Guide books, magazines, and "mooks" thread

[snes9x]

I can't say I was too bummed out over GameInformer because it had been glorified ad copy for GameStop for like 15 years at this point, but there's still something to be said for the last of the big three gaming mags go under (EGM and GamePro being the other two)

 

[YuriSukiSan]

It's the same story here in France, most if not all publications moved online and then they fell in to irrelevance when the social media starting taking off, sites like Gamespot kind of took over then youtube very slowly crept in to wipe them out as well! I'm not saying there still aren't publications but the quality of writing, reviewing or just generally well written articles that were common place are rarer than they've ever been.

 

[Xeno]

That's gone too. They recently removed it from Pro.

They nuked the whole website without warning too.

 

[PhaseJump]

Print has been dying for decades. The internet killed gaming magazines. Groups on different social media platforms have risen out of old review crews to give personality based content and offer opinions on games, then it becomes an issue of paywalling subscriptions.

The closest thing to old gaming mag experience you could get over the last few decades was listening to Jeff Gerstmann on Giant Bomb and the Nextlander guys, before that all fell apart and they went to separate op-ed podcasting.

Reviews are borderline useless now, but watching a crew of opinionated personalities shoot the shit, cover events, and hang out to play games is where the leftover value has been shaken out of it.

 

[Zacek]

That's different in Japan, where you still can find magazines like Famitsu and Dengeki on your 7 Eleven.

 

[camnanaf]

I've been trying to collect these crosswords and repost them, if you want to play them, link down below

GMCTTY (@gmctty) | Crosshare Crossword Puzzles

The latest crossword puzzles from GMCTTY (@gmctty). GMCTTY (Gaming Magazine Crosswords Throughout the Years)

crosshare.org

 

[Deleted member 257420]

Curious hobby lol

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

Not in a videogame magazine per se, but in the game Tex Murphy Pandora Directive, there's a crossword bonus puzzle. It doesn't make sense out of the game because two of the words are a brand of flying cars and a place on Mars you visit in the series. But that's the last crossword I've completed (my wife completed it more than I if I'm being honest).

It is completable in game like a Crosshare. Good little software, great to learn another language. Thanks for sharing the list!

Spoiler: Solved

 

[shadowcat]

I used to get Gamepro and Nintendo Power from the library as a kid and save up for the games I thought looked cool in them.

 

[Amakuchi]

The only gaming magazine I ever read was Game Informer, I remember this was the first issue I remember reading. I always wondered what happened to this game when I read about it, only to find out decades later that it got cancelled LOL.

 

[ThirteeTooBeets]

I looked through many here and there but I one I was very loyal to was a local magazine named LOADED

 

[Spyrone]

EGM, PC Gamer, Game Informer, OXM, Tips & Tricks, GamePro and Nintendo Power. EGM had the best reviews, IMO, plus Seanbaby's column in the back was funny AF. PC Gamer had PC gaming stuff, and pretty solid reviews too. Game Informer had the best previews and Game Infarcer was pretty funny. OXM had demo discs. Tips & Tricks had cheat codes and strategy guides when I didn't have an internet connection faster than dial-up. To a lesser extent, so did Nintendo Power and GamePro, plus I really liked the layout of those magazines anyway. The first five I had subscriptions to, even if OXM cheated me out of all but two of the twenty-four issues I had ordered. Bastards...

 

[ThatOneLum ThatOneLum]

For the longest time, I used to get the official Pokémon magazine, but that was less gaming-specific and was more about the whole franchise.

The first gaming mag I got religiously was ONM (Official Nintendo Magazine), and I had every issue for a while there during the Wii era. Beyond that, I mostly got random magazines every so often, more than sticking to a specific one.

I actually have some older gaming mags in my magazine rack atm. A handful of the Orig XBOX ones and a couple of early UK-based Sega magazines. I still get them out and flick through them every so often. It's still fun to look back at reviews of some of the games of the era.

 

[Deleted member 623180]

I was an Electronic Gaming Monthly kid for the most part. It covered the most ground and at that age, I was more into Playstation and Sports games than anything else so it made the most sense.

 

[Deleted member 612095]

I used to read this magazine but I think that has now been discontinued.

 

[_Lorenzo_]

In the early 2000s I lived in France and subscribed to two well-known magazines, Consoles+ and Joypad. The first one I mentioned was rather sloppily edited, rudimentary screenshots of reviews engulfed the pages, and the reviews themselves were very emphatic. Joypad, on the other hand, was a video game magazine that I considered "more intellectual." The editors were very polished people, and they did not hesitate to point out even serious flaws in titles that other titles considered absolute masterpieces. The articles were very comprehensive and written in perfect French, sometimes even ironic in style. Then there were several very interesting columns that touched on the world of anime and manga, but also much more...

 

[Fray Guillermo]

Mainly these two here in Spain.

