Gaming Magazines: Now and Then

Ages ago, a little Magazine sparked in me an interest that still burns brightly, I waited impatiently for every release like the fat kid in a candy store. This compendium of all things cool was Electronic Games Magazine. It covered everything that was everything to me and I still retain my copies preserved in that time-honored future-proof capsule: Cardboard Boxes. I assume this is based on the slight chance that I survive Armageddon and need to remember fondly of better days, but I have no spouse-proof answer.

I poured over every copy so many times that, like a song, if I saw the first few pages of an issue I could practically recall the whole magazine and thanks to RetroMags I can take that to task. Leafing through the scanned version of an issue I own, I once again felt that old sense of Deja Vu. True, The Quest for the Rings for the Odyssey2 has a hard time standing up next to Assassins Creed 2, but my enthusiasm for that old O2 title was far superior. Perhaps it was due to the basic nature of the graphics forcing me to use my imagination that made it for me; you see the actual game but you imagine that artwork from the box. It explains why RogueLikes and Muds are as popular as they are in this day and age.

Nothing can take the place of my childhood favorite but I can get by on some free substitutes: Gamerzines has all the bases covered from DS to 360 to PC with their entire archive of free PDF magazines for download. There is also D+Pad which is dedicated to console games, but PC Gamers do get shafted err, ports. Finally if you are into the development scene or just want to hear some behind the screens, try MarkUp and Dev.Mag. I suggest the freeware Foxit Reader to view them because as we all know, Acrobat Sucks.

Ye Ole EGM'ers may enjoy a short interview with Bill Kunkel.