marktrade's work in progress

[marktrade]

Hiya mate,

I am editing issue 55 of Next Generation at present and think your scan of page 30 has a glitch at the bottom of the page. Can you confirm?

Cheers ......

Confirmed. Here is a replacement scan.

http://s12.postimg.org/nreucibgt/Untitled_2_dragged.jpg

[KiwiArcader]

Awesome. Problem sorted

[marktrade]

Going to focus all my efforts into Next Generation now and, when those are completed, NextGen.

[Sean697]

Going to focus all my efforts into Next Generation now and, when those are completed, NextGen.

Can't wait, probrably my second favorite magazine, at the time I perhaps liked I more than EGM.

[marktrade]

Patreon update:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/4186043

I've changed the amount of magazines per paid post from four to ten.

[marktrade]

One of my first posts in this forum was to ask about the feasibility of digitally stitching scans of two-page ads into a single image. We came to the conclusion that for glued magazines it was impractical, especially since the pages often didn't align anyway, no matter how close you got to the spine.

After reading a post in Sean697's WIP thread I decided to give it another try and I think it's worth doing at least in some instances. I was able to get much cleaner pages than I was before.

Here's an image I stitched from two pages from the June 2000 issue of NextGen. Now, it didn't align perfectly at first and I had to crop off some content from the bottom to get a clean edge, a bit more than I would have otherwise, had I just cropped each page individually and align the images with the bottom. And goodness knows it's probably not a pixel-exact copy of the original art, but I think I got pretty close, didn't I? Besides, it makes a nice wallpaper.

I can't promise I'll do this for every page going forward, but I'm going to practice more with it. Also I can't do it with the issues of Next Generation I'm uploading now because they've already been cut.

[Sean697]

I can't even begin to think about how much extra work that would be if I did that on all the ads. I just can't do it. For instance this game buyer I'm scanning, over half the ads are two pages I think. But that does look super nice. The best I can do is on these pages is to straighten the page to the spine side and crop it exactly down the edge. That way if someone wanted to put it together themselves, they could without having any of the image removed by cropping.

[Sean697]

Looking at the game buyer. Referring to the other thread, even though all the pages are complete there is still a small gap separating the images where there is nothing. Using the clone stamp and heal brush it can be faked. But ya these glue bound magazines don't give you all the image to work with it seems.

[marktrade]

Next Generation is now complete. Issues 55 and 56 were already edited by Kiwi and posted to OGM but the resolution was a little low for me so I edited the versions that are uploaded here. Page 91 in issue 56 was glitched anyway and had to be rescanned. The magazine itself was in pretty rough condition so someday it might be replaced with an improved version. Such is the case with scanning, there's always room for improvement, but at this moment one would be hard-pressed not to agree that all the Next Generation scans available here are pretty great!

Next is NextGen. Thanks to aloram I now have every issue so those will be complete soon as well.

Also, overnight I had a patreon update! And there was a patron this time. I feel very grateful and look forward to providing many more updates.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/next-generation-4239795

[kitsunebi]

Never owned any issues of Next Gen. Aside from the name change, is there anything else that sets it apart from Next Generation, or is it similar in style?

[Sean697]

Never owned any issues of Next Gen. Aside from the name change, is there anything else that sets it apart from Next Generation, or is it similar in style?

Same magazine basically. It was just a visual overhaul for the most part. My subscription carried over between the two. I mean really it's the same magazine. Edited January 31, 2016 by Sean697

[marktrade]

Have a look for yourself.

https://archive.org/details/NextGen57Sep1999

One more thing, since I'm separating pages with a heat gun now I can scan the entire cover piece including the spine, so from now on I'm including the spine scan on the back cover image.

Edited January 31, 2016 by marktrade

[aloram]

It's pretty inferior. I read through all 85 issues of Next Generation and NextGen in the last couple years, so it's fresh in my mind. The magazine gradually moved away from what made it great, one thing being the high quality paper and binding. However, I still think NextGen is superior to nearly every other video game magazine in terms of writing quality and integrity -- which tells you how highly I regard Next Generation.

EDIT: I guess I should mention that I don't care -- at all -- about any of the home consoles that came out after the 64, so my interest in NextGen's content is low. That being said, read through one of the first few issues of Next Generation, and then read through one of the last few issues of NextGen. I think you'll find a difference other than just the print quality.

[marktrade]

There's currently no separate download section for NextGen. I wonder if I could just upload them to Next Generation?

[Areala]

Probably. What should happen is the database should be expanded to include NextGen, but just have it continue on from Next Generation if you're flipping through the individual issues in the DB.

All Phillyman needs is the start and end dates for the publication, and he can make the addition.

*huggles*
Areala

[marktrade]

Probably. What should happen is the database should be expanded to include NextGen, but just have it continue on from Next Generation if you're flipping through the individual issues in the DB.

All Phillyman needs is the start and end dates for the publication, and he can make the addition.

*huggles*

Areala

He's got 'em already here.

https://www.retromags.com/magazines/category/usa/nextgen

There's a separate database section but not a separate download section.

[E-Day]

Your wish is granted. Long live Jambee.

https://community.retromags.com/files/category/196-nextgen/

[Sean697]

Now just have to move our one preserved next gen to that download section.

[marktrade]

I have another scan ready but I don't want to upload it yet because I want that EGM 95 to stay on top for the day because it's really awesome and you should all go see it.

Edited February 13, 2016 by marktrade

[Areala]

Somebody likes Pai-chan.

Also, checking out the contents page, surely I'm not the only one who wishes they'd have gone with THAT design...?

*huggles*
Areala

[marktrade]

Somebody likes Pai-chan.

I fear and respect her.

[marktrade]

Editing NextGen 64 right now and noticed some text near the binding.

It appears to say "4/NEXT GEN RUN 81" and it's from page 81. I suppose that makes sense, that they do a run for each page. The four may refer to it being the April issue. I don't know. I thought it looked interesting and it's the first time I've seen any text like that since using a heat gun to debind pages. I wondered if I should save something like that, so I just took a screenshot and posted it.

I occasionally find swatch colors and crosshairs, which no doubt help the print operators to check and make sure the colors are aligning properly. Sometimes they're not and in Next Generation it's very easy to see when they use white text against a colored background and it's harder to read. You don't need a guide to notice. So, I never thought about saving any of those. Maybe I'll screenshot one if I come across it again.

[Sean697]

I think the documentation in the forum is more than adequate. I personally don't see the need to preserve that as it wasn't meant to be seen. But it is very interesting to document.

[marktrade]

Patreon update with the past ten consecutive issues of Next Generation and NextGen. There are 21 issues left so the next two updates will be entirely NextGen. The next update will include every single wide format issue.

Thanks again to aloram for donating the missing issues to make this collection complete!

[marktrade]

Remember when I said I'd be done with NextGen in a few weeks? I just want to apologize to anyone who's waiting.