ZZAP! New
Issue in the Works!
Issue 107 in Production
PeeknPoke gets all the juicy details about the brand
new version of ZZAP!64, The Ultimate Commodore 64 magazine
With old
staff taking the helm and an all new reviewing team..The Gold Medal's
strike back

The making of the new ZZAP!

ZZAP! A quick history lesson

ZZAP! came to being in1985 from NEWSFIELD
PUBLICATIONS who at the time were producing the top rated Spectrum
Magazine title, CRASH!
With the focus on Commdore 64 game software,
ZZAP!64 quickly became a big success due its good style, great fan-based
reviewers and full-on approach the machine. It felt like your best mate
was telling you what games to buy with its thumbs aloft mode drawings and
its Sizzlers and Gold Medals to games that made the grade

ZZAP! re-invented itself many times during its 106 Issue run but each
element adding its own fans. When ZZAP! folded (In its new guise,
Commodore Force) it left a huge gap in the gaming world something which
has not been beated yet.

Due to Ideas floating around Iain Black's ZZAP!64 webpage message
boards, ZZAP! seemed to be reborn for a one-off release of Issue107 (To be
kept in-line with the other Issues and drowning the Commodore Force
name-Thank God!) Its Editor at the helm, once original ZZAP! ed, Gordon
Houghton and some more old ZZAP! staff and a new reviewing team AND AND
AND....Rockford!

Combining the best elements from previous Issues its all falling into
place for a early 2002 release

Keep your monitor fixed here for lastest updates and sneak peeks

For more Information on ZZAP!64, Go read THE DEF GUDE TO ZZAP!64, Most Issues
scanned and online!

ZZAP!:Your New Staff
Editor:Gordon Houghton
Various Editorial stuff:Paul
Glancy
Ringleader:Cameron Davis aka gazunta

Staff: (Please EMAIL ME to let me know
what areas you will be doing/About yourselfs
So we can have a complete list
here)

Robert de Voogd aka BIGGEST JIM (Reviews)
Anthony Stiller
(Reviews/Art)
Stephen Stuttard (Techie bit in the middle)
Lee Bolton
(Reviews)
Andy Haywood (Reviews)
Mayhem (Reviews)
Paul E. Morrison
(Reviews)
Umer Pasha (Reviews)
Warren Pilkington (Tips)
Demetrius
Kiminas

Craig Hesmondhalgh (Adventure)
Craig Grannell (Art)

Are you working in the new ZZAP!?and not in the list (Sorry!)
Email me
above to add your name in the list and about yourself (Send some pics too)

ZZAP! 107
Updates Area
FAQ Some Questions...Few
Answers...
ZZAP!
Cover Teaser WoW! New Cover teaser
RockFord
teaserZZAP! Rockford Returns...
Lee's Review head
previewThe ZZAP! Thumbs aloft pics return too...

New Updates: 20/10/01

History of ZZAP! feature
in progress.....

ZZAP! RRAP! Return...Here's "Lloyd" to say a few words......

Sorry for shouting, but it's time for Lloyd to dip into his bulging
mailbag for the first time in... ooooh, ages.
So, for the new Zzap!
issue 107: send me letters about the C64, Zzap!'s history, the new Zzap!,
the emulation scene,
the delay since the last issue -- basically,
whatever you like.
And I'll pretend to pass them on to Lloyd, while
secretly answering them myself in a rude way. The address is: [email-masked].
Don't
post stuff here, unless you haven't read this sentence.

Gordon

New Updates: 16/10/01

Paul E. Morrison Staff Photo and
Text
Mayhem Staff Photo and Text
We've all seen the finished cover
for the new ZZAP! and its superb stuff indeedy, Token C64 heaven!
Ant
has finished the "Lee" review art and its great (Shame about the Subject
matter though LoL :)
Remember all reviews should be completed by the
end of October

New Updates: 04/10/01

Adding Photo Of Ant
Added Paul
E. Morrison to Staff List (Sorry Paul)
Added Umer Pasha to Staff List
(Sorry Umer)

More updates soon

About the New Staff (In Thier
own words......)

