Video gaming magzines

[IMJ]

A lot of people don't know that the original Playstation was actually intended to be a CD-Drive for the Super Nintendo, licensed through Sony.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by IMJ

A lot of people don't know that the original Playstation was actually intended to be a CD-Drive for the Super Nintendo, licensed through Sony.

An interesting read:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_NES_CD-ROM

Basically Nintendo had a contract with Sony to make the Nintendo Playstation, Sony got so far as to even make a prototype, Nintendo got mad at Sony for some licensing issues (they realized late into things that they'd have to pay Sony forever to utilize their audio chip) so they started talks and a partnership with Philips, Sony got mad at Nintendo for this and just plain stopped working on the Nintendo Playstation. This freed up Nintendo to have Philips assume the role Sony had and straight up create a CD-ROM attachment of their own for the SNES. But the Sega CD was regarded as a failure so Nintendo released Philips from their contract. Nintendo no longer wanted a CD peripheral and never would. Meanwhile, Philips still had the rights to use Nintendo characters for a few games. So they made the Philips CD-i and that's why there was a few Zelda games on it.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by IMJ

A lot of people don't know that the original Playstation was actually intended to be a CD-Drive for the Super Nintendo, licensed through Sony.

That's one of those things about the video gaming industry I learnt from reading those magazine. I recall the world waiting for the Super NES CD, while sega released the Sega CD. The rest turned out as Andrew NDB described.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

An interesting read:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_NES_CD-ROM

Basically Nintendo had a contract with Sony to make the Nintendo Playstation, Sony got so far as to even make a prototype, Nintendo got mad at Sony for some licensing issues (they realized late into things that they'd have to pay Sony forever to utilize their audio chip) so they started talks and a partnership with Philips, Sony got mad at Nintendo for this and just plain stopped working on the Nintendo Playstation. This freed up Nintendo to have Philips assume the role Sony had and straight up create a CD-ROM attachment for the SNES. But the Sega CD was regarded as a failure so Nintendo released Philips from their contract. Meanwhile, Philips still had the rights to use Nintendo characters for a few games. So they made the Philips CD-i and that's why there was a few Zelda games on it.

I never understood why some Nintendo fan-boys get all sentimental about the what-ifs of Nintendo successfully partnering with Sony and (presumably) dominating the video game market ever since. I always thought that Sony's goal was to squeeze all the money they could out of the partnership or at least get their feet wet with a low-risk alliance until they were confident enough to go it alone. Maybe Sony-Nintendo would have continued their union into the 32/64 bit generation, but I think it was always likely that Sony was going to become their own console player sooner or later.

[Storm Eagle]

Originally Posted by blindturtle02

I had cousins who read the ones they'd subscribed to out loud to me way back in the early 90s. Braille was and still is very expensive to come by, so I'd glean what I could from them and school chums. I'd record a lot of the narration so I could have it to refer back to later. Wish I still had those old cassettes. Nintendo Power sure takes me back. Several pals of mine got a free video game after their parents subscribed, I think. I remember one of their dads joking that said game probably wasn't selling well.

Are you referring to the videocassettes I mentioned earlier? In their Super Power Supplies catalog, they once offered a VHS tape of endings to SNES games. They also had a videotape of how to acquire the ten toughest stars in Super Mario 64. I had that tape, but then I sold it. They had a promo tape for Banjo Kazooie where Jon Lovitz lent his voice.

As for the video game, I believe that was Dragon Warrior. It also reminds me of how for a time, they had six trading cards in each issue, of games for the NES, Game Boy, and SNES. They had challenges on the back, and they'd announce a combination of three cards in every issue, where if you had those three cards, you'd submit them for a free game. I remember once being just one card short, and I was a little miffed about that.

[blindturtle02]

Originally Posted by Storm Eagle

Are you referring to the videocassettes I mentioned earlier? In their Super Power Supplies catalog, they once offered a VHS tape of endings to SNES games. They also had a videotape of how to acquire the ten toughest stars in Super Mario 64. I had that tape, but then I sold it. They had a promo tape for Banjo Kazooie where Jon Lovitz lent his voice.

As for the video game, I believe that was Dragon Warrior. It also reminds me of how for a time, they had six trading cards in each issue, of games for the NES, Game Boy, and SNES. They had challenges on the back, and they'd announce a combination of three cards in every issue, where if you had those three cards, you'd submit them for a free game. I remember once being just one card short, and I was a little miffed about that.

Dragon Warrior! Yeah, that's it exactly. I knew I'd watched someone play a kind of turn based RPG game before FF7 on PS1, but wasn't sure why I always associated it with NES. Man, a buddy from school showed me the Banjo-Kazooie VHS tape when he heard I loved the Simpsons back in the day. Didn't have a screen reader that would work with Netscape or any browser back then, couldn't look up voiceover guys or what they worked on unless someone narrated credits, so I remember simply exclaiming, "Ha! It's Artie Ziff!"

