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.
Forgotten Worlds #1. Ask me anything…
Exhaustion, panic and creeping dread - ask me anything about publishing a magazine about old video game magazines.
The final days of the Sega Dreamcast
Five years after Sega pulled the plug on its hardware division, the Dreamcast has found itself in a weird purgatory. Neither alive, nor dead; the system has managed to sustain itself with a drip feed of import titles.
Why the metaverse failed
“We don’t need expensive VR headsets to experience alternative realities, we’ve already walking around inside them thanks to the intangible flow of data that emits form our phones, TVs, laptops, cars, and fancy refrigerators.”
The Richard Monteiro - Paragon Publishing - interview
Richard Monteiro started his career as a staff writer with Amstrad Action, eventually went freelance, and ultimately co-founded Paragon Publishing - which was responsible for magazines like Sega Pro, Play, Games (™) and a bunch of others.
Raze magazine
I always liked Raze and its multi-format approach. But I was also fascinated by the chaos within the magazine. It felt like a mish-mash of several different publications thrown together, all competing with each other. I finally understand why…
The Paul Glancey interview
“It was a nightmare. With no more than about two weeks before the print deadline, I managed to get an old computer and started writing features and reviews of every Mega Drive game we knew of. Then, with about a week to go, I was joined by an art director from a London creative agency.”
The Dan 'Shoe’ Hsu interview
“When I started writing for EGM, I remember I was one of the lower reviews for Turok on Nintendo 64, and I didn’t know this until years later, that Acclaim pulled advertising because of my review…”