Did you ever have a letter published in a gaming magazine?

[Natty Bumppo]

I once had a letter published in one of the gaming magazines (I don't remember which one - probably EGM or Diehard). They had published an article on Landstalker and I had discovered a weird (albeit very minor) trick in that game which I passed along - they thought it was interesting enough to respond.

Has anyone else had a letter published?

[Emperor Megas]

Do you still have a copy of the magazine?

[Natty Bumppo]

Do you still have a copy of the magazine?

I do but it is packed away - I know where my magazines (and other sundry gaming peripherals - aside from a full run of Nintendo Powers till the end of the SNES I don't have a huge number of mags ) are but they would be a pain to get to them.

[Aussie2B]

Not a letter, but Nintendo Power printed my envelope art once. In retrospect, it's pretty funny because I let my subscription expire shortly thereafter, haha.

[gbpxl]

No. I was too young. I wouldn't have been old enough to think of anything relevant to write, and by the time I would have been old enough, magazines stopped being relevant (mid to late 2000's)

[Az]

I had one printed in Diehard Gamefan. A few years later had printed in Gamego!, which had potential to be great but sadly lasted one issue.

[Garry Silljo]

Not a gaming mag, but my picture was in an issue of Animerica. I had won some graphic novels in a raffle they did and was encouraged to send in a picture of myself with the prize. Don't know if I still have the issue or the books.... need to search.

[gbpxl]

whats interesting about this thread is that I've looked at kid's letters in some of the magazines and wondered "hmm wondered whatever happened to that kid"

A lot of the letters revolved around... "which console is best???" "you cover X console too much!" a lot of the letters addressed the whole violence in video games thing, especially after Congress pressuring the game industry in '93 following Mortal Kombat and Night Trap and then a lot of letters about it after Columbine. Most of the letters expressed outrage over the fact that Congress was blaming video games for mass shootings (rather than the actual problem, like access to guns.)

I did like the occasional letter from a female that complained about the portrayal of women in video games. I don't know how it is now really but in the 90's, most female characters were either Princess Peach or resembled Lara Croft.

In the early Nintendo Powers, people would write in saying how video games helped them bond with their children and grandchildren. Those were very touching. Some of the people writing in in the early 90's were easily in their 70's and likely are long gone by now. Those memories may never have been shared with family members or written down except in those magazines, so now they are immortalized. I wonder if their kids ever knew that their parents/grandparents wrote those letters.

[Aussie2B]

If you're interested in the people behind the letters, this article is pretty touching:

http://tinycartridge.com/post/3006063488/dragon-quest-vis-english-release-a-month-too-late#_=_

[Steven]

Three times. First: EGM issue #110. And then Retro Magazine's "Letter of the Month" two months in a row.

http://www.rvgfanatic.com/mediac/400_0/media/DIR_96601/MyEGMLetter.jpg

This was late '90s -- near the end of summer 1998 to be precise -- and I remember getting IM'ed by a stranger with a screen name like Jenn4007 or something. This was back in the good old days when everyone had AOL (LOL) and you could instant message anyone as long as you knew their screen name and they were online. So I got a message from her that said something like "DUDE! YOU MADE THE LATEST EGM ISSUE!" I was so psyched, and I knew there was no way this could be a hoax. I remember running down to the local store and buying the magazine. Still have it to this day.

https://78.media.tumblr.com/f84d102235e51c8db1f6301300568117/tumblr_mg72oo9Vtv1rkrwaco1_1280.jpg
Ah yes sir, August 1998 this issue came out. Good times

http://rvgfanatic.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Ret3NKB-e1516068133334.jpg

And then the next month...

http://rvgfanatic.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/SteveRetroMag-e1516068220182.jpg

Kind of bittersweet. I don't know how many people have ever had Letter of the Month two months in a row, but I bet Retro Magazine wasn't getting a ton of emails anyway. I say bittersweet because of the fiasco Retro Magazine became and the fan backlash of it was pretty epic a few years back. Do they even still make issues? I know the Kickstarter was this super positive magical thing... but when it came time for the product to be released, well, let's just say many were disappointed with the end results. The leader of the magazine, whom you can find out on the internet and whom I rather not name, had a terrible falling out with the retro gaming community. He was put on blast at Atari Age and his reputation has never been the same ever since.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

I was too young for most of the period of gaming magazine's relevance (c. 1990-2005) and never really felt the desire to write to one once I got old enough.