2009 2008 >> You can now get email and RSS alerts to monitor these updates. 30/01/10: As the Xmas Special DVD ISO went down pretty well, I've created another DVD ISO containing just the 1982-1989 regular chapters. The picture clarity is amazing, especially during the 3D sections. The DVD ISO is 1.3GB in size, so is only available via BitTorrent, but I've also uploaded the high-quality videos to YouTube too. More details in the Downloads page. 14/01/10: The regular VCD MPEGs are now available to download via normal means. The DVD ISO and the new all-in-one VCD MPEG will still be BitTorrent-only as they're so big, but you can now download the Special in five parts. 03/01/10: The movie's been finalised, it's 39m11s long, and you can currently download a 1.2GB DVD ISO image via BitTorrent. It'll be a slow download, but it's the option which gives you the best quality image. More download options to come... 31/12/09: As we're at the very tail-end of Christmas, I'm rather relieved to announce that the Christmas Special is out now on YouTube! I'll be sorting out the traditional distribution methods in the next week or two, but you can view the ~40min Special at: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 The Special is in a different format to the traditional chapters - it's high-definition for one thing, but is also a pure nostalgia-fest aimed at those people who followed the Speccy games industry firsthand - especially those who read computer magazines. It's not intended to educate or inform, just something to wallow in whilst hopefully triggering some long-forgotten memories. It's all geared around the Christmas hype cycle through the years, from 1982 (when there wasn't really one) through to 1990 (when the Christmas hype cycle was well established). This is a first-cut, and as such there are a couple of minor wrinkles. These will be fixed in the final version when I get around to the traditional distribution methods sometime in January - but the wrinkles are minor and won't get in the way of things. It was a case of either uploading it last night, or missing this Christmas entirely! E-mail me if you see any wrinkles - I'd rather get many reports of the same problem than miss one. Oh, and don't miss the accompanying Advent Calendar feature which accompanies this! 24 webpages filled with memories of Speccy Christmases Past, complete with old TV clips, Vox Pops and tacky synthetic chocolates. Enjoy! 30/12/09: TOMORROW... 29/12/09: Sorry for the lack of updates - have been completely obsessed with the Xmas Special. Anyway - it's out imminently. Sometime in the next 48 hours if all goes well. 20/09/09: I've now got to the stage in the Christmas Special where I can get cracking on the intro, which naturally will be the most ambitious one I've ever attempted. Here's a little teaser: 16/08/09: That sprint was rather knackering, but now thankfully over. The year-by-year sections of the Xmas Special have been finished, and that means that the heavy-duty parts of the Special are now complete. Most of the rest is now straight animation work (e.g. the intro) and I'm pretty sure I have enough time to get everything done as well as a little bonus something which I hope will turn this coming Christmas into a bit of an "event". 18/07/09: Two months on, and with the YS94 2004 Special done (yep, I'm easily distracted) I'm back and am in something of a sprint. You see, I'm now working on the subsections to do with magazines in the run-up to Xmas, with their news, hype, previews, reviews and adverts, one subsection created per year for 1982-1990. With the 1986 subsection just completed I'm now in the era where not only is the Xmas hype machine in full throttle, but I was also around during that time! I know precisely what I want to do and how to do it, and with the 1986 subsection only taking four evenings to do, it should be easy going from now on.     You'd think. Have now drawn up a shortlist of which mag scans to use for 1987 and have over fifty of them which would fit in rather well. Unfortunately I only have ninety seconds to play with, so I'm going to have to thin those down somewhat. But still should be done within the next few days. 07/05/09: Just assembled the rough cut of the complete soundtrack. As the soundtrack defines how long the Xmas Special is going to be, I thought you might like to know that it's 38m15s long :) I need to mess about with volume levels and smoothing out a couple of bits, but that won't affect total length. I don't know about you, but my mouth is starting to water. 06/05/09: After a five month break due to work and various bits of Real Life Stuff, I'm back on the job! Spent the Bank Holiday weekend working on one of the subsections and I'm almost back in the swing of things. I've started using my 3D animation package to do 2D animations as I'd discovered the orthographic camera option which makes this sort of thing a breeze, and now I'm getting high quality scaling, rotation and antialiasing for free as a result. The subsection I've just completed was mag scan after mag scan and they look astondingly clear. I'm getting that rather wonderful and very familiar buzz from doing this, so let's hope it gets done by December!