GamesMaster - 25th anniversary issue

Anything to do with games at all.

Favourite multi-format magazine?

GamesMaster (1993-)
6
18%
EDGE (1993-)
9
26%
GamesTM (2002-)
4
12%
Retro Gamer (2004-)
3
9%
Computer & Video Games (1981-2004)
3
9%
ACE (1987-1992)
2
6%
MAXIMUM (1995-1997)
2
6%
Mean Machines (1990-1996)
3
9%
Raze (1990-1991)
0
No votes
Total! (1990-1991)
2
6%
Total Control (1999)
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 34
NickSCFC

PostRe: GamesMaster - 25th anniversary issue
by NickSCFC » Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:13 pm

jawafour wrote:I've often noted that Future seems to have done so little to get their print subscribers over to digital channels. Their sole gaming website, gamesradar+, is an unbelieveavly weak offering. I'm not totaly averse to moving over to digital but I'd like to "try it out" without having to sign up for a sub. How come Future has never offered a free issue download to their paper-based subscribers? Why have they never created any kind of link-up / benefit / reason for their paper-based customers to be interested in the digital versions? How can such a (once massive) gaming mag publisher have such poor online presence?

Note: I'm definitley not digging at any of Future's (under-paid and under-appreciated) mag writers as I feel certain they must have pushed Future's management to evolve for the digital age. Any "blame" would appear to lie firmly at the feet of the board and their lack of vision and action over the past decade.


Remember this article a few years back...

https://www.theguardian.com/media-netwo ... nt-digital

Unfortunately, I had the bright idea of buying a Microsoft surface over an iPad or an Android.

I've always liked using tablets now and again, but a convertible laptop just made more sense.

jawafour
Member
Joined in 2012

PostRe: GamesMaster - 25th anniversary issue
by jawafour » Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:22 pm

NickSCFC wrote:Remember this article a few years back...

https://www.theguardian.com/media-netwo ... nt-digital

...

It's amazing to think that was five years ago... and yet Future appears to have made so little advance in the digital age. I suspect that this is because they now just don't have the funding or people resources to adequately develop their online presence. I believe that many of their mag staff are hired on a freelance / pay-per-article basis rather than being "full" employees. Nothing "wrong" with that but I suspect they don't have many core employees creating a vision of where the company is heading.

User avatar
Vermilion
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PostRe: GamesMaster - 25th anniversary issue
by Vermilion » Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:22 pm

CVG was legendary in the late 90's, especially the weird yellow pages in the centre which featured lots of reader made stuff including 'Drawinz wot u dun' (bad art was given a turd rating and published anyway)...

https://imgur.com/XzQ9XMx

https://imgur.com/abvknkU

https://imgur.com/feNXbHo

https://imgur.com/sF8USF2

Sometime after though, the mag was given a 'new look' which made the entire thing rubbish.

Gamesmaster meanwhile, had an issue which featured one of the strangest readers letters i have ever seen published in any magazine, gaming themed or otherwise (found these pics along with those above among my old photobucket album, did a thread on ONM a few years back whereby i posted odds and sods from a variety of retro mags)

https://imgur.com/a/pWrKw

https://imgur.com/a/yfwki

https://imgur.com/a/5BCXA

https://imgur.com/a/6FG2g

https://imgur.com/a/ivq8M

https://imgur.com/a/pHhCG

https://imgur.com/a/qkcZu

Last edited by Vermilion on Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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KK
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Location: Botswana
Contact:

PostRe: GamesMaster - 25th anniversary issue
by KK » Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:27 pm

jawafour wrote:I've often noted that Future seems to have done so little to get their print subscribers over to digital channels. Their sole gaming website, gamesradar+, is an unbelieveavly weak offering. I'm not totaly averse to moving over to digital but I'd like to "try it out" without having to sign up for a sub. How come Future has never offered a free issue download to their paper-based subscribers? Why have they never created any kind of link-up / benefit / reason for their paper-based customers to be interested in the digital versions? How can such a (once massive) gaming mag publisher have such poor online presence?

Note: I'm definitley not digging at any of Future's (under-paid and under-appreciated) mag writers as I feel certain they must have pushed Future's management to evolve for the digital age. Any "blame" would appear to lie firmly at the feet of the board and their lack of vision and action over the past decade.

Had Future had the foresight to properly store and invest in their back catalogue, their licenses should have put them at the very forefront of videogames websites. Their 90s reviews are better than anything Gamespot and IGN can muster up from that time period.

The problem now is even if you got, say, the Official PlayStation Magazine archive and decided 'we're going to be the number 1 destination for PlayStation online' and Sony and everyone else was happy, up until 1998 you only have a vague idea of who wrote it because there were no bylines, and secondly did Future's contracts state at the time that they own the copyright in perpetuity. Would for example Charlie Brooker and Rhianna Pratchett (PC Zone, OXM) be happy with their work to be reused?

Image
NickSCFC

PostRe: GamesMaster - 25th anniversary issue
by NickSCFC » Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:31 pm

Vermilion wrote:CVG was legendary in the late 90's, especially the weird yellow pages in the centre which featured lots of reader made stuff including 'Drawinz wot u dun' (bad art was given a turd rating and published anyway)...

https://imgur.com/XzQ9XMx

https://imgur.com/abvknkU

https://imgur.com/feNXbHo

https://imgur.com/sF8USF2


CVG was incredible between 1996 and 1999, I believe it was the second best selling gaming magazine after Official PlayStation, the redesign after the Dreamcast launched was a huge mistake.

This issue was probably the peak...

Image

jawafour
Member
Joined in 2012

PostRe: GamesMaster - 25th anniversary issue
by jawafour » Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:37 pm

KK wrote:Had Future had the foresight to properly store and invest in their back catalogue, their licenses should have put them at the very forefront of videogames websites. Their 90s reviews are better than anything Gamespot and IGN can muster up from that time period...

Future has such an amazing wealth of excellent content from its rich history of gaming magazine - including stuff like C&VG, Retro Gamer and gamesTM that they have bought - that it seems incredible that they have been unable to capitalise on it.

As you suggest, KK, I can only assume that they don't own the rights to re-publish old articles. Hell, even if they can't get their backsides into gear for the digital age, I'd still buy a paper copy of, say, an old Mean Machines celebration mag!

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Pedz
Twitch Team
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PostRe: GamesMaster - 25th anniversary issue
by Pedz » Thu Feb 22, 2018 4:13 pm

Never read C&VG. Really liked GamesTM. Love Retro Gamer.

Image
NickSCFC

PostRe: GamesMaster - 25th anniversary issue
by NickSCFC » Thu Feb 22, 2018 4:25 pm

jawafour wrote:Future has such an amazing wealth of excellent content from its rich history of gaming magazine - including stuff like C&VG, Retro Gamer and gamesTM that they have bought - that it seems incredible that they have been unable to capitalise on it.


You can download PDFs of their 90s issues online anyway, the quality is good too.

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