Father Jack would of said: "Peace with the lord" Maybe.
Father Jack would of said: "Peace with the lord" Maybe.
"Complied" by PAndroid. Dated 31/8/98.THE SCOTSMAN IS IN
For years, Stu Campbell was been entertaining the odd million with his brand of jurnolism. Usually a very angry man, he agreed to do an interview for the great e-zine that you see before. Actully, I just sent him an email, and, erm, he replied. Stuff in italics is me, and in brackets is my comments. DYS? Good...PA: I don't know you. Who the hell are you?
I'm just a guy.[Oh]
PA: How did you become a "jurno-bloke"?
After winning the 1988 Computer Games Championships, I used the prize to start a fanzine called Between Planets, about the Atari ST and ZX81, which ran for a year and reached a circulation of about 250. When Future advertised for some staff, I sent a copy in, they interviewed me on the strength of it, and I got the job. I didn't actually know what the job was until I arrived to start work about a month later (Jan 1991), when they revealed that it was on AMIGA POWER (which didn't exist yet).
[Oh to have a circulation of 250....]
PA: Should be take what you said in that January Panel 4 the gods truth (you know, that one about getting a job in a games mag)?
Pretty much, yes. Qualifications don't count for shit, nor does being great at combos. If you don't read, you'll never be a decent writer.
PA: How many magazines do you think you've worked on/in/for?
According to my CV, about 50.
PA: Your faverite?
AMIGA POWER, of course. Though I do have a very soft spot for the fantastic Sega Zone while it was owned by Future and edited by Tim Norris/Jonathan Davies/Tim Tucker.
[No sign of YS....]
PA: At the moment, which magazine's capture your attention the mostest?
Playstation Power is very good, CVG has made a pretty dramatic return to something like form, and PC Zone has several good points. Best by a mile, though, is N64, which is something damned close to a perfect videogames magazine.
[N64 is damn good, yes. PSPower's ok, if a little elitist, whilst I find CVG unreadble kiddie crap. But that's just my opinion.]
PA: Why are you so angry?
Because everything's so shit. Do you want a list?
[Anyway...]
PA: When is AP2 coming back (just a clue to if the court action is over yet, would be nice)?
Very soon now. Don't expect lots of new material, though.
[I would just like to see it. It wern't around long enough for moa to have a good gander]
PA: Games: Did this years E3 worry you?
No more or less than usual.
PA: Your stuck in a lift. Bill Gates, Some bloke from Nintendo, Some bloke from Sega and some other bloke from Sony are in all 4 corners of the shaft lift thing. Which one will you stand nearest to?
Whichever one is nearest the door. You could have the most interesting games conversation with the Nintendo guy, you'd be least patronised by the Sony guy, you could have some fun teasing the Sega guy, and Bill Gates would be the best one to pickpocket. But basically, you'd just want to be the hell out of there.
PA: Do you really think a single gaming platform is needed? And who should design it?
Absolutely, yes. And it doesn't matter who designs it, because hardware specs are unimportant, beyond an extremely basic level of technical competence.
[They tried a single platform with the 3D0. Cough]
PA: Name who is, in your eyes, a gameing god.
Mostly the usual suspects - Shigeru Miyamoto, everyone at Rare (to have released Blast Corps, Diddy Kong and Goldeneye last year and seen Eidos win "Developer Of The Year" for poxy Tomb Raider 2 must have made them want to pack it all in and become traffic wardens), Jeff Minter (solely for Tempest 2000/X3), and Major A, the guys behind ISS64. But also the genii at Treasure, still the best-kept secret in games design. Their astonishingly great Gunners Heaven (PS) is probably the most under-rated/unfairly criticised game of the modern age, and I can't wait to play Radiant Silvergun. (They have a fabulous way with titles, too.)
[Any normal person would ignore the ECTS "awards." As for Treasure, I did like Mischeif Makers, but havn't seen light of Gunners Heaven..[
PA: Read Page170/670?
Occasionally.
PA: Opinions (however brutal) of it?
Controversially, the random surreal humour stuff is my least favourite aspect of Digi - or rather, most people's poor imitations of it are. Any fool can just ramble on about a load of wackily unconnected drivel or do a poor impersonation of The Man (I hated Vic Reeves' Big Night Out, too, incidentally). This is a general point, rather than one directed at Page 670, but stuff like The Pink Beret I can just never be arsed with. Otherwise, though, it's pretty commendable, and a very good Digi information source. (Tony Mott doesn't work for both Edge and Konami, though, only Edge.)
[Q: Whats your faverite..... Oh, yes, not very funny. Ahem.]
PA: What do you think of alt.digitiser?
See above. But as long as you killfile out the real cretins (you know who they are), and the people who just bang on about each other being "gay" or "lame" all the time, like anyone else gave a shit, I think it's one of the more pleasing newsgroups on Usenet - it's popular and dynamic, and reasonably often sees some genuinely interesting and intelligent discussions about games topics. I certainly think it was worth getting it created.
[Agreed]
PA: Would you take on what biffo does every single day?
No. In fact, I was asked by Teletext to do just that about two years ago, but declined. My respect for the Biffster, knocking it out 6 days a week, every week, in the face of loads of whinging idiots, and still coming up with genius stuff like the snakes, is limitless.
PA: Would you do part of it for him, if needs be?
Well, I do already, of course, once a month. I'd be happy to stand in for him on holidays and stuff if he asked, but it seems to me he's managing fine on his own.
PA: Anything to add? A song maybe?
Wear Your Jacket With Pride! Or Don't Wear Your Jacket At All.