Game magazines that died young..

[Gamereviewgod]

Ok, I was going through my racks of zines and came across a few oddities. I'm talking about mags that didn't last a year, some times even less. Here's what I found:

NGamer: Strictly Nintendo mag. I only seen one issue which was the premier. I never seen any more.

Manci: Duh. Still a cryin' shame.

Game Play 2001: I don't think this was supposed to last, but it was only a few issues, put out by Starlog. Really cheaply made, but still a decent read for it's oddballness.

Game Buyer: I loved this one but it sadly died young. Hung in there, but didn't hit the year mark (at least I don't think)

Incite: Ugh. One of my most hated mags of all time, but I still have a complete run. I believe they had a PC mag as well that died even sooner.

That's what I got. I'm not versed in PC 'zines so I'm sure there are more there. What else is out there?

[downfall]

I think it was called Q64. I have one issue of it.. it was a quarterly magazine, and I really only remember seeing the one issue. Had Mission: Impossible for N64 on the cover, and it was dedicated strictly to N64 games if I remember correctly. It was alright.

[Tritoch]

Next Generation had a healthy run, and yet I still think it died young.

[Melf]

GameGo! Only lasted one issue.
Manci Games died young. They still owe me my subscription refund too. I guess since issue #2 took 2 months to arrive they feel the refund should as well.

[Half Japanese]

I remember NGamer, and in fact bought the first and only issue of it (though it's long been misplaced). It was pretty cool (at least in my memory), but where's that remote-control car that uses the GBC as a controller they talked about, with full Game Boy Camera support? Ah well.

Wasn't Game Buyer the last-ditch effort from the Ultra Game Players crew? I seem to remember that one sharing a lot of the same staff.

Also, I think I remember seeing a cheap-ass cash-run of a mag called Video Game Underground which went to "Readers Digest" size after the first few issues and also mostly black and white. I think it was put out by one of those crappy wrestling mag publishers.

You are correct about Incite, but there was at least some irony in that whole situation. GamePRO's Johnny Ballgame left GamePro to head over and work at Incite, which quickly folded. So he basically left a shitty, yet stable mag for a shaky celeb-worshipping mag that was about as appealing as a can of smashed assholes. Exit stage left writerman.

[jwl]

Nintendo Power Advance only had 3-4 issues I think.

[RCM]

Gamefan and GameGo both died too fast. The last team of editors Gamefan had were amazing. Long live ECM! They were truly the best! Ok, some journalist might say GF was nothing more then a glorified fanzine. I could really care less, GF had heart and soul. Something just about every other publication lacks or lacked. RIP Gamefan!

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM

[NE146]

Lots of gaming magazines died quickly. This offshoot of Creative Computing was one of my favorites and lasted a whole 2 issues :P

[zmweasel]

You are correct about Incite, but there was at least some irony in that whole situation. GamePRO's Johnny Ballgame left GamePro to head over and work at Incite, which quickly folded. So he basically left a shitty, yet stable mag for a shaky celeb-worshipping mag that was about as appealing as a can of smashed assholes. Exit stage left writerman.

Incite's German-based publisher was throwing around mad loot, which is why it seduced so many journalists from other publishers. When Incite bombed and the German publisher bailed on America, most of those journalists left the industry, since they couldn't get their old jobs back; they would've had to engage in the painful, endless scramble for freelance work.

-- Z.

[neotokeo2001]

Gamefan and GameGo both died too fast. The last team of editors Gamefan had were amazing. Long live ECM! They were truly the best! Ok, some journalist might say GF was nothing more then a glorified fanzine. I could really care less, GF had heart and soul. Something just about every other publication lacks or lacked. RIP Gamefan!

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM

I agree. GameFan was a glorified Fanzine full of Fanboy reviews.

On that note.....Gamefan was(and is) my favorite magazine of all time!! Electronic Games is a close 2nd. Try getting back issues of Gamefan and you will see how people hang onto those old issues. I have a complete run and will never tire of it.

