Atari Jaguar book: Clipped Claws

[Lostdragon]

1 hour ago, PFG 9000 said:

I realize I'm about 29 years too late to this party, but Wow!  That reviewer could not have missed the point of AvP any worse.  It's not like Doom, it's not like Doom.  Duh...it isn't Doom.  It's not trying to be Doom.  And I'm sure the timeline is documented somewhere, but it's entirely possible AvP began development before Doom even launched.

 

It makes me think of Marathon, another early FPS trilogy, but one that eventually led to the creation of Halo.  Marathon played nothing like Doom and was a fairly intellectual experience.  But it was constantly compared to Doom and never garnered much of a fan following.

Edge used a lot of annoymus freelance writers back then and some of their Jaguar reviews  raised a few eyebrows. 

 

The Rev Stoo Campbell and his 3/10 Defender 2000 review, also used by ST Format magazine, springs to mind. 

 

 

The AVP reviewer i believe, came off the back him playing a lot of Doom 2 and expecting AVP to be something akin to an Aliens style mod for Doom.. 

 

 

Edge did make amends years later, by doing a superb Making Of.. feature on Jaguar AVP, i put the scans up on here sometime ago. 

 

 

 

Edited March 24, 2023 by Lostdragon

[KidGameR186496]

1 hour ago, PFG 9000 said:

I realize I'm about 29 years too late to this party, but Wow!  That reviewer could not have missed the point of AvP any worse.  It's not like Doom, it's not like Doom.  Duh...it isn't Doom.  It's not trying to be Doom.  And I'm sure the timeline is documented somewhere, but it's entirely possible AvP began development before Doom even launched.

 

It makes me think of Marathon, another early FPS trilogy, but one that eventually led to the creation of Halo.  Marathon played nothing like Doom and was a fairly intellectual experience.  But it was constantly compared to Doom and never garnered much of a fan following.

Who knows how old is the design document Atari shared with Rebellion during development of AVP, but it's pretty well know that the Project started as a Lynx Game with references to the Dark Horse Comics characters before that incarnation was canned. James Hampton has since acknowledged both Wolfenstein 3D and Doom as influences for the Jaguar incarnation of AVP

[Lostdragon]

On 3/24/2023 at 3:54 PM, PFG 9000 said:

I realize I'm about 29 years too late to this party, but Wow!  That reviewer could not have missed the point of AvP any worse.  It's not like Doom, it's not like Doom.  Duh...it isn't Doom.  It's not trying to be Doom.  And I'm sure the timeline is documented somewhere, but it's entirely possible AvP began development before Doom even launched.

 

It makes me think of Marathon, another early FPS trilogy, but one that eventually led to the creation of Halo.  Marathon played nothing like Doom and was a fairly intellectual experience.  But it was constantly compared to Doom and never garnered much of a fan following.

Please excuse poor quality of the image but in the AEM interview, Rebellion are asked why they went for a FPS style game for AVP. 

[+Saturn]

Great article. Thanks for posting that, LD

[sirlynxalot]

Funny article. I like how they announce checkered flag as a month away from completion and then indicate that all that is left is the programming! 

[Lostdragon]

2 hours ago, Saturn said:

Great article. Thanks for posting that, LD

I need to take a  far better photo, but here's the second page from the article. 

 

It was in among my misc stuff i found whilst sorting out what to keep and what to ditch, before i move in with the missus 😊

Edited March 27, 2023 by Lostdragon

[Lostdragon]

1 hour ago, sirlynxalot said:

Funny article. I like how they announce checkered flag as a month away from completion and then indicate that all that is left is the programming! 

That always raised a few eyebrows from myself at the time when i first saw it 😂

 

Kingsley interviews always make for entertaining reading, even if they were never originally intended as such. 

[+cubanismo]

On 3/27/2023 at 4:05 AM, sirlynxalot said:

Funny article. I like how they announce checkered flag as a month away from completion and then indicate that all that is left is the programming! 

While playing Cybermorph on the Atari 50th collection, I actually managed to unlock this easter egg: A historical photo of that month of programming that Atari must have found in their archives somewhere:

 

Spoiler

 

[mikro]

I'm usually quite critical when it comes to quality of such books (the borders series by Microzeit Publishing and Atari Inc.: Business is Fun come into my mind as prime examples of books with huge potential but very rushed content) but this one definitely deserves a thumbs-up (reminded me of the "We love Atari" books by Zafinn Books).

