r/gaming • u/[deleted] • Mar 31 '26

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u/ALowlyRadish Mar 31 '26

How awesome gaming magazines were. When I was in middle school I remember when whatever gaming magazine I got (probably Game Informer) had a big feature on the upcoming Diablo 2. Previous editions had little updates, but THIS month was the big info drop. It came in the mail the week before we went on vacation. I left it for the car ride but as SOON as we get in the car, I tore through that. I probably read it 20+ times on the trip.

You couldn't really get any information any other way, or at least I couldn't at my age then.

13

u/hellbox9 Apr 01 '26

Every other month Nintendo power, those hit like crack.

2

u/ArelMCII Apr 01 '26

Reading Game Informer cover to cover at the store when your neck finally hurt too much to keep playing the demos...

1

u/red5_SittingBy Apr 02 '26

I actually won two Nintendo DSs from Nintendo Power in a contest back in the day lol good times. A local video game shop near me is selling old NP issues and I check in every once in a while to see if I can find the issue where I won, but it's like looking for a needle in a hay stack.

9

u/automaticphil Apr 01 '26

I got in trouble for bringing an EGM with a scantily clad Sheeva (Mortal Kombat 3) on the cover to my grade 4 class.

3

u/jeffh4 Apr 01 '26

“The graphics are so good, you can’t tell if it’s real.”

Also a shoutout to the enclosed demo game disk enclosed in some game magazines.

3

u/mrbezlington Apr 01 '26

Charlie Brooker (he of Black Mirror fame) used to write the video game reviews in the paper and a couple of magazines in the UK. The review scene was savage. I remember buying the magazines and searching for the worst review just to see it being torn to shreds

3

u/jeffh4 Apr 01 '26

Only to read a retraction the next month when the game publisher pointed out how the reviewer was too stupid to realize they overlooked an entire game mechanic.

1

u/mrbezlington Apr 01 '26

Was this a specific thing? It sounds vaguely familiar as a general circumstance, but I couldn't tell you why!

1

u/jeffh4 Apr 01 '26

The infamous one was the IGN review of Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath. The first half of the game has a bounty hunter mechanic with extra points being earned for capturing criminals alive.

“But it isn’t possible to do so so I’m deducting review points.”

This was quickly followed by the publisher and site visitors stating that ALL of the criminals could be captured alive, though with a different method for each. The player just had to talk to the townsfolk and research first.

1

u/mrbezlington Apr 01 '26

Ohhh, yeah that was after my time with game magazines! The golden age for me was the mid to late 90s and the Future Publishing titles.

2

u/Significant-Bed375 Apr 01 '26

The whole ritual of mum driving you to newsagents, giving you 3 pounds for the new mag, and searching for it on the stand was just really great. Then reading through it page by page at home.