To quote RCM "GF had heart and soul"

The only person who works in the same style is Zach Meston (spelling?).
He gives an entertaining and informative review. If a game sucks, He'll tell you it sucks and then explains why.

[zmweasel]

GameGo! Only lasted one issue.
Manci Games died young. They still owe me my subscription refund too. I guess since issue #2 took 2 months to arrive they feel the refund should as well. :angry:

GameGo! only lasted one issue for several reasons. One, Mylonas wasn't exactly a beloved person in the game-journalism field; two, GG!'s ultra-mega-hardcore content wasn't exactly geared to bring in the readers. The first and last issue had a write-up of strip-mahjong games, as I recall.

I assume you've already contacted Jaysen about your refund? He's been recently active on these boards (using the handle ManciGames), and I thought he'd stated that everyone should have their refund by now.

-- Z.

[Captain Wrong]

Gamefan and GameGo both died too fast. The last team of editors Gamefan had were amazing. Long live ECM! They were truly the best! Ok, some journalist might say GF was nothing more then a glorified fanzine. I could really care less, GF had heart and soul. Something just about every other publication lacks or lacked. RIP Gamefan!

Y'know, you're right. If I had to point to one thing that probably got me back into gaming hardcore (and helped me remember what I liked about gaming in the first place) it was GameFan. Yes the magazine was baised as all hell, full of inside jokes, elitist attitude and a total mixed bag when it came to the quality of writing. However, there was a more "heart and soul" in that magazine than I've seen anywhere since.

Plus, I gotta love a mag with a major shmup fan as editor.

[RCM]

neotokeo2001 wrote:

The only person who works in the same style is Zach Meston (spelling?). He gives an entertaining and informative review. If a game sucks, He'll tell you it sucks and then explains why.

I haven't really read anything of Zachs for the past 10 years or so besides his posts on the board. Could you point me toward some of his stuff?

Also, I wouldn't say I exactly agree from what ive read of Zachs work. I have never seen the same passion and fire that the old GF crew had in anyones work. Ok, maybe my own! That's not a knock to Zach, I am just going on my limited experience of his work. I've ended to many sentences with work. Damn it, another one!

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM

[Rogmeister]

I remember one called, I think, Intelligent Gamer...there was one called simply Video Games. It was around for awhile and I think EGM basically bought them out just to cancel it so they could get their subscribers.

[neotokeo2001]

neotokeo2001 wrote:

The only person who works in the same style is Zach Meston (spelling?). He gives an entertaining and informative review. If a game sucks, He'll tell you it sucks and then explains why.

I haven't really read anything of Zachs for the past 10 years or so besides his posts on the board. Could you point me toward some of his stuff?

Also, I wouldn't say I exactly agree from what ive read of Zachs work. I have never seen the same passion and fire that the old GF crew had in anyones work. Ok, maybe my own! That's not a knock to Zach, I am just going on my limited experience of his work. I've ended to many sentences with work. Damn it, another one!

THE ONE, THE ONLY- RCM

I don't know what all Zach works on, but some I can think of.

Secrets of the Games Strategy Guides(90's?)
I've seen articles in GamePro, PSExtreme and a few older mags.
Lead?? Writer on several of the best Working Designs games.
And lately I have seen a few(badly needed) articles in PSE2 magazine.

What I like is Zach seems to remember that it's about the games and having fun. I read a lot of reviews by other people that seem to come out of the Review-O-Matic.

Maybe I am just drawing a blank, But what have you worked on? Do you write under another name? I have probably seen your work before but just not connecting the dots.

[BillKunkel]

Ok, I was going through my racks of zines and came across a few oddities. I'm talking about mags that didn't last a year, some times even less. Here's what I found:

NGamer: Strictly Nintendo mag. I only seen one issue which was the premier. I never seen any more.

Manci: Duh. Still a cryin' shame.

