Scene World Magazine

Scene World (abbreviated SWO) is a disk magazine for the Commodore 64 home computer. The magazine has been released regularly since February 2001.

History

Screenshot of the presenter system of issue 24 of Scene World Magazine displaying the editorial text

Scene World was founded in November 2000 by several Commodore scene personalities under the organization of Joerg "Nafcom" Droege. The initial magazine presentation system was programmed by Robin Harbron, who would later find success as one of the developers of the C64 Direct-to-TV game device.^[1] Harbron stopped actively supporting the magazine in 2001; the presentation system has since been documented, modified, and updated by various editors and staff members.

Throughout Scene World’s history, it has attempted to style itself as both an NTSC (North America, Japan, and South Korea) and PAL (Europe, Oceania, and the Middle East) production, allowing it to court talent and reach audiences in largely disparate computer cultures.^[2] Scene World has also been one of the few disk magazines to actively seek individuals that do not fit into the specific software cracking or demo scene subcultures that most other disk magazines focus on. As a result, it has been able to conduct interviews with numerous non-Commodore-related computer industry pioneers.

Scene World has received media attention on several occasions. In March, 2001, Droege was interviewed by the German Radio channel Bayern 3^[3] In October 2005, Droege was interviewed in the German magazine Lotek64^[4] and in 2013 in German magazine LOAD #2.^[5] Additionally, Scene World partnered with fellow disk magazine Loadstar (ISSN 0886-4144) in 2003 for a “Wild West” cross-promotion.^[6]

Magazine Content

Disk sleeve of Scene World Magazine issue 24 done by Indian designer Ishita Mukherjee

Issues of the magazine are delivered as downloadable disk image files for use in emulators or on actual Commodore hardware. Text of the magazine is provided via presentation software. This software allows users to select and read articles and scroll through text, while also allowing them to change text and background color, switch between fonts, alternate between logos, and select either music or silence. Uniquely, support for the Commodore 1351 computer mouse is a feature of the presenter system;^[7] during initial planning, Droege felt that American users would be more inclined to view the magazine if it resembled Berkeley Softworks' GEOS operating environment.

The text of the magazine is divided into articles or chapters, and cover topics ranging from news and updates, interviews (text-only or transcribed from video interviews), opinion and editorial content, demo party reports, and release charts.

In addition to Commodore-specific files, a PDF floppy disk sleeve image is also included with each issue. These "diskcovers" can be printed to create protective sleeves for people using physical floppy disks.

Further Endeavors

In 2012, Droege expanded Scene World’s non-disk magazine activities to focus on video-based interviews, initially with Michael Tomczyk and John Draper, and later with other technology pioneers such as Martin Cooper, Jeroen Tel, Bil Herd, Yash Terakura,^[8] Walter Day,^[9] James Bach, Alexey Pajitnov, Stewart Cheifet,^[10] Chris Huelsbeck,^[11] Jeri Ellsworth, and Ralph H. Baer. Baer’s interview, in particular, garnered significant attention, it being the final—and longest—interview he gave prior to his death in December 2014.^[12]

In July 2014, Scene World again expanded with an audio podcast, hosted by editorial staffer AJ Heller (with Droege as co-host), to focus primarily on technology personalities and newsmakers that are currently active and promoting products or services. Guests to date have included copyright, social network, security and privacy journalist Lars Sobiraj,^[13] Frederik Schreiber and Mike Nielsen of 3D Realms,^[14] Matt Falcus and Sven Vößing of Cinemaware,^[15] SiREN and Esper from Ubisoft’s Frag Dolls professional gaming team, and Charles Martinet, the voice actor for, among other things, Nintendo's Super Mario franchise.^[16]

Scene World currently utilizes an all-volunteer editorial staff of 21, and produces two issues of the disk magazine per year, generally in summer and winter, with video interviews scheduled to coincide with the disk magazine releases. The podcast, conversely, is released on a semi-monthly basis, and does not follow the release schedule of the magazine.

See also

Commodore 64
Disk magazine
List of disk magazines

References

External links

• Scene World Magazine - Official Website
• Scene World on the Commodore Scene Database
• Scene World on Pouet

• Scene World Podcast
• Scene World Podcast on iTunes
• Scene World Podcast torrent downloads via BitLove