My memories of Jason Kelk

Jason Kelk was a very good friend to me for over 27 years and watching his fight against COVID-19 over the past 14 months was extremely hard to see for many of us who knew him so well. There were some very dark times, but during the early part of 2021 it was looking like he had finally turned a corner and was back on Facebook chatting and posting once again (albeit from his hospital bed). Of course, he still had a way to go, but none of us ever thought we would lose him like we tragically did on the 18th of June 2021.

As I write this, I still feel numb and it has not quite sunk in yet that I will not be able to catch up with Jason and spend time with him, along with Sean Connolly and Darren Nevell. My brain is still trying to process it all, so I decided to write everything down about my memories of how I first met Jason and our friendship over the years.

Writing stuff down has always been my own personal way of processing things, so what follows has been freely written and straight from the heart. I hope it makes for interesting reading and that it gives a sense from my perspective at least what a great guy Jason was.

First meeting Jason

It was just by pure chance that I got to know Jason. I had just completed my first year at Secondary School and was still playing and supporting the Commodore 64, though it was clear that these were the twilight years now for the machine. Regardless of that, a computer shop in Canterbury, Kent called ComputerWorld was still stocking C64 games, which was quite something considering the likes of Boots/John Menzies had by now stopped doing so.

Book finally launched!

Finally, after 6/7 years of late nights the Games That Weren’t book is now open to pre-orders at http://www.gtwbook.co.uk

I’ve been nervous as much as excited about the launch, because there are paying customers buying copies, and I want them to get something special as a result. I honestly hope that’s what has been achieved and that people really enjoy the book. It has very much been a long labour of love.

In the meantime, i’m going to try and now get some more playing time in for a change! 🙂

OnyxSoft JoyDivision

Already coming up for February, but one of the first projects I wanted to have a go at building this new year was an Amiga setup on a Raspberry Pi 3, using Amibian.  It’s been brilliant – it’s allowed me to set up a Pi that can boot straight into a Amiga 1200 with an OS installed and access to WHD_Load games, without issues with floppy disk decay like I was experiencing when I dug out the Amiga over Christmas.  Perfect now for a quick fix of Amiga nostalgia every so often.

However, although I could use a keyboard to play the games instead of a joystick – i’d much prefer to have a real joystick to use with games like SWOS.  USB Joysticks are ok, but they don’t quite feel right compared to the original ones I grew up with in the 80’s and 90’s.  It would be great to use my old-school Competition Pro instead.

When looking in the Amibian settings, I noticed that there was configuration options for something called OnyxSoft JoyDivision.   Upon further investigation, I found their website which lists a wonderful little USB device which allows you to connect up a classic 9 Pin Joystick.

The site gives all the source code and PCB layout details, so you can build them for yourself,  or luckily for people like me, you can purchase them when available for a great 22 Euros for 2 – though its best to get in touch with Stefan beforehand to check if that is still the case and if he has them in stock.

No drivers were required.  I plugged it in with a proper Competition Pro with my Raspberry Pi, and it worked right away!  No lag (not noticeable to me at least), and feels great using proper classic joysticks with the setup.  Really impressive, and the build quality was sturdy too.

There are details of what compatibility is like, but the great thing is that the boards come with a firmware that is updatable, and will soon feature support for Amiga/ST mice for instance.  But standard joysticks and control pads should work fine already.

So if you’re looking for a cost effective solution to using your old joysticks in your emulation setups, then i’d highly recommend checking out the JoyDivision.

 

‘Game Machines 1972-2012’ book review

I recently received a new retro/gaming related book to review, thanks to Anna and Dave from The Attic Bug, which was ideal timing for reading over the Christmas period.

Although the retro scene is awash with publications these days on specific platforms or subjects,  ‘Game Machines 1972-2012’ is a encyclopaedia of consoles, handheld and home computers across most of the duration of the games industry.  The book has been published by GamePlan and written by Winnie Forster, a very well reputed games journalist who has written for publications such as PowerPlay and VideoGames.

This is the second edition of the English book, expanded to include more recent and modern consoles.  The first edition covered up to 2005.  The book is printed in full colour, and is compact but packed full of information, including a section on the different storage media types and terminology section to give a comprehensive overview of classic and modern platforms.

Collectors will find the guide very useful indeed, with not only common platforms covered, but more obscure platforms too.  There are details (where possible) of how many of each machine were sold, and a focus on some of the games that were popular.  Though some may have wished to have seen a price guide included, no doubt such information would become obsolete quickly, so probably best not to be included.

More popular machines of the time (such as the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spectrum) are given a bit more page coverage to give more background and history.  Accompanying each write up are wonderful photos of each of the machines.  Over 700 exclusive photos are included in the book overall.

Owners of the first edition book will find that the new edition has not only new content, but has been heavily edited, with large numbers of amendments and fixes fed back from the community and other sources.   Others may have struggled to find the first edition, which sold out a few years ago – so now is a perfect opportunity to pick up a copy once more.

If you need a guide to all the different classic and modern consoles, handhelds and computers out there, then I would recommend grabbing a copy.  Either as a collector or someone who just wishes to learn more, this is an easy to read and comprehensive guide worth checking out.

Copies can be purchased from The Attic Bug at https://goo.gl/eAoL7i

Slightly Magic kickstarter

Author of the Codemasters graphic adventure Slightly Magic, Colin Jones, has set up a new Kickstarter project to resurrect the game in a 8-bit legacy edition (with faithfulness to the original graphics), but also with an extra special incentive which will be of interest to those into unreleased games like us….

As you will know via GTW64, there was a sequel planned called Slightly Spooky – which sadly never saw the light of day.  Well, if Colin’s Kickstarter is successful and OUYA funding is obtained as well, then Slightly Spooky will also be produced and given free as digital copy to those who are eligible for Slightly Magic’s remake.

But that isn’t all!  If the stretch goal of £12,000 is met, then the third title in the series will be produced also.  A title was set originally for a 3rd game, but never started after the non-release of Slightly Spooky.

An additional bonus is that Allister Brimble will be re-recording his original music score with his latest instruments and equipment for the game.

For more details, check out the Kickstarter page here:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/colinjones/slightly-magic-8bit-legacy-edition