amiga-news.de - PDF magazine: REV'n'GE 142 (Italian/English) / Interview with the publisher

30.Jan.2023
Seiya (ANF) PDF magazine: REV'n'GE 142 (Italian/English) / Interview with the publisher
Besides the Italian original issue, the PDF magazine REV'n'GE ("Retro Emulator Vision and Game") is also available in English. The magazine's reviews compare, if available, the different ports of classic games to the various platforms of their time.

The latest issue includes articles about the Amiga games "Encounter" and "NEONnoir". 'Seiya', the editor of REV'n'GE, was available for a short interview. Many thanks!

Amiga-News (AN): Hello 'Seiya'. Thank you for taking the time and of course for your magazine. How did you come to publish this fanzine/magazine?

Seiya: I always liked writing game reviews, but I didn't know how to write them, I didn't even know what software to use. I originally wrote the reviews for a forum (text and pictures) with some videos I had made specifically for the Amiga. In 2012 or 2013 I was contacted by a group that did online reviews only in Italian with a professional layout system and I was enchanted. There was a team with a chief editor and other people writing reviews. Not quite what I was looking for, but better than nothing.

AN: What happened after that?

Seiya: After not being very happy with a second, similar attempt either, I decided to start my own fanzine: the first issue will be published in February 2014, and I will bring out three more issues in the same month. The goal was to publish at least four issues every month, 48 issues per year.
After the first month I realised that it was not feasible because there was no time to correct, check for errors and then review something interesting. The first issues were written in a hurry, without checking for mistakes, with a lot of hardware articles. And it was all about Amiga and PC because those were the systems I knew best, so I knew which games I wanted to try.

AN: How many issues per month were there then?

Seiya: There was a problem with the name, because it was REVenGE! and, as written, had a meaning that hardly suited a retro games publication.
The name casually suggested to me "Retro Emulation Video and Game", but the "and" was not in the name because it was spelled "en". Then I had the idea to say that "en" is the Italian pronunciation of "and". A group of users on an Italian hardware and retro gaming forum suggested I call it REV'n'GE! because "Retro Emulation Video & Game" was more credible, and so REV'n'GE! was born, as it is today.

From this issue 17 onwards, the magazine/fanzine changed its mentality and finally became what it should have been since its first issue, and issue after issue I try to improve it both in text and in spelling and grammar mistakes.

AN: Why also in English?

Seiya: The fanzine/magazine is read more abroad than in Italy and although it was translated into English by Google and manually corrected by me, it was and is very understandable and therefore very popular in the countries where the language is not English.

AN: And what is the situation today?

Seiya: Today, one issue is published per month, on the 25th of each month, including summer and Christmas. Each issue is written in the previous month in order to be able to write both the Italian and English editions.

AN: How do you choose the games you present?

Seiya: The games I review are actually chosen quite randomly. Sometimes I look at screenshots, other times when reading the forums I see that some users have problems with a game or are talking about it for various reasons and I decide to review it.
As the name of the fanzine has de facto become "Retro Emulator Vision and Game", the various systems are all emulated and I try to review games whose emulation is closest to the original hardware.

For the Amiga, for example, I choose games for the Amiga 500, which the emulator emulates perfectly, or in any case the basic A1200, which can be emulated well. For Atari ST games, those that run well on the basic model. For DOS games, I usually use PCeM, which emulates their chosen hardware well, and I also choose titles that run on an 8086 between 4 and 10 Mhz. 8-bit computers are emulated just as well as the current systems and so the reviews are comparable even on real hardware.

AN: How exactly is an issue created?

Seiya: I do one test a day and in total it takes about 15 days. Then I create the videos, put them online and copy the links to the videos into the fanzine. Then I read through everything again to prepare the translation into English. I read the Italian version and the English translation again to make the last corrections. Then about 18 days have passed. I usually start on the 5th of each month and try to finish around the 23rd or 24th of each month.

AN: When do you take time for the tests and reviews?

Seiya: I write the fanzine in the morning, and spend about an hour or two on the reviews. Sometimes the emulator doesn't work or the game doesn't start. Then I have to look for another game. I look for information if I don't have the manuals or discover something on the net that gives me the idea to write something. Then I play on one computer in real time and write reviews on another computer at the same time.

The reviews are not as detailed as in commercial magazines because I decided to talk about it a bit and then leave the reader with the desire to play it for themselves and see if what I wrote is correct and shares my opinion. (dr)

[News message: 30. Jan. 2023, 06:16] [Comments: 1 - 30. Jan. 2023, 13:37]
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