 

I don't mind small factual errors, it was pleasant to read, while being totally for free. Many thanks for that.

 

[42bs]

16 minutes ago, mikro said:

I'm usually quite critical when it comes to quality of such books (the borders series by Microzeit Publishing and Atari Inc.: Business is Fun come into my mind as prime examples of books with huge potential but very rushed content) but this one definitely deserves a thumbs-up (reminded me of the "We love Atari" books by Zafinn Books).

 

I don't mind small factual errors, it was pleasant to read, while being totally for free. Many thanks for that.

 

Ha, we must have read different books. My opinion to this is 180° of yours wrt Microzeit and this eBook.

[Lostdragon]

53 minutes ago, mikro said:

I'm usually quite critical when it comes to quality of such books (the borders series by Microzeit Publishing and Atari Inc.: Business is Fun come into my mind as prime examples of books with huge potential but very rushed content) but this one definitely deserves a thumbs-up (reminded me of the "We love Atari" books by Zafinn Books).

 

I don't mind small factual errors, it was pleasant to read, while being totally for free. Many thanks for that.

 

From samples I have glanced at, along with customer reviews,, i think the Atari Inc book might be a little too dry, writing wise, for my personal tastes, plus a little disjointed in terms of content. 

 

Just started reading Zaffin books Atari Lynx book, first book by them i have ever seen. 

 

Whilst I would personally disagree with the statement regarding the majority of the Lynx Libary has stood the test of time (it's arcade conversions are often compromised for example) and it seemed odd to discuss Lynx vs GB in 2 seperate sections only the second section going into real depth.. 

 

I'm absolutely delighted by the rest of the content I have seen so far. 

 

New industry sources giving quotes, details of Atari sponsoring events I had previously never heard about.. 

 

 

Great honesty when it came to discussing sales figures. 

 

None of this nonsense where an Atari UK figure goes along with a suggested number and suddenly it's presented as fact. 

 

Sources detailed at length. 

 

I've been reading multiple Lynx articles over the years in RetroGamer magazine, by writers such as Latimer and Goldberg, plus a misc Lynx games guide by a certain 'writer', which was terrible). 

 

So it's fantastic to see some fresh eyes and fresh insights. 

 

 

 

[42bs]

49 minutes ago, Lostdragon said:

Just started reading Zaffin books Atari Lynx book, first book by them i have ever seen. 

Do they talk about homebrew?

[+orpheuswaking]

4 hours ago, Lostdragon said:

Just started reading Zaffin books Atari Lynx book, first book by them i have ever seen. 

 

 

Zaffin books are excellent, I have the two We Love Atari books as well as the Lynx and St books. I'll be picking up the Jaguar one later this year when it publishes too. 

[+orpheuswaking]

3 hours ago, 42bs said:

Do they talk about homebrew?

It's a gameguide of the official releases and history of the Lynx. 

[42bs]

4 minutes ago, orpheuswaking said:

It's a gameguide of the official releases and history of the Lynx. 

Well history of the Lynx should include BLL (selish me). If not it is not complete.

BTW one thing about "Clipped Claws" which is really a malus that it only mentions Songbird, but not JagServer or BJL.

[Rick Dangerous]

This is awesome!  Downloaded and will read it also; would love a hard copy someday! 

[Lostdragon]

4 hours ago, orpheuswaking said:

 

Zaffin books are excellent, I have the two We Love Atari books as well as the Lynx and St books. I'll be picking up the Jaguar one later this year when it publishes too. 

I've dropped enough unsubtle hints to my partner, Samantha, that I would really really like the Jaguar book for Xmas, I hope she's put in a Pre-order😂

 

Only just started on the Lynx book, but amazing quality, absolutely delighted with what's on offer. 

Edited September 7, 2023 by Lostdragon

[JaggingUK]

Just to say a massive thank you for uploading the clipped claws book which I read a few weeks ago and really enjoyed - did you ever add this to Amazon so they can print off hard copies of them and sell them.

[Boris K.]

Thanks! Actually, I do not want this book to be sold, the idea of it being freely available was my goal from the beginning. Maybe I'll do a small run of hardcover ones some day in addition to the existing free pdf, but that is currently not on my list, as I still look to expand it with a 3rd edition first.