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5 FORGOTTEN VIDEO GAME MAGS

27/2/2015

27 Comments

 
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Sadly, not every games magazine can desperately cling onto past glories like Digitiser 2000 somehow inexplicably manages to (for now anyway - ha ha... uh... ha ha... ha?). 

There have been many short-lived, little-loved, examples of the gamingly journalisticalistic arts that have sputtered into life, and been extinguished without anybody shedding so much as a single tear. Others were crushed before their time - like a farmer stamping on an egg just as it hatches. Silly farmer. Silly billy.

Here are five forgotten curios from the allegedly golden age of video game journalism. Bronk!

5. BIG K
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Big K was a brazen attempt by British comics publisher IPC - also responsible for Roy of the Rovers, Eagle, and (for a while) 2000AD - to jump aboard the "computer game" bandwagon. 

Launched in 1984, it sadly lasted just 12 issues - despite the careful stewardship of NME veteran Tony Tyler, being full of type-in-your-own-code listings, and boasting a first-issue cover image that showed a web-handed dragon cowering away from a suspiciously clean-cut punk while they both flew through space on a disintegrating, silver ZX Spectrum.

There is much to admire, however: few magazines would dare to sell their first issue on the strength to the exclamation "WOZNIAK!". Nevertheless, Big-K's most notable achievement was Shatter - a genuinely decent cyberpunk-y comic strip, drawn entirely on an Apple Macintosh. 

"WOZNIAK!" indeed.
4. ELECTRIC BRAIN
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http://flicky1984.tumblr.com
Proclaiming itself to be "The ultimate unofficial console fanzine for video games" (as opposed to, y'know, "video games" collectively sanctioning an official one), Electric Brain - we assume - was trying to evoke a Viz Comic vibe. That's the only way to explain the cheap newsprint, mostly monochrome contents, and scrappily-rendered - and hideously unappealing - cartoon mascot.

Nevertheless, we admired it for doing something different with its wilfully lo-fi vibe, and it had a commendable focus on import games, back when that was still more of a thing. We're sure the four or five people in the UK who owned a PC-Engine really appreciated the imbalanced coverage of their machine.

Actually, we've got a vague recollection of Teletext actually paying real money to advertise Digitiser in the pages of Electric Brain - a rare display of support for their allegedly unruly video games section, with its deliberately obtuse humour that went out of its way to alienate readers.
3. MR DREAMCAST
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We'd completely forgotten about Mr Dreamcast until recently, when a Digitiser 2000 reader reminded TV's Mr Biffo that he'd written for it. Alas, it couldn't have been much of an earner for the hisute, alcoholic Digi 2000 editor, as the magazine lasted a pitiful two issues. 

This might have had something to do with its somewhat narrow focus: a Dreamcast magazine aimed exclusively at children. Very few people owned a Dreamcast anyway - and we can't imagine very many of them were anything other than Sega fanboys and over-enthusiastic early-adopters. 

Not even a boggle-eyed mascot, that combined the Dreamcast logo with Sonic the Hedgehog, could save Mr Dreamcast from premature obscurity.
2. GAMES-X
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We had a bit of a soft spot for Games-X - probably the only weekly games magazine. Though it lasted barely a year, it published more issues than many of its longer-running monthly rivals. Plus, it was only 60p - a bargain in our cash-strapped youth, where we were still reliant on begging for pocket money to buy our things. Imagine that! How times have changed...

Speaking to Out-Of-Print Archive, editor Hugh Gollner had this to say of the failed endeavour: "It was an ambitious magazine. It was also a big mistake - it lost a fortune. We probably lost more than £50k than we should have. It took a heck of a lot of work to produce that much content each week."

Still, at least he was - we assume - being paid a decent wage (please give generously to our PayPal/Patreon campaign). Money, please!
1. 16/48
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If we were to write a list of all the things we have loved in our time, 16/48 Magazine would be in the top 5 - probably just above our own children. 

It was a unique proposition for the time - and in many respects, a precursor to the online magazines of today. A multimedia, ZX Spectrum "magazine" that came on cassette, every "issue" boasted the usual editorial features, chips and teats and that, but these were bulked out with full-blooded games, demos, and programs. We had a particular soft spot for The Long Way Home - a multi-part, time-travelling, graphic adventure. 

16/48 wasn't cheap, admittedly - £2.99, or thereabouts (which, in the mid-80s was about the same price as a small car) - but you certainly got your money's worth. It's just a shame we had to sell one of our lungs to pay for our subscription.

"WOZNIAK!".

FROM THE ARCHIVE:
  • CVGONE - A tribute to CVG
  • CYBER-X: A Day in the life of a games journalist
27 Comments
GallonOfAlan
26/2/2015 02:16:14 am

I haven't forgotten Big K. Absolutely hilarious and you can see the lineage through it to Zero to PC Zone.

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Dacanesta
26/2/2015 02:17:26 am

For no reason at all, except maybe to have people wallow in my own n........n!.......N!.......nostalgia, I used to be an avid reader of Crash, then ST user, and......errrr......I can't remember after that, but I had an Amiga and a snes. Hooray!
Also, hope that wasn't a dig at Viz or else I'll fake my own death......TWICE!

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GigerPunk link
26/2/2015 02:36:45 am

I'm disappointed you didn't cover "Splat!", the single-issue, monochomatic, multi-format games 'zine produced by a bunch of older kids for an English project at school, rattled off one the bandagraph machine and then flogged to the rest of the school over lunch. It was rubbish, but it was cheap. Kinda wish I still had my copy...

