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[KiwiArcader]

Okay ... some majour progress here on the issue.

I rescanned the page at 1200dpi, applied brightness/contrast adjustments and then flood filled the page. A huge improvement resulted to the point where I am now really comfortable with that page. Downsampled it to 300dpi and it so much better that I am rescanning the other affected pages to apply the same process to them.

Saving as a jpg wasn't the issue .... I think the 300dpi res doesn't have the necessary fidelity for the grain in the paper.

[meppi]

Wow 1200dpi? That's crazy! I love it. 

That's something I wouldn't have thought about even though it's obvious that it was somehow resolution related.
This little trick could be extremely helpful for scanning weathered magazines.
Will take quite a bit longer to scan though at that setting, but if that's what it takes I'd say go for it.

[KiwiArcader]

Well ...even with 3GB of RAM Paintshop was creaking at the seams with the 190MB file[ Working RAM version was a whopper]. LOL

Obviously it sets me back another few days as I have to rescan quite a few pages. Ad's I'm not so worried about but any article pages with white text are going to get the treatment. Bummer really but I want it done properly. EG, if Roger Kean was to grab it to read he'd be pretty happy with the quality of the end result.

[meppi]

I can imagine. 

Glad to hear that you're going the extra mile on these releases.
That last sentence really hit a chord.
Said this in the past as well, if we are able to release digital version that the publisher/editors/writers can be proud off, then I couldn't be happier myself.

[KiwiArcader]

HAHA ... well ... heaven forbid if you ever get Future Publishing on side with this preservation stuff as I'd be knee deep in mags to do. Or Re-do.

We're not so different at the end of the day.

Most of us want to make great digital versions that the publishers would be happy to read/use etc. The balancing act comes in knowing where to play your cards. To date most cards have been 'you can do it but they may be taken down' where some publishers are known to be highly protective of their IP but don't have the desire to do it themselves while others are unknown as they folded years ago and questions remain over who may have purchased their IP. Then there's a few like Roger Kean who "get" the message and are happy to have their works shared. These people deserve the extra effort we expend to present their magazines in a quality digital version.

UPDATE. Several pages rescanned and that I am happy with the results is an understatement.

Thank god that the Amiga World mags don't require this much work.

[NaturalChemical]

I'm going to try and get my new scanner hooked up this week, and hopefully I'll have an issue scanned later on.

By the way, can anyone tell me anything about a mag called Newtype Gaming? I found the debut issue the other day, but it's difficult to find info on it.

[triverse]

Hey NC, can you post the publisher of Newtype Gaming?  Sometimes going by the publisher we can find out more information (especially if it was a very niche publication).  Thanks.

[NaturalChemical]

Stupid question here, but where would I expect to find the publisher? I don't spot any mention on the cover/first page/other obvious spaces. Looking it over, all I can see is about a thousand mentions of Newtype Gaming.

I picked up a few details by looking through it, though. It was published in November/December of '93, and was supposed to be a bimonthly magazine. It has some interesting coverage in it; a full page section on Samurai Showdown for the Neo Geo is the cover story. It seems they wanted it to appeal to hardcore gamers.

[KiwiArcader]

Never heard of that one. At all!! Interesting indeed.

Might be one of those mags like Future Publishing's "Arcade" where after a dozen issues or so they canned it due to poor sales or not fitting into a particular market segment very well. I got 7 issues of that one then "poof" it disappeared off the local retailers shelves never to return.

Be good to get that mag of yours scanned for sure.

Update on Zzap64 issue 34 .... 92 pages of 106 have been scanned ... approx 75 of those are also completed re cleanup etc. Not too far away now....

[triverse]

NC, it should be either on the page with the index or the letter from the editor type column (usually somewhere in the first 5 or 6 pages).  It is really starting to sound intriguing to read it.  If you don't mind, could you throw up some of the people's names that worked on the mag?  It is a long shot but we might be able to discern a publisher from that (there wasn't much crossover in the old days).

Kiwi, that is awesome news, thank you so much for your hard work and effort in bringing high quality scans of Zzap64 to the world.

[NaturalChemical]

Glad to hear you're making such progress on Zzap, Kiwi. I can't wait until I get around to reading them.

As for Newtype, I'm still not seeing anything. In fact, the magazine is only about 20 pages long (but I bet that later issues would have been a little longer). Printed on very high quality paper; and without any ads, as far as I can see! Perhaps that's why it didn't last long... There's a section in the middle of the issue about tournaments, and it mentions that "Newtype Gaming Magazine is originally a division of Newtype Productions, but works independently." Could Newtype Productions be the publisher?

But there is a short credits section. Here's the names:

Creator - Bryan M. Datu
Production Manager/Controller - Steven Lee
Editor-in-Chief - Ashif Hakik
Administration - Leah Joseph
Senior Editor - Joe Willis
Director of Creative Services - Manuel A. Millan
Subscription Manager - Joni Mineishi
Circulation Director - Mary Monzon
Promotions/Advertising - Dexter Lopez
Game Reviewers - (note that they all seem to use pseudonyms)
"D" Game Master
Chiharu-Chan
The C.A.T. (Champ of all Time)
The Pro A.J.F.
The Eliminator
B.A.J.
Aladdin
The Dominator
The Scorpion
Jeff Guerrero

Not that that will help much... Well, I'll try to get some quick scans done this week for you guys.

[KiwiArcader]

Most interesting there NC. Is there any pricing on the mag?

If it hasn't I wonder if it was a promotional magazine like the pre-issue's we saw for mags like The ONE, Zero etc where they were put out as a teaser for a full sized mag to gauge public interest etc. At 20-30 pages it certainly fits the scenario.

Also, over my way we have these in a free monthly format [Game Freak] where there is a small amount of advertising and I think the mag is funded by the game publishers as a sort of promotional review without looking like a promotional review. LOL

[NaturalChemical]

Didn't even think to check for a price. It says $2.50 on the front. And there's subscription prices inside.

After a little more searching, I found a couple other tidbits. Greg Kasavin, according to Wikipedia, worked on Newtype Gaming Magazine. A picture on the site of someone who designed one of their covers shows that the magazine ran at least several issues. http://www.doroquezdesign.com/Version3/Portfolio_Print/NTG_Cover.html I also keep finding links to newtype.com, which is obviously dead now.

The strangest thing was this link, which has excerpts about the soundtrack of Robotek Invasion. Which was released in 2004. Newtype must have lasted way longer than I thought. http://www.jesperkyd.com/acclaim/rev_robotech.html

[triverse]

I will ask Jesper about Newtype.  He may be able to shed some light on this (though I am not holding my breath, lol).

[NaturalChemical]

Through some more searches, I found someone who claims to have written for NewType. When I hear from him, I'll let you know what I find out.

[KiwiArcader]

Found an EBAY link for another issue

http://cgi.cafr.ebay.ca/Newtype-Gaming-3-Video-Game-Magazine-/110515328893

Issue #3 ....

Update .... this pic http://img230.imageshack.us/i/dscf20831sq.jpg/ shows another issue. The website says ... "Newtype Gaming is a glorified fanzine (which the editors more-or-less admit in the first issue was named after Newtype magazine). It got more professional by issue five or so. If anyone remembers this, it's probably for its website, which was Greg Kasavin's first job writing about games."