Also got some single PS1/2 Magazine issues that my mum got me only for the demo discs back in the day

 

[Jimbo_McDumbo]

My middle school had a ton of old Game Informer mags. Probably 2006-2012 is what they had, and I couldn't get enough. But all I had was a Wii at the time and everything I wanted was on PS3 or Xbox 360

 

[Deleted member 612095]

This booklet isn't bad either I still read today

 

[Deleted member 58254]

Game informer and Nintendo power

 

[ookamij64]

Always been a Nintendo Power reader up until my subscription ended and then the magazine not too long afterwards I thought. I remember the numerous contests for the newer at the time consoles and how I dreamed of getting one myself. I think the most coveted item for me was a Nintendo DS with the Pokémon casing and Pokémon Diamond/Pearl. Almost did order a replacement shell for my current DS since its in need of a bit of care, but opted for a sea/emerald opaque green one.

Returning to the topic though, I enjoyed the cool artwork for some of the covers. One that I still remember was for the issue that covered Sonic Chronicles - heard the game was notoriously bad but the artwork said otherwise. Family member had a few GamePro mags as well that have since fallen apart due to age.

 

[Theriise]

Oh man, time to clear out the dust from that part of my brain.
Lets see, I remember PC Gamer being a big part of my life growing up, my uncle fixed computers as a hobby so those demo disks were everywhere. I have fond memories of my brother playing the hard as nails heart of darkness game and not so fond memories of a city builder that had angry tornadoes in it, I got to scared of the teeny tiny tornadoes that I freaked out and begged my uncle to destroy the disk. (I was scared of the oddest things as a child.)

I also used to read my brothers Kzone magazines and I was addicted to knowing everything about Pokémon pearl and diamond prior to its release. I must have reread the Pokémon D+P section a billion million times that I dreamt about playing that game. Pokémon was such serious business with my friends, we used to gather round and watch another one of my friends play his Japanese release game of Black and White before it got an English translation just to 'ooh' and 'ahh' at it.

I also remember this magazine that we had in the country just called Nintendo(?) and when it featured an article on the chrono trigger ds release, I slept with that magazine under my pillow in anticipation. (And when it finally came out, I loved that game to pieces.)

Lastly there was my very treasured American Anime magazine. It was an imported magazine so it was expensive but I lucked out that day and my mother let me buy it. On the front there was a giant picture of Kagome hugging Inuyasha's waist because the featured article was about the Kaguya's mirror movie. (I have no clue because I never saw Inuyasha.) It also had lots of 'teen'y things like lists of hot anime men. This was even more of a big deal to me because anime was a thing of scarcity growing up. Either you woke up early enough to watch it before school, or you were lucky to catch it on the SBS channel. Sometimes I had to listen to my brother fill me in to what happened on sailor moon/hamtaro/DBZ/yugi-oh that morning and take him for his word, even when he tells me that a giant space ship came and abducted all the sailor scouts except sailor moon and left her crying. (That's a real episode by the way, I was emotionally devastated for a ten year old.)

 

[Isegrim]

Electronic Gaming Monthly was the best for hyping upcoming games. Also for discovering the latest upcoming games from Japan and was my favorite for gaming news. And their infamous Sheng Long April Fool's trick which fooled me for a time.

Video Games and Computer Entertainment helped me clear Zelda 2. Having a Famicom and the FDS only, I could only play action games that didn't require you to learn Japanese. Japanese RPG's that are reliant on understanding clues were out of the question. I really wanted to play Zelda 2 but passed on it until I found a copy of VG&CE that had part 1 of a walkthrough of Zelda 2. After collecting every issue of that walkthrough (you could say I had an additional real-life quest for Zelda 2), I finally managed to clear it even if Dark Link threw me for a loop at the end which the walkthrough failed to mention.

 

[Graves Ruinwalker]

I've ready it back then :

Was it great ? Not entirely but later on the 2000s they added discs with Games in it like MDK2 , Diablo 1 , Turok 1 & 2 combined with alot of small RPG-maker games and indie-games too. It had walkthroughs , News , tech-guides and game-reviews while putting lists on upcoming titles and so on.

The Reviews were funky with their ratings and are not really trustworthy but the Pics and gameplay showcases we're the actual important part of it . I had/have all CDs of it and what treasure-trove of Games those were . Really awesome Magazine in germany .

 

[dustymetso]

Growing up, I would read (at this time, they were already old) the old issues of the Official UK PlayStation Magazine. Then moved onto the Official UK PlayStation 2 Magazine. I stopped reading magazines by this point, but as an adult, I've gone back and started to read old issues from the Internet Archive or the Video Game History Foundation's magazine archive website.

These days, I'm a monthly subscriber to RetroGamer and PC Gamer UK.

Gaming-wise, I don't really spend that much money purchasing games. I don't play online games, so I don't get sucked into the fear of missing out when hype is at a high. I'm perfectly fine waiting to go back and purchase a game during a sale or something, so I can afford to purchase these magazines frequently. Reading through this thread, I see a few other magazines that I recognise but never had the chance to purchase when I was a kid. Thank you, everyone, for sharing.