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Super Bad Advice
26/2/2015 02:42:33 am

If 'Mr. Dreamcast' is 'my Sega best mate', why am I not on first name terms with him? Doesn't sound like a very healthy relationship to me - he'll be demanding I call him Sir next.

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Grk!
26/2/2015 02:03:04 pm

Besides, he doesn't look so much Sonic the Hedgepig as Microshaft paperclip.

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Chinny Hill
26/2/2015 02:45:54 am

Was never a fan of Games X. Got my back up by ignoring the 8 bit machines at a time when they still had significant market share. The Games Week column in New Computer Express was a far better read and actually managed to get the proportion of format coverage right.

When you have a low cover price and a weekly publishing deadline you need sales volume. You don't get that by covering sexy consoles which have a tiny market share (I have the games sales market share for mid 1992 somewhere and the consoles were still tiny). I was surprised Games X lasted as long as it did.

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Reversible Sedgewick
26/2/2015 03:05:31 am

The last time I bought a magazine with a big red X on the cover, promising some "Exposed Magic Pockets", it cost me a lot more than 60p.

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Mentski link
26/2/2015 05:18:48 am

MEMORIES OF THESE THINGS:

Big K: Cut out cassette inlays for the type-in listings
.
Electric Brain: Tutorials on how to mod your console. I remember finding out about the region/language jumpers for the Mega Drive from this mag.

Mr Dreamcast: That's got to be a joke, right?

Games-X: I had multiple letters printed in Games-X. I got a T-Shirt and everything.

16/48: I am not sure if I remember this thing, or if it was all a crazy fever dream.

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Dyf
26/2/2015 05:25:16 am

I wonder how many joystick roundup articles were written back in the day with the headline 'Joy of sticks'.

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kelvingreen link
26/2/2015 11:52:27 am

Someone needs to produce some WOZNIAK! t-shirts.

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Mr Biffo
26/2/2015 12:15:46 pm

WOZNIAK! Am I mis-remembering, or was there a games mag that gave away a free water pistol one month?

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mitz
26/2/2015 01:38:22 pm

WOZNIAK!

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Mathew H
23/1/2019 12:38:42 am

Co-creator of the Apple Mac! He drank some stuff from a drain and it turned him insane!

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Kronkit
24/4/2019 05:45:34 pm

He’s fired with lust and he’ll jump on your back.

FEoD link
26/2/2015 10:33:52 pm

Well tickle my nostalgia funnel... 16/48...
The Long Way Home (part 1) was the first game I ever completed. It encouraged you to draw a map of your progress to help navigate past the security robot, then destroyed any chance of that being effective by having one of the corridors on the space station be curved without letting on which one in the text descriptions... Good times...

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Matt
28/2/2015 02:34:23 am

I use to get "Total" magazine for years in my youth....only recently did the posters get removed!

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Samuel
28/2/2015 02:57:51 pm

Skank me do! How about a feature on the less obscure gaming mags that did the rounds back in the day? It would be nice to get a digi overview on mags like 'Mean Machines, CV&G, official Nintendo mag etc....or how about an expose on the 'beefs' between Mr Biffo and other journalists?! (I'm hoping it was as exciting as the east coast - West coast rivalry, but probably not.)

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colincidence link
28/2/2015 06:18:56 pm

"Games-X" sounds like 'game sex' which is a bit like 'sex' which is naughty which is humorous.

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Andy
9/6/2015 02:36:56 pm

Electric Brain was the end point from something that started off called PC Engine Fanatics, then becoming Console Ma'zine, then Electric Brain (in a different form) and then the version that made it onto newsagent shelves. Started off by a guy in Nottingham called Onn Lee. Haven't a clue where he is now but suspect I've got the only complete collection of all those mags he produced.

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The Green Spurt
10/1/2016 12:37:38 am

I love hearing "behind the scenes" stuff like this years later. I remember buying Electric Brain when it came out, it was a lot cheaper than all the other games mags so I could forgive it the crappy paper.

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Alan Newton
7/1/2016 01:04:03 pm

I lost a complete collection of Games-X to the dreadful shed mould. In the last issue they pointed out that noone had noticed it was an anagram of Sex Mag. But I DID! I just didn't bother to tell them.

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Andy
11/1/2016 08:09:36 pm

I've been following values of video game related stuff for sometime now and these sort of forgotten video game mags are likely to become hot property as people look for those 'gems' that few others have. Currently, it's the games themselves that can attract silly money but over time, it could well become the mags as well.

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Matt Sephton link
23/1/2019 09:54:18 am

Andy, above, if you read this would you be interested in me scanning the rest of Electric Brain series of magazines? Cheers.

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Juan
13/4/2016 08:55:44 pm

What a great concept 16/48 was... loved it to bits.

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britesparc
23/8/2016 12:19:33 pm

Hey, I had Game-X issue 1! I totally forgot about that. I wonder if it's still in my parents' loft with all my old copies of The One Amiga. I bet it's worth, oh, at least 69p by now.

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stupidactingsmart
6/7/2017 11:59:15 pm

Hmmm. I still have my Games X collection... temporarily (7 issues on ebay right now) but as for Teletext advertising in Electric Brain; I'm convinced I bought an issue because I saw it advertised on Digitiser. Or am I high?

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matt link
5/9/2017 01:02:53 am

Hey! That's my photo of the few issues of Electric Brain. Anyway, tonight I spent some time scanning them in! You can now get them as PDFs with selectable text here: https://archive.org/details/Electric-Brain

Reply



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