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### Welcome To RGCD Issue #03!

Well, it's not been easy, but we've managed to complete this issue just in time for distribution at Retro North! RGCD has seen a lot of changes since the last time I sat down to write an editorial - the development team has again doubled in size and we've recently started work on a GBA/DS homebrew side-project (see the RGCD online shop for details). As for the magazine itself, in addition to the usual game reviews and previews Issue #03 also contains part one our debut proper article (courtesy of Mike Bevan) detailing the history of indie-gaming hero Jeff 'Llamasoft' Minter - and we've even included our first serious peripheral review; a write-up of the MMC64 SD-card reader for the Commodore 64 (well, I bought it to play games on, so it still sort of fits the magazine's remit...)

Successfully completing the magazine within a tight deadline has proven that the possibility of RGCD becoming a bi-monthly publication is not as unrealistic as I'd previously imagined, and it's definitely a worthy target to aim for. We're not quite there yet, but with the size of the dedicated team increasing exponentially I doubt it'll take much longer. In just over 10 weeks we've amassed a total of 29 game reviews and 6 extra features, making this issue our biggest yet.

The content is of the usual high caliber, and yet again we've further diversified our platform range; inside Issue #03 you'll find reviews of new releases for the AGA Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari 2600, Atari XE/XL, Commodore 64, MSX, Nintendo GBA and DS, Sinclair Spectrum and VIC20 - as well as the usual line-up of PC/Mac remakes and retro-style indie games. In addition to this we've held in-depth Q&A sessions with Matt Carr (he of the featured Blast Arena Advance cartridge project and Lemmings DS fame) as well as prolific Spectrum coder Jonathan Cauldwell (who talks about his upcoming EggHead title and his passion for Sir Clive's 8-Bit opus).

Before anyone points out the obvious, I am aware that the last issue's featured game was a GBA release (which is a bit cheeky in itself because the GBA is not quite retro yet), but I make no apologies for featuring Blast Arena Advance in Issue #03; it's a cracking game and Matt Carr provided us with the inspiration to start our own cartridge project! Don't worry though; we'll re-address the balance in the next issue.

Other highlights include previews of Pumpkin Games' Doppelganger and the awesome work-in-progress Lead 8K for the humble 2600, reviews of top C64 releases (lost and found commercial gem The Rebels and the Indiana Jones-aping Joe Gunn), Cosine's latest projects (Kikstart C64 and Reaxion GBA) and our favourites from last year's MSX Dev competition (Traffic Jam, Daedalian Opus and Malaika). PC retro-gamers are spoilt for choice this issue, with impressive remakes of Turrican (Hurican), arcade favorites Centipede (Millenipede and Spiga) and Robotron (Mechatron) and of course there's a selection of top original releases such as the boss-battling Fraxy, visually-overwhelming Burn The Trash and turn-based X-Com tribute Urban Legend.

Well, that's another issue wrapped up! Now I've got to burn 100 CDs, print out the artwork and get busy with those scissors...

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### James Monkman

Founder of RGCD and currently the magazines main contributor, James has a near obsessive passion for retro gaming, especially with regard to collecting and playing new games for old and unsupported machines.

Officially a 'hater' of next-gen consoles, James likes to pretend that it's still 1992 and prefers his computers to have 16-Bits (or less).

If you feel so obliged, you can become one of his 'friends' by clicking here: www.myspace.com/heavystylus.

### Dudley

British videogame and motorsport expert Dudley is well respected by at least three people for his honest and occasionally completely fictional writing. He runs the combined sarcasm and blog site Ask Duds and has in the past been involved in Retro Fusion Online and the late, lamented website Sega Master System World. By day he works in development for a medium size software company where he attempts to change the universe through innovative accountancy solutions.

Dudley lives in London with a shiney new flatmate, about 50 games machines and several broken pieces of electronics which "might come in handy". While he is the Walrus, he has not spoken to the Egg man in several years.

### Gnome

Gnome (aka Gnome), son of Gnome, is a gnome, or, to be more precise, a retro-gaming, adventure obsessed, Amiga loving and 8-bit micros cherishing gnome, with a sick passion for video games and blogging that usually comes in 10 minute bursts.

Already trying to figure out how cities work, maintaining the Gnome's Lair gaming blog (gnomeslair.blogspot.com), searching for Retro Treasures (retro-treasures.blogspot.com), wantonly pocket gaming (pocketgaming.blogspot.com) and wondering about life's wonders, Gnome has ambitions of becoming the first and only bearded RGCD cheerleader.