[Mad Dog McMutt]

Originally Posted by blindturtle02

Dragon Warrior! Yeah, that's it exactly. I knew I'd watched someone play a kind of turn based RPG game before FF7 on PS1, but wasn't sure why I always associated it with NES. Man, a buddy from school showed me the Banjo-Kazooie VHS tape when he heard I loved the Simpsons back in the day. Didn't have a screen reader that would work with Netscape or any browser back then, couldn't look up voiceover guys or what they worked on unless someone narrated credits, so I remember simply exclaiming, "Ha! It's Artie Ziff!"

If you are blind how did you watch a video game? I don't mean to be rude, I am just curious. Are you only partially blind?

[Storm Eagle]

Originally Posted by blindturtle02

Dragon Warrior! Yeah, that's it exactly. I knew I'd watched someone play a kind of turn based RPG game before FF7 on PS1, but wasn't sure why I always associated it with NES. Man, a buddy from school showed me the Banjo-Kazooie VHS tape when he heard I loved the Simpsons back in the day. Didn't have a screen reader that would work with Netscape or any browser back then, couldn't look up voiceover guys or what they worked on unless someone narrated credits, so I remember simply exclaiming, "Ha! It's Artie Ziff!"

I had a friend who had Dragon Warrior, and I believe he got it through NP.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

I learned them all by heart, and always knew what video game was reviewed in the August 1992 issue, or what letters appeared in the October 1993 issue. Still do.

[Leo656]

Still have all of mine, most of them are arranged in binders on bookshelves like a little library. I have great memories of collecting and reading them growing up.

First one I ever owned, I believe, was an issue of Game Players. It had Super Mario World on the cover and I believe a mini-strategy guide inside of it. There were also sections on the NES version of Hook (alongside a little preview section for the movie) and Batman: Return of the Joker for NES.

I have a few other issues of Game Players; for some reason, at that time I didn't get as many GamePro's even though that was the more "high-end" magazine. I did get some more GamePro's in the late-90s but it wasn't my favorite one. I never got Nintendo Power, either; I think I asked my parents to subscribe but they couldn't (or wouldn't) afford it, or something.

Electronic Gaming Monthly was always my favorite. They always seemed a lot more "legit" and less like advertisements than most other gaming magazines did, and I liked their review system. The individual reviews were short but I loved getting a cross-section of reviewer opinions; in most magazines, the scores were given out by One Guy and thus everything was highly subjective. In EGM, you'd get four (and then three, and then sadly just two) opinions per game so the opinions would be a LOT more diverse. If they were all positive, you pretty much knew you had a real winner. But even within those who though it was good, you'd get different reasons as to Why. If you had a dissenting opinion, it was always worth seeing what their issue was compared to the other guys', even if you didn't agree.

Plus, they spent a lot more time on putting the personalities and preferences of their staff right out there for the reader to see, so you could generally tell whose opinions aligned with yours and go from there. You knew who the sports guys were, the RPG nerds, the fighting game experts, the Star Wars fanatics, all of that, so you knew what the biases were but also who knew their sh*t on This or That and who was just a neophyte. Like if the sports-obsessed reviewer gave a sports game a great review, that was one thing; if the RPG nerd who hated sports ALSO liked it, that was a huge endorsement because it meant you didn't necessarily have to be a fan of the "source material" to like the game. That was huge. I trusted the EGM review system more than any other magazine's and they never steered me wrong once. Plus, they had some awesome posters, and their writing staff was just plain entertaining.

I was so upset when they went under, but even around 2008 or whenever it was print magazines were dying. I was happy when it came back but it just wasn't the same, and none of the places I used to buy it from carried the relaunched version, so I only ended up getting a few issues before (I assume) it went under again. I was sad to see it go but more than most other media the internet really eliminated the entire point of a video game magazine. If you can get video of an upcoming game the same day as E3 then waiting a month or two for a screenshot and a description is redundant. I get it, it just makes me sad because so much of my teens and young adulthood was about reading those magazines, specifically.

I have more Game Informer than anything, simply from being a FuncoLand/EB Games/GameStop member since 1998 or so, but they were honestly never my favorite. Their scores seemed to be all over the place and sometimes it felt like their reviewers barely spent enough time on the games they were reviewing. A lot of times they were really harsh on a game I liked a lot, and their reasoning would be very flimsy to me, and since it was usually only one person's opinion (although sometimes there were two) it just always seemed to be a lot more subjective and a lot less informative than EGM. Plus, being as how it was inherently linked with a video game store, a lot of times it seemed a bit too fluffy and commercial, like they were trying to sell you product whereas EGM was objectively just telling you what games were worth your money. I was always just a bit suspicious of Game Informer for that reason; what are the odds they're going to give a bad review to a game that's supposed to be a huge seller and send millions of people running to GameStop? Regardless, I have a ton of issues anyway, and I did have a lot of fun reading them. They were just never my favorite.

