The other day I decided to start reading all the issues of SPAG and XYZZYnews. I came across both of them back in the day when the IF Archive was hosted at GMD but can’t remember reading any issues. I must’ve tried one of them though. I got my gaming magazine fix back then by reading Michael Feir’s Audyssey which was aimed at blind people. That could be a thread in itself because it covered quite a lot of IF.
Anyway I’m 30+ years late to the party as the kids say, and it’s been enjoyable looking back.
Here’s My random jottings about what I’ve read so far for what it’s worth. I’m at issue 14 of SPAG and 15 of XYZZYnews.
I like how the two zines seem to compliment each other, rather than be rivals. I feel they clearly have different tones and knew it. XYZZYnews seems more friendlier to me somehow, and featured more articles. SPAG was clearly where you went for reviews.
It’s interesting reading people’s thoughts on games that I don’t seem to hear much about now like theatre and SpiritWrack. I was going to include Jigsaw then I remembered the Let’s Play done a couple of years ago.
I was unaware that C.E. Forman wrote so many reviews and articles for the zines. I just knew him as the guy who wrote Delusions. I will finish that one some day. I wonder what happened to him.
I love that Xn did an interview with Volker Blasius, founder of the IF Archive. It was interesting reading how it all got started. I wonder if he’s still around. He’d be in his 80s now.
I can see why Magnus Olsson put a stop to Infocom reviews in SPAG as there were so many. I suppose it’s not surprising really.
Poor AGT.
I might try playing Space Aliens Laughed at my Cardigan one day to see if it was as bad as all that.
I think that’s all I have for now.
I think I’m going to have a break from reading these because it’s a lot. But I’ll probably add to this at some point.
That’s really fun! I remember reading through some of them for a history project a while back, but I didn’t read all the reviews. You make it sound really fun. I do like Theatre; it’s one of my favorite games. If you find anything else fun, you should definitely post it here
When I started getting into the scene in the early aughts, SPAG was a really great way to help get up to speed and catch up on conversations that had been happening, so it’s awesome that it can still serve that purpose today! I’d just add that Paul O’Brian was the editor back then, and was a super nice guy. My first post on the newsgroups was a big review thread of the 2002 Comp, and he reached out to say some nice things and ask if he could run one or two of them in SPAG, which really helped me feel welcomed (and, er, may have contributed to me getting the reviewing bug, for good or ill).
Issue 14 of SPAG’s news section highlights the rlease of HTML TADS. I remember the first game I played in that format was Stephen Granade’s “Arrival, or Attack of the B-Movie Clichés” which promised sound. I can’t remember it having much sound in but that might’ve been my setup I was using at the time, or me not getting far in it. the best use of sound I’ve come across in an HTML TADS game is Neil K. Guy’s “Six Stories”. The eponymous six stories are narrated.
There is also a review of "Spider and Web", as well as a mention in the news section of a little game called “Anchorhead”, which no one will remember in 20 years, no not at all. Would be fun to go back in a time machine to show them Cragne Manor.