Editor:Gordon Houghton

Short, chubby,
attention-seeking 35-year old with own hair and car. Partner of Kati Hamza (yes,
that one), and father of Sam. Author of two novels, one of which -- The
Apprentice/Damned if you Do -- is doing well; the other of which was probably
too strong for most stomachs. A man who should write more often but prefers to
mess around with his website, The Burrow (WARNING: PLUG ALERT): here. Oh, and
former editor of Zzap! 64 magazine back in the 80s, which is about 200 years ago
now.
On the New ZZAP!:
As far as content goes, it's not yet set in
stone exactly what I'm doing; but I'm probably going to be writing the Rrap,
Scorelord, Editorial, Zzapback and Contents, and maybe the coverlines (though
Craig seems to have them sorted already). So far the one big thing I've done is
compile the Zzap! Readers' Top 10 Games of All Time -- I had over 150 replies,
and the final result makes interesting reading...

Various Editing:Paul Glancy

Well, it doesn't look like you need anyone extra but I'll help out if I
can.
Maybe I could do some subbing, eh Gordon?
I have some small
experience... ;)
Hello everyone, by the way.

(Taken from ZZAP! Rrap Message board)

Ringleader:Cameron Davis Aka Gazunta

I don't know what
you could really call my title...Ringleader perhaps? It's my silly idea that
started all this nonsense and now I try to make sure everything is running
smoothly (ha ha ha) and help organise what everyone is doing (a task that would
be impossible without the artists still known as Grannell and Houghton)

I'm a games journalist that is currently doing hack work that pays the bills
until the .com gaming sites get back up
I spend my spare time doing 3ds max
things, making dumb movies (See the "Gazuntertainment" section), creating comics
(see the "Gazunta Network" section) and trying to maintain the weird concept
that I'm a celebrity (see the "Gazunta Times" section). Um...yeah, that's about
it.

Techie Bit in the Middle:Mort

Height 6 1" Weight Not enough Age 29 Home town, Tunbridge Wells, Kent
Top 5 64 games, Wizball, Zenji, Action Biker, Sentinel, Mercenary Fav Music, Sid
Remixes, Orbital, Orb, Prodigy, Pink Floyd & Philip Glass. 1st ZZap issue 2
64 equipment owned, worryingly too much! fav Emulator ccs64

I have lived in Tunbridge Wells for most of my life living in Eastbourne for
a period, St Albans and Hailsham( most of the SE of England). Currently
single,all my own teeth and hair, open to any reasonable offers :-) Can be seen
frequenting 64 gatherings such as Back in Time,Orbital gigs, Seconding 1541 disk
drives, swearing at 1541 drives, being last at the bar and on occasion sleeping
in fields after long bike rides.

Reviewer/Art:Anthony Stiller

I have the honour of not only being one of the reviewing team for the
latest Zzap! but also being one of the guys slaving away in the Art Dept. My
role there is to take all the various reviewer head photos, have a good laugh
and then try to sketch them in a poor imitation of one of my favourite artists,
Oliver Frey.

I'm a rabid fan of the C64 and all the beauty contained in this 8bit wonder
machine. I've been known to spend entire days listening to SID music and can
often be heard humming the Thrust theme at inappropriate moments.

When I'm not doing important things like playing C64 games and drawing
people's heads I'm either at work as a Professional Services Consultant (ie
plebian computer programmer) or I'm enjoying time with my wife. We are currently
deciding on baby names and failing spectacularly.

Reviewer:Andy Haywood

Andy
“Mackoman” Haywood (don’t ask). Age; unknown. Whereabouts; a historic northern
city situated at the arse-end of the A1 (York).

Andy owned a C64 since 1984 and discovered the wonders of Zzap at issue 10.
He loves video games, Blackadder and Discworld, but hates boy/girl bands, soap
operas, “reality” TV and little dogs with sharp teeth. Buck-toothed scouser
Cilla Black is, in his humble opinion, the very personification of all that is
evil in the World.
He currently works in
customer services for a large telecom company (the one that’s apparently
“bringing people together”) but hopes to be up for parole at some point in the
near future.
Andy considers his involvement in the new Zzap as “…the
realisation of a long-held dream…”, he’s beginning to suspect that maybe he
should get out more. He’s currently beavering away on his first novel, “Mind the
Oranges, Marlon”. The fact that he’s now been “beavering away” on it for a
little over 7 years should perhaps tell him something, but determination is his
middle name (actually, it’s Jamie, but he’d rather that didn’t get around). His
favourite colour is red and he owns (or is possibly owned by) a dog called
Rusty. He still hasn’t forgiven Andrew Braybrook for Amiga Paradroid.