### Graham Humphrey

Graham Humphrey has been a die-hard Amiga fan for longer than he cares to remember and is very active in the Amiga scene. He's a moderator on the English Amiga Board, has programmed a few games with another one in development and has been writing reviews and articles for Amiga-related magazines since December 2005.

He owns several newer consoles and a PC but his souped-up Amiga 1200 still gets used on a regular basis. He doesn't like to think about how much money he must have spent on it...

### Mike Bevan

Mike Bevan first became aware of the strange world of home computer gaming with a rather random encounter with 'Manic Miner' at a local school fete. Enamoured by this not very educational but rather eye-opening application for Sinclair's rubber-keyed wonder he proceeded to nag his parents for his own machine which resulted in the surprising acquisition of a Commodore 64.

He has run 'Destroy all Monsters!'(www.stickycarpet.com/dam/), a website supposedly dedicated to 2D shoot'emups, on and off (mostly off) since 1999, which is very handy for keeping him off the streets. His current passion is attempting to electrocute himself with old arcade games.

### Mike Rawlings

Mike has recently finished his degree in BSc (Hons) Computer Games Technology gaining a 2:1 and hopes to one day (preferably soon) work in the computer games industry. He enjoys many different genres of games on a variety of platforms but mainly cares about the gameplay over graphics.

Aside from gaming he enjoys going to the cinema, the pub, and clubs. His various sport interests include Football and Snooker and he plays 9-Ball Pool in Pro/Am Tournaments.

Strongbow is probably his favourite alcoholic beverage, so buy him a pint or two and he might make something in 3D for you. Speaking of which you can see his work at www.digital-renegades.co.uk/michael.

### Neil E.

Neil's introduction to computers came via Deathchase on the Spectrum 48K (at the tender age of 4 years old), marking the start of a life long love affair with computer games. A huge fan of 80's computer magazines, such as Your Sinclair and CRASH, meant a largely misspent youth of endlessly typing in listings, only to return to fix said listings to get them to work!

The 90's saw acquisitions of the NES, Mega Drive and the Amiga A600 and A1200 respectively, an era he refers to as his 'Gaming Golden Age'.

Currently in his final year at University, studying a BA in Music Technology, retro-gaming remains a major past-time. He also allegedly updates his fledgling retro-gaming blog www.typingoutloud.com when he can find the time.

### Ruari O'Toole

Ruari O'Toole is an avid gamer who found himself caught between both sides of the Amiga vs Atari wars of the eighties and nineties. He is an obsessive scourer of car boot sales and junk shops, and misses the days when chunky polygons and parallax scrolling blew peoples' minds.

### SirClive

SirClive is a retro gaming collector with a particular fondness for the Commodore 16, VIC-20 and the ZX Spectrum. He can be found regularly at the Retro Gamer forum and also runs the Weekend Gamer VIC-20 Archive.

He is a support member of Team Weekend Gamer, contributing to WGTV - a downloadable gaming TV show.

Both the VIC-20 archive and WGTV show can be found at www.weekend-gamer.co.uk.

### T.M.R

T.M.R (aka Jason Kelk) has been playing, designing and programming games for 8 and 16-Bit hardware for over twenty two years, almost all for his own entertainment, and writing about them for the last eleven. In short, he's a bit of a show-off, really.

When he finds time in his busy schedule (mostly filled with self-aware sarcasm) he pretends to manage and edit Oldschool-Gaming.com (a reviews site dedicated to recent games released on classic hardware) and is a member of multi-platform 8-Bit game and demo development team Cosine.

### Travis Fahs

Travis hails from the US, presently residing in the New York area. This means he never knew the joy of arguing over a dozen different home computer standards with his friends, but he made up for it by bickering about everything else gaming-related.

Travis may not live in the past, but he at least keeps a summer home there. A lover of losers, he can't help but gravitate to the systems time has forgotten. As a freelance gaming journalist, he feels a sense of obligation to know his gaming history as well as he can. Plus he's just a sucker for all things 2D.

### Elliot Taylor

Without Elliot, none of this would have been possible. Elliot Taylor is the technical wiz behind the mechanics of RGCD and is solely responsible for all the ASP/XHTML code and design of both the RGCD website and the discmag itself.

Although originally a hardcore Atarian, Elliot now spends the majority of his time creating bespoke business software and web-based solutions. More details can be found on his website at www.ejtstudios.com.

### Ethan Worley

Ethan has been creating digital art for about 8 years and drawing since before he was even conceived. He is currently trying to teach himself animation, guitar, and actionscript but is quite an unfocused pupil. He is also in a volunteer fire brigade and plays basketball poorly. In his free time he enjoys sleeping and looking for food to eat. He thinks typing in third person is strange.