Gamesmaster: The Oral History (Kickstarter)

[Stoppy2000]

Kickstarter here

 

Anyone backing this? Looks like a fairly comprehensive book about the best TV show about videogames ever made. Plus it's got Dominik Diamond on board. No sign of a Jo Guest section though. 

[moosegrinder]

Have you seen the 5k tier?

 

 

Amazing

[Stoppy2000]

Yeah that would be quite a bizarre experience. Dave Perry seems like a bit of a prick though. I reckon Dom would be a right laugh. 

[Vimster]

I really, really want someone with the money to pledge that. It reads like they've agreed that with Dave but I wouldn't be surprised if they threw that in there knowing it would never happen. If I win on the Premium Bonds next month I'll go for it.

[SeanR]

I might not be able to stretch to a signed copy...

Edited March 26, 2021 by SeanR

[Stoppy2000]

I've just backed it at the £30 level. 

 

[merrychan]

My god...watching the trailer for this bought it all back, full on nostalgia, I think I must've watched nearly all of Gamesmaster back in the day.

 

Gore Special obviously being the favourite

 

Honestly you had to be there at the time. Think I'll end up backing this...it covers my favourite era in games.

[Lorfarius]

I'm going to have a go at enhancing an episode or two from some AI software (the amazing DS9 updates have stuck in the back of my mind), curious to see how much better the old shows can look when sharpened up. Highest quality stuff I've been able to find was on Archive. org at around 150MB an episode so will see what I can come up with. I'll see if I can stick it all on some Blurays too, would love to have this on a player as part of a collection as I doubt it will ever get released to buy.

[teddymeow]

This reminds me that I put all the episodes on a YouTube playlist and never got round to watching them.

 

That's the next few evenings sorted.

[Gregory Wolfe]

6 hours ago, moosegrinder said:

Have you seen the 5k tier?

 

 

Amazing

 

I'd ask him to tatt me up with an image of Mario falling off an ice slide.

 

[James Lyon]

Season 2 gets a fair few pages. I wonder what Dexter Fletcher's contribution is.

[Stoppy2000]

21 minutes ago, James Lyon said:

Season 2 gets a fair few pages. I wonder what Dexter Fletcher's contribution is.

Presumably if he did contribute anything it would be in ALL CAPS.

[BabelRich]

Back this for the signed copy. Really looking forward to reading all the behind the scenes stuff. There’s a little bit online but this will be much more fulfilling. 
 

I watched the whole lot a few years back and I implore you to look up the prizes for the competition series (I think it was 4, featuring a young Simon Amstell in one episode). You’d have been more pissed to win than lose I reckon. 
 

Another hindsight highlight was Lee and Herring insisting the internet would not take off. 

[merrychan]

Back in the day I thought the person who did the 2 x Virtua Cop arcade machine challenge was an absolute god.

I still think this now

 

[Vimster]

14 hours ago, Gregory Wolfe said:

 

I'd ask him to tatt me up with an image of Mario falling off an ice slide.

 

I suspect the needle gun thing wouldn't be going into your arm. 

[Popo]

Backed! 
 

It’s only got £500 to go before it reaches the target. 

[Alex W.]

Couldn’t we have a whip round and raise £5000 to send someone on the diplomatic mission? Preferably someone who desperately doesn’t want to.

 

Edit - Backed for the standard edition.

[Vimster]

1 minute ago, Alex W. said:

Couldn’t we have a whip round and raise £5000 to send someone on the diplomatic mission? Preferably someone who desperately doesn’t want to.

Get someone to design the tattoo they'd get and, like that Just Tattoo Of Us, they don't see it until it's done. 

[BabelRich]

1 hour ago, merrychan said:

Back in the day I thought the person who did the 2 x Virtua Cop arcade machine challenge was an absolute god.

I still think this now

 

Didn’t he become the first editor of GamesTM?

[hmm]

Bit of a weird prize.

[Lorfarius]

That 5K reward is tempting and I do have my credit card linked to the account

[sir podger]

15 hours ago, Gregory Wolfe said:

 

I'd ask him to tatt me up with an image of Mario falling off an ice slide.

 

 

What could go wrong with reminding an egomaniac with a tattoo needle of the nadir their tv career?

[Gregory Wolfe]

20 minutes ago, sir podger said:

 

What could go wrong with reminding an egomaniac with a tattoo needle of the nadir their tv career?

 

I'd suggest he could include the game stats which somewhat vindicate him. He said he'd never played it and I assume that it was his opponent on that had alreay finished the game on 120 stars at the time the challenge took place.

 

 

 

[Parappa]

When this meets its target I assume I can still back it to get the book?

[SeanR]

6 minutes ago, Parappa said:

When this meets its target I assume I can still back it to get the book?

NO ONE gets the book UNLESS it meets its target, so get backing!

[Parappa]

19 minutes ago, SeanR said:

NO ONE gets the book UNLESS it meets its target, so get backing!

Its done  and I backed it.

[Fry Crayola]

1 hour ago, Parappa said:

When this meets its target I assume I can still back it to get the book?

 

To answer this question - yeah, you can back any kickstarter during its campaign, even after the target is reached.

 

The book will eventually end up on https://readonlymemory.vg/shop/ for anyone who misses or doesn't like the Kickstarter.

[K]

There are a few of these retrogame publishers, and Read Only Memory are by far the best in my view - their books are invariably beautifully designed, and extremely well-written. They really benefit from getting writers like Simon Parkin, Keith Stuart, Duncan Harris, etc, in, as other publishers can skew towards the amateur/enthusiast end of the spectrum, with correspondingly less elegant text. The ROM books on Sensible Software and the Bitmap Brothers are fantastic, and well worth reading, so I'll definitely be pledging towards a copy of the Gamesmaster book. Tempted to get a signed copy.

[merrychan]

5 minutes ago, K said:

There are a few of these retrogame publishers, and Read Only Memory are by far the best in my view - their books are invariably beautifully designed, and extremely well-written. They really benefit from getting writers like Simon Parkin, Keith Stuart, Duncan Harris, etc, in, as other publishers can skew towards the amateur/enthusiast end of the spectrum, with correspondingly less elegant text. The ROM books on Sensible Software and the Bitmap Brothers are fantastic, and well worth reading, so I'll definitely be pledging towards a copy of the Gamesmaster book. Tempted to get a signed copy.

The ROM Megadrive book is absolutely superb

[K]

26 minutes ago, merrychan said:

The ROM Megadrive book is absolutely superb

 

Yeah, the Megadrive book is lovely. The large paper format and very high-quality stock means the painted artwork looks absolutely gorgeous.