Weekly Famitsu. One magazine to rule them all.
For kids growing up in the boondocks, Famitsu was a concept more than it was a physical magazine. It symbolised Japan and the sudden rush of technology that was barreling down the pipeline as the new millennium approached.
Edge magazine. Video game art and design in print.
Edge magazine has been at the forefront of video game magazine layout and design for over 30 years. I spoke to the magazine’s former art director, Andrew Hind.
Every physical PS4 shmup reviewed and rated
The PS4 is home to a huge number of shmups / shooters / STG titles. I decided to rate and review every physical shooter I owned for the system. Because reasons…
A very short history of video game magazines…
Forgotten Worlds issue 4 looks back at a bunch of classic video game magazines, including EGM, CVG, Mean Machines, Super Play, GamePro + more. Here's the abridged history, as told by the people who were there.
Renting (bad) Sega Genesis games back, back in the day
The early days of the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive are littered with the corpses of publishers who put out one of two questionable games and disappeared without a trace.
PlayStation Aesthetic
There’s a very specific 1990s PlayStation aesthetic that’s been lost to history. Let’s call it PlayStation Weird and figure out what happened.
Street Fighter 2 in the suburbs
To grow up in the 90s was to have Street Fighter 2 arcade cabinets scattered across the suburban landscape.
Quality Paper
The weight and quality of a magazine’s paper stock isn’t insignificant. It can impact both the look and feel of a publication, and the reading experience. Let’s take a closer look.
Vaporwave and video games
Vaporwave is our collective hallucination. An idealised version of Japan at a very specific moment in time. It’s the Far East filtered through old video games, anime, manga and magazines.
Cold war kids
The collaboration between the US government and the games industry has been referred to as the ‘military entertainment complex’, and when the Soviet Union disappeared so too did the funding…
The Wil Overton (Super Play) interview
“On the whole Super Play and N64 Magazine were left alone by the suits at Future so we did, pretty much, what we wanted.” Wil Overton talks about his time at Super Play magazine and Future Publishing.
Steve Merrett. The Mean Machines Sega interview
Steve Merrett would go on to edit Mean Machines Sega for several years until its eventual closure in 1997. Which means he has a unique, inside view of Sega’s struggles, EMAP’s operations, and how it all came to a head in the pages of Mean Machines Sega.
Neo Geo - Bigger, Badder, Better
“I am the Game Lord and one of my specialities is to say things that cause havoc, debates, and arguments...” A look back at the Neo Geo Bigger, Badder, Better supplement.
Swords and (review) scales
Guest contributor Darren Hupke looks back at the various reviews scores and scales magazines used back in the day, and drama that ensued.
Renovation on Sega Genesis
When the new Super Pocket from Blaze electronics provided a cheap and easy way to access the Renovation games library via the Evercade compilation cartridge I was all-in.
Periodical Personality
Magazines like GamePro, EGM and Nintendo Power worked hard to develop unique identities, often turning their writers into larger-than-life characters.
Not a review of Full Void
When a PR company reached out to me asking about coverage for a new indie game titled Full Void I was sympathetic, but also extremely non-committal.
exp. game zine
“Social media has become absolutely useless for sharing anything meaningful. Good, detailed, video games writing is simply lost in the endless churn…”
Devils Blush interview
“At some point just for fun I made a mock-up magazine cover and got a lot of nice feedback on Twitter, so I started looking into how viable it might be to actually produce.”
The Mark Green interview
NGamer magazine editor Mark Green talks Nintendo, social media, the early days of broadband, and how everything changed in the mid 2000s.