Game Play 2001: I don't think this was supposed to last, but it was only a few issues, put out by Starlog. Really cheaply made, but still a decent read for it's oddballness.

Game Buyer: I loved this one but it sadly died young. Hung in there, but didn't hit the year mark (at least I don't think)

Incite: Ugh. One of my most hated mags of all time, but I still have a complete run. I believe they had a PC mag as well that died even sooner.

That's what I got. I'm not versed in PC 'zines so I'm sure there are more there. What else is out there?

I've had some personal experience with short-lived magazines. I think my biggest disappointment was GameFan Sports Network, an all-sports electronic gaming magazine I developed during my mostly-miserable year working for Metropolis during its ownership of the DieHard GameFan franchise. They wanted to expand their titles and I suggested a sports-only zine. They liked the idea and assigned young Rustin Lee as the on-site editor (I was working from home, as I have on every magazine and game site since I quit the original Electronic Games in 1985). We put out two issues of GSN that I was quite pleased with and the magazine had tremendous potential but Metropolis was going broke (they STILL owe me a month's salary -- $7,500, plus interest please, David you slimeball). Cover dates for the two issues of GSN that appeared were Summer and Fall of '97.

A less fulfilling project was a magazine called PC ACE. Again, I believe two issues made it out (at least that's all I can find copies of). The idea was a magazine devoted to sims, military games and science fiction. We had good writers like Tom Basham, Steve Kent, James R. Jones III, Laurie Yates and John Withers. I just edited since I wasn't interested in the subject matter, but we had assembled this huge team of expert writers when our company, FOG, was brought in to develop the content for the Happy Puppy site. But when that went to litigation, FOG tried to use as many of those writers as possible, so we took down strategy guide contracts with Prima and launched PC ACE, among other things.

Anyway, that's two more short-timers for the collector's bin...

Also, Rogmeister mentions Intelligent Gamer. That was basically a fanzine by some marginal talent named Jer Horowitz, I think. I believe Steve Harris bought IG and replaced Arnie Katz with Horrorwitz as editor and they might have even changed the title of the second Electronic Games (the one from the 90s) to IG at some point, but I just don't remember it that well since they always changed the names of our magazines after we left. Of course, as with all the magazines we left, it failed almost immediately thereafter.

Coincidence? Perhaps, perhaps...

[Dan Iacovelli]

I'm surprised that most fo you forgot about Atari's two game mags:
Atari Age (from the atari game club)
and the reincarnation of Atari AGE: Atarian magazine (only 3 issues was made)
while atari Age did last for about a 4 years it did die around the time of the crash.

[underexposed+]

I can't believe no one has mentioned the Official Dreamcast Magazine it was really well done, came with a demo disk but only lasted for like 11 or 12 issues .

Incite was one of the biggest pieces of trash i've ever seen the worst gaming mag ever!

[neotokeo2001]

I've had some personal experience with short-lived magazines. I think my biggest disappointment was GameFan Sports Network, an all-sports electronic gaming magazine I developed during my mostly-miserable year working for Metropolis during its ownership of the DieHard GameFan franchise. They wanted to expand their titles and I suggested a sports-only zine. They liked the idea and assigned young Rustin Lee as the on-site editor (I was working from home, as I have on every magazine and game site since I quit the original Electronic Games in 1985). We put out two issues of GSN that I was quite pleased with and the magazine had tremendous potential but Metropolis was going broke (they STILL owe me a month's salary -- $7,500, plus interest please, David you slimeball). Cover dates for the two issues of GSN that appeared were Summer and Fall of '97.

Looking at the polls and top 10 list, It's amazing that we don't have any all sports videogaming magazines now. Looks like you were just a little ahead of the times. I bet EA could promote an all sports videogaming magazine.

[NE146]

Gamefan eh.. Yeah they're dead now but they had a pretty good run! I don't think they died too young.. they just died. I remember my Gamefan box being pretty darn heavy (unlike say, the Joystik box). :P