a couple of pages of Maximum 7 myself which need an ungodly amount of editing to fix them, so this one hits very close to home.

[Addicted to Chaos]

Just finished reading. Loved it.

[Nreive]

After finally getting into some kind of rhythm with a release schedule of around one magazine released every month, things have come to a halt. Unfortunately, due to moving to a new house, my scanning/editing activities have been put on hold for the time being. This has also had a knock on effect on the monthly Back in Time articles. However, I currently have limited access to an old laptop and should have the April 1992 edition of Back in Time completed soon.

After which, I hope to jump straight on to the May 1992 edition in an attempt to get the articles back on track for release on the beginning of the month that it relates to. With the scanning and editing temporarily stopped, I also have plans to do some articles and get some interviews with people from the classic gaming era.

[Nreive]

The end of the Back in Time feature.

As with everthing in life, all things must come to an end and the Back in Time feature is no exception.  But we've had a good run since the idea was invisioned back in March 2010.  With the addition of accompanying online articles from the magazines featured, this also helped flesh out the micro computer articles for our website.  However, reasearching and gathering the necessary cover scans and magazine articles for each edition is becoming increasingly time consuming, especially when the magazines are not always readily available... and with the explosion of magazines in 1993, it will be virtually an impossible task to produce the feature satisfactory. 

With all these factors in mind, I believe that now is a good time to step back and concentrate on other things - editing magazine scans, interviews and other features for the site.  So the October 1992 edition will be the final Back in Time article with an extra special version planned for November. 

[Nreive]

As I'm getting back into some kind of routine with regards to archiving these magazines, I thought a slight update to this archiving progress thread was in order.  I've basically streamlined the update list so that it should be easier to keep track/update. 

I've also added a list of things to come and even though it is by no means the full list, it does give a good indicator of what to expect further down the line.  As you can see, the old favourites are still in there - PC Player and Mega - but I thought it was essential, not just for myself but for the readers, that the list was mixed up with a regular dose of other magazines. 

Here's to a great 2013 for videogaming preservation.

[sblack]

Nrieve thank you for the update. Just wanted to pop in here and show my appreciation for all the hard work you do.
So thank you and long may this great community prosper