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Thread: A look at IGN64.Com-the magazine

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    Great Puma (Level 12) YoshiM's Avatar
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    Default A look at IGN64.Com-the magazine

    The old man stood in front of the faux fireplace and held his gnarled hands in front of the forced air heating vent. He was warming the years of repetive wear on his joints, earned by the high scores of video games past while his deteriorating eyes, no longer watching the phosphorus glow of mazes and aliens but the faint flickering of artificial flames. A young boy was rummaging through some boxes that his grandfather had pulled from storage, each with words scrawled onto the cardboard with words like "controllers" or "Atari". Out of one box, labeled "magazines-late 1990's", the boy pulled out a moderately thick tome compared to the others in the box. Written upon its cover, protected by a sleeve of plastic was the title "IGN64.com The Magazine".

    "Grandfather," the boy asked, "what is this?"

    The old man wearily turned his gaze from the reflective light flames and looked at what his grandson was holding. "Oh," the man said, "that's a magazine. People would read those to get their news, gossip and other such things."

    The boy looked puzzled as he rotated the magazine about in his hands, watching how it would curl as he held it along the spine. "But, why? Why not use your tablet to get that information? Why use....this?"

    The grandfather chuckled, which caused him to cough up a bit of phlegm. "The Internet was young then, kinda like you. It was a wonderous time. A time of so many possibilities and that we had the future that day. News content came every day and we no longer had to wait a month to get our gaming news."

    The boy still looked puzzled as he pointed to the title. "But this says 'IGN64.com the Magazine'. Did that mean that there was an IGN64.com?"

    "Yes. It was N64.com and then when Imagine Entertainment began the site became IGN64.com".

    "But why make a magazine? Wouldn't that be....backward?"

    "Not everyone had the Internet back then."

    The boy looked as if he'd been slapped with a cold cod across the face. His mouth slack and the magazine fell from his hand and slipped back into its box.

    "That....that's like not having running water! Or a toilet! That's like having.....woah....what did you call them....land lines?"

    The old man smiled and gently ruffled his grandson's hair.

    "Don't let your grandmother hear you say that. She'll string the cord on the kitchen phone up and hang you out to dry".


    It was really an exciting time in the mid 1990's as consoles like the Playstation (One), Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn and such were beginning their strides in the market. Near about the same time, the public offerings of the World Wide Web opened the doors to what was seen as something futuristic-information at one's fingertips at any time. It was almost natural for existing newspapers and magazines to eventually create an online presence and video games were probably the best catalyst to push for online. Next Generation and Ultra Game Players had their place on the web but so was a lot of growing fan based sites dedicated to specific companies and systems, like Nintendojo and N64.com, which essentially joined forces to eventually become IGN64.com.

    (I)N64.com was the site I frequented the most and got to know the writings of Peer Schneider, Matt Casamassina, Fran Mirabella, Aaron Boulding and others as they kept me informed and entertained in latter 90's style gaming journalism. Goofy and legit funny bits peppered through the articles kept me coming back. Even when my poor modem was straining to download videos of the staff "punting Pikachu" (where they took a rotund Pikachu stuffed toy and literally kicked the bugger across the room), I kept on visiting. I laughed at the reader emails from the guy that loved Goldeneye so much (aka "The Eye Tat is Golden" and to the literary musings of the Drinking Bird and Ed the Janitor. IGN64 became a regular viewing staple for me for its articles and wit, humor and sarcasm.

    By 1998, the site advertised that they were going to publish a magazine, aptly titled "IGN64.Com: The Magazine". What looked to be a regular gig only became a single issue, which at the time I did not jump on. Now, 22 years later, I came across this at a chance search on eBay:

    Click image for larger version. 

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    The layout and concept of the magazine to me seems like a cross between a compendium of what was on the site up to that point and a regular gaming magazine of the time. It was like the writers want to bring those that did not have Internet access up to speed to a degree on what the IGN64 website had. For example, in the Mail section of the magazine, the writers make mention of the "classic" submission of the aforementioned "Eye Tat is Golden" email they got in the (then) past. The magazine was also chock full of stuff, from full articles to side bars to fill in blank spots. The photos and artwork were top notch. The writing equaled what was seen online, but I can't say if what was on the pages was regurgitated from the website. All in all, it was a good "first issue"of sorts that never continued. Reading it now the idea seemed a bit redundant and looked to be more of an advertisement as to what the web site had as opposed to being a new vehicle for IGN's content.

    Unfortunately, the magazine has not been scanned onto the web, at least as far as I could tell. I can find a couple pictures of the cover but that's about it.

  2. #2
    Alex (Level 15) Custom rank graphic
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    Default

    Coming soon through Kickstarter;

    IGN64.Com: The Magazine: The Game

    Pledge now to reserve a limited physical copy exclusive to the Sony PS1.

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