Last week I received an e-mail out of the blue from Steve Jarratt - the original editor of CF. He very kindly agreed to an interview and so here it is! If you have any other questions you would like to ask him let us know (send us an e-mail at webmaster@commodoreformat.co.uk) and we'll get him to answer them for you. Enjoy 
Tell us a bit more about yourself - what are you up to these days?
Back working in Future publishing's games division, as the group senior editor. I'm about to start work on the redesign of a couple of magazines, which should be good fun. I'm also into 3D graphics and muck about with LightWave 3D at home (if that means anything to anybody...)
How did you get involved with CF?
Back around 1990, Future realised that there was still some life left in the C64 market, and since I'd been at ZZAP!, I guess they figured I'd be right for the job. At the time, I was working on a high-end mag called Mac Publishing (and clearly out of my depth), and the chance to play some more C64 games was a welcome change!
At the time you launched CF, Zzap64 was going strong and had already built up a very good reputation. Were you worried about the competition?
Not really (sorry if that sounds arrogant). I thought ZZAP! had been losing its way for some time, and that it had lost many of the qualities that made it great in its early years. Also, we were launching with a covertape, which I don't think ZZAP! had at the time.
What was the atmosphere like in the CF office?
Generally pretty good - I really got on well with Andy Dyer (one of the funniest men you could meet), and most of the time we had a great laugh. I was also working with a very creative design team (Trevor Gilham and Lam Tang), which I enjoyed. Although towards the end of my time on the mag, we did have a few moments of friction with one of the other guys, who shall remain nameless. By the end I was glad to move off.
The main cover story of issue 1 was about the launch of the new C64GS. Did you really think it had a chance, or did you secretly believe it was doomed from the start?
I was stupidly naive and optimistic - I really thought it would usher in a new age of C64 gaming! Like, duh... It was a nice idea, but the GS was underpowered, ugly, and used expensive cartridges when the market was moving towards inexpensive 3.5 floppy disks. Also, Commodore never really knew how to market it, and no developers were interested.
What was your favourite game that you ever reviewed for CF?
I couldn't say - mainly because I played a lot of great games before I started reviewing, and then when I was reviewing, I played hundreds of them! My favourite C64 game of all time is Paul Woakes' Mercenary, which was a great 3D adventure, years ahead of its time - closely followed by Elite, Bubble Bobble, Impossible Mission, Mr Do's Castle, Spindizzy, Tetris, Uridium, Paradroid, Wizball... the list goes on and on.
Why did you leave CF and where did you move on to?
After about 18 issues, myself and Andy were asked to launch a Nintendo mag called Total! You never pass up an opportunity to work on a new launch, so off I went (little did I know what a painful exercise that would be...)
Is there anything you regret not doing with CF?
Not really. It was only my second magazine launch, and - in truth - the first magazine I'd edited properly (ie, not just filing in the holes each month like I did on Crash). We wrote some good, funny reviews, introduced a lot of ideas that have been used ever since (the previews 'Incoming' radar keeps cropping up in Future mags!), featured some great covertapes, and we gave ZZAP! a right kicking from the start (they quickly copied our design). Of all the mags I've launched (including Edge), I'm probably most proud of CF.
Are you still into the C64 "Scene"?
Sadly, no. I'm a great believer in moving forward and leaving the past behind. In my head C64 games were the best ever - but if I played them again now I know I'd just be disappointed. Like watching old episodes of The Goodies or something. I have an N64 and a great collection of US games, a PS2 (what a disappointment), a new black GBA, and I'm eyeing up the Xbox, though I think I'll probably wait until May for the GameCube...
Simple question (complicated answer?!?!?!) - Microsoft or Apple?
(What an odd question!) Apple. I'm typing this on a dual-processor G4 800, staring at my glorious Cinema Display (excruciatingly expensive, but the best money I ever spent), and I have an old blue iBook, too. Wintel is VHS to Apple's Betamax; they both the same job, but Betamax was slicker, better quality and smaller (I just hope Apple doesn't end up with the same fate!). People who want to work use a PC, people who want to create use a Mac. (Is that biased enough for you?)
Finally, if the CF team were asked to provide your tombstone, what do you think they would write on it?
Miserable perfectionist bastard.
Site Last Updated: 29th October 2004 |
(c) Peter James Holl 2004 |
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