Now and again I still love to go through some old issues for fun. It gives you a good sense of perspective; a ton of games you never thought would have been huge turned out to be, a lot that were supposed to be underwhelmed, and seeing what people thought in the Before, During and After is always really fascinating. It also still helps me figure out which games I ignored for whatever reason Back Then I should maybe give a chance to Now. Believe it or not, an EGM review of a game from 1993 absolutely still affects my decision-making on what I might play Today or Tomorrow.

Some awesome memories. Sadly, it was an era that can never be again and there's just no real way for anyone under a certain age to understand what it was like.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Some awesome memories. Sadly, it was an era that can never be again and there's just no real way for anyone under a certain age to understand what it was like.

I would've enjoyed a "Kids or teens react to Nintendo Power" video film.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Original TMNT Cartoon Fan

I would've enjoyed a "Kids or teens react to Nintendo Power" video film.

If it's anything like some of the ones I've seen, it would predominantly be stuff like "How could you tell if a game was good with just a picture?" and "You had to pay money to read what people think?". And at least one of them would ask why we didn't just use the internet, because Of Course.

Honestly not a fan of those videos. They either come off super-staged or I want to set every child in them on fire. Sometimes both.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Did anyone else have any favorite video gaming journalists? I always liked Tobias Bjarneby from Sweden, who was born in 1974 and wrote about Nintendo.

Were there any other video gaming journalists considered legendary, from the USA, Canada, Japan, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Russia, Germany, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Norway, Austria, Poland...? (or whatever country you live)

[Wesley]

I read a lot of uk videogame magazines in my teens. NGC, GamesMaster, Dreamcast Magazine and CUBE among others. My favs were NGC and GamesMaster.

[Prowler]

I absolutely loved video game magazines when I was a kid. My brother bought them frequently. My favourite was this British magazine called Computer & Video Games. Still have a lot of its issues. I think about reading through them sometimes but never find the time to do so. It really was the magazine I loved to read the most back in the late 90s.

Well "read" as in mostly looking at it. I didn't speak English when I was that young except for a few basic words. My brother was the one actually reading them. He was already a teenager by then and could speak English fluently.

Ofc we also read local magazines, but no Portuguese magazine came close to Computer & Video Games. There was a Nintendo magazine here that lasted a few months only in the GameCube era since Nintendo was pretty irrelevant here during that era. By 2003 or so, you'd be better off finding information about GameCube games on the Internet or foreign magazines.

I loved the posters that came in the magazines. Still have several them on the walls. Also loved looking at the fanart sections and the fan mail questions.

Gaming magazines always included a lot of humour. The journalists didn't come across as robots telling you the news or their opinions. They generally felt human and like fellow friends of yours giving you advice about upcoming games.

I don't want to go back to a time where you needed to buy magazines regularly to know if a game was worth buying or not, but clearly it made things more interesting and magical. Googling online reviews or asking other players online if a game is any good in under 5 minutes just doesn't have the same charm. But obviously it's a lot more convenient since it saves you a lot of money and time.

EDGE and Retrogamer are cool magazines though. Edge tends to have very nice covers, at least. I haven't read an issue of it in years though.

It's not just gaming, magazines in general seem to be dying. After all we live in the Internet era. If even traditional television as we know it is dying off then imagine paper magazines and newspapers.

The world changes, but there's always going to be nostalgia feelings for good things from the past.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Another, general, video game magazine episode from the Angry Video Game Nerd.

[superstaff]

Originally Posted by Prowler

It's not just gaming, magazines in general seem to be dying. After all we live in the Internet era. If even traditional television as we know it is dying off then imagine paper magazines and newspapers.

The world changes, but there's always going to be nostalgia feelings for good things from the past.

I feel like...holding a book or magazine in my hands makes it more special, and I get engrossed into it more easily. When I read stuff online, it's just not as great, it's more mechanical if that makes sense. I really prefer physical media to staring at a screen like a laptop or phone.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by superstaff

I feel like...holding a book or magazine in my hands makes it more special, and I get engrossed into it more easily. When I read stuff online, it's just not as great, it's more mechanical if that makes sense. I really prefer physical media to staring at a screen like a laptop or phone.

Same. There's just more of a 'feeling' behind me seeing that I bought like 20 or so comics on Free Comic Book Day than just 'oh.... I downloaded 20 new comics on that app'.

Not me. If I want a particular issue or something, I'd seek it out online (like to purchase that is) or at the shops longboxes. Sure I can just download the entire series or whatever, but that's just not an option to me. If I'm not holding it in my hand and flipping through the pages, it might not as well exist to me.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by superstaff

I feel like...holding a book or magazine in my hands makes it more special, and I get engrossed into it more easily. When I read stuff online, it's just not as great, it's more mechanical if that makes sense. I really prefer physical media to staring at a screen like a laptop or phone.

That's fair, but in 2022 it doesn't even cross my mind to go out and buy video game magazines anymore when I can just open the Internet for free and search for reviews and opinions on the latest games.

I can do well without magazines.

I don't like the idea of physical ocoies of games going away forever eventually though. Hell, a lot of Switch games come with a box art... without a cart inside. There's a digital code in it instead. That's just ridiculous.