Reviewer:Paul E. Morrison

Just turned the big 3-0!,
Originally from a town called Consett in the
north-east of England, but married a Yank girl and now live in the Detroit area
of the USA. My only current job is being a full-time dad to my 10 month old son,
although I used to be a (cough) civil servant. Much like the original ZZAP!
team, I've got no journalistic experience, just years of enthusiasm and love for
the fantastic C64, and being involved in this project is almost like a dream
come true (sob!). I did once apply for a Staff Writer's job, but was
unsurprisingly (at the time) turned down.
Top 5 C64 games: Paradroid,
Impossible Mission, The Bard's Tale, Alien Syndrome, Buggy Boy and H.E.R.O.
tied.
C64 Music: Nemesis The Warlock, The Human Race, Monty On The Run, Crazy
Comets, Driller
Other music: Yngwie Malmsteen, Dream Theater, other widdly
guitar music.
Other stuff: Love footy, all kinds of emulators and my new DVD
player.

Reviewer:Mat Allen (MayhemUK)

Been assigned to the reviewing team, having past experience writing copy for
Oracle Teletext way back and lots of articles for other retro publications. Also
appear to be compiling the website article as well. Started reading Zzap!64 at
issue #19, and thought it was "quite good"! Guess it is the sort of job I
wouldn't mind doing in real life for real money.
At the moment, I'm sitting
around doing various things for Compaq, and maintaining my website "Mayhem in
Monsterland". Probably most well known for being a rabid cartridge freak and for
bidding 500DM on one particular C64 eBay auction :)

Reviewer:Umer Pasha

I
am 25 and from Lahore, Pakistan. Yeah yeah, we all know its errr... kinda far!!!
Anyway, I have been playing games since.... i donno... maybe when i was in
diapers. Have also been making some of those odd games on Commodore, Speccy and
(ugh!) BBC Micro. An avid and a serious games player till this day. My All time
fav C64 games include Creatures 2, Turrican 2, Wizball, Paradroid, Rainbow
Islands, Turbo charge and Great Giana Sisters. When I first heard of this
project, i didnt take me more than a micro second to think if I should join or
not! It was like.... I was put to earth to do this!!! errrr..... yeah all that
divinity and stuff!! Been writing articles for the local magazines here since my
teens. Now working as a development manager for a healthcare related software
firm. I am totally charged to do this ZZAP 107 project, even if it costs me my
regular job.... NOT!!! Anyways, I hope its a colossal success!

Art
Editor:Craig Grannell

I'm 25, live near to
London and am a lapsed artist. (Hmm... sounds like an AA speech now.)
I spent three years doing a degree that involved peculiar things vaguely related
to art, and wandered around Europe confusing our continental chums with odd
videos and performances. I began the eclectic Veer Musikal Unit
(http://www.vmuonline.com) around this time and am now a world-famous pop-star,
masquerading as an employee of a London and Reading-based new media agency by
day in order to avoid the hordes of screaming fans. No, really.

Other than that, I've recently spent time writing vitriolic articles for
Future Publishing, found love, lost it, got made redundant, got a new job (so I
guess I came out even there) and discovered the meaning of life. Not all of
those things are entirely true. (See if you can guess which one :)

Reviewer:Lee Bolton

Webmaster of PeeknPoke (This very site) plus also put my fingers into
such emulation sites as Emucamp, Kinox and Keep it Retro. Currently part of the
team over at Gamestyle UK where I am the Retro-editor and even get to review new
software releases (Getting games for free before they hit the shops what more
does a gamer want?)
Being a reader of ZZAP! since Issue One, looking forward
to the new Issue and getting my thumb aloft picture in the reviews. Have now
obtained the must have Items of a ZZAP! reviewer, Hair Gel and Mousse from
Boots, Pot-Noodle for breakfast and a Stargate arcade machine

More Staff Updates here soon

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1999/2000/2001 Notlob
Productions