Old Magazine Chat

Drunkalilly wrote:

Balladeer wrote:

Joke's on you, I have no favourite arcade games!

(Okay it's probably one of the Taiko no Tatsujins.)

Banger.

Literally!

I think I've played Mario Karcade once. I'm really lousy when it comes to arcade games.

Mario kart is overpriced if you're paying by the race, but if you're at a place where you pay by the hour or for a day it's great fun.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I've recently been given a ton of old gaming magazines. I'd like to share some excerpts for you guys - what would you want to see first? Would you want something from CUBE, something from Gamesmaster and or something from Official Playstation Magazine? These are all circa 2001-2004, just so you know the timescale we're looking at.

Go for Official PlayStation Magazine! Is it for the original PlayStation? I heard that really went off the rails towards it's end.

I'll put in a vote for Cube. I purchased a couple of the magazines back in the day, and even had a brief ill-fated stint on their forum. I'm up for a peer down that particular Memory Lane.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

Go for Official PlayStation Magazine! Is it for the original PlayStation? I heard that really went off the rails towards it's end.

It is! I think it's the last edition before they become OPS2M or whatever they called themselves, so it's a "best of" edition.

Balladeer wrote:

I'll put in a vote for Cube.  I purchased a couple of the magazines back in the day, and even had a brief ill-fated stint on their forum.  I'm up for a peer down that particular Memory Lane.

I'll do OPM then CUBE as we've only had one vote each so far and first come first served is the only way I've got to make my choice right now unless anyone else fancies a vote!

Thought I'd toss in a few mags I used to read in here.

N64 magazine issue 5 was one of the first I ever read and I read that up until the end of Nintendo Gamer, natch.

I mainly read mags in the 90s-2000s and I'd also get GamesMaster and Official PlayStation. The other ones I got occasionally were NOM, DC-UK, CVG and the odd issue of PSX and other Ninty mags.

One I remember being really good was GBX which was dedicated to GBA and GB Colour games. Every issue came with a VHS cassette which had previews, reviews, competitions and interviews with developers. I specifically remember seeing a look around the office of Crawfish and an interview with one of their team.

You'll love the magazine scans I'll eventually post in here then - tons of Gamesmaster and OPM!

Duke of Ted wrote:

...natch.

You've passed the test and will be allowed in.

Balladeer wrote:

Duke of Ted wrote:

...natch.

You've passed the test and will be allowed in.

I use natch a lot of the time online but the reference often goes unnoticed... until now!

I'm sure 'natch' must be used outside NGamer fans as were, but that's the only place I've ever seen it!

I've seen it a couple of times as a style thing with some writers, but everytime I use it I'm doing it because of the mag.

I see that the Out of Print Archive has been busy uploading old Nintendo magazines, there's loads new to find on http://www.outofprintarchive.com/magazine_catalogue_UK.html 

They've been posting scans on their Twitter page too, and some of the ones from Nintendo Official Magazine in 2002 took my interest:






I've got no recollection whatsoever of NOM looking like this. I'm sure that I bought that magazine a few times in the early days of the GameCube, but this design escapes me entirely. It bores the arse off of me too.

I thought that was a PS2 magazine until I saw the Nintendo logo. Out of Print Archive are doing God's work - brilliant site.

Half of that review is pictures. Ludicrous. We laugh at the 'words everywhere' classic line (tip of the hat to Jamigilbert wherever they are now), but looking at that you can see why. NOM readers must have been so confused by the sight of continuous prose! Which I think shows a kind of disrespect to the attention spans of its readers.

Is TimeSplitters 2 the best FPS on Cube?

I remember around year 8 or 9 my friends seeing my gaming mags and complaining that they were all words wirhout pictures, release schedules and other stuff I wasnt that interested in.

Many of these old gaming magazines are usually half pictures. Fair dos to the likes of N64 Magazine and Official Playstation Magazine, those had lots of quality writing that's still worthwhile reading today. But on the other hand, CVG doesn't have much going on at all these days. I think I've typed emails longer than the number of words you'd find in a typical issue. NOM during the N64 days was guilty of that too.

I think Timesplitters 2 is the best FPS on the GameCube, but I'm saying that without putting much time into Metroid Prime 1 or ever playing Metroid Prime 2. I'd still like it's chances against those two though, Timesplitters 2 is magic.

It might just be peeps I know but those would say MP isn't an FPS just played from that perspective. Why I didn't like it back in the day as I thought I'd be getting a Nintendo Halo.

Yep, I wouldn't say the Metroid Primes are FPSes either.  For one thing I liked them. But also they just put more emphasis on exploration than combat, and had a lock-on to remove the need to aim (perfect for Mr. Wobbly-Guns here).

Yeah the FPS label was a problem at the time, as Mas wasn't alone in comparing it to Halo. Metroid Prime is in first-person, and you do shoot stuff, but it's an action-adventure more than anything. The same could be said for RPGs because in pretty much every game, you're playing the role of someone. Wasn't Super Metroid labelled a platformer at the time? Sure, you jump on platforms, but it's very different to Mario and Sonic. Stupid labels.

Words are almost as bad as numbers. If I could, I'd ditch them too and just communicate through vibes and dance.

I'm not sure where else I can link this, but Ninty Fresh have made their first two issues freely available as a PDF:

https://wetransfer.com/downloads/43b641951e8c782b82de7715b534317b20210304101345/13853b

Describing itself as "a cross between ONM and Retro Gamer", my first impressions are positive. Worth a look 

I've shelled out for all three issues so far. It's got a much better feel to it than Switch Player, which is apparently going down the tubes - and while I don't wash failure on anyone bringing back the wonderful world of Switch magazines, that feels like a fair reflection of its quality sadly.

Also the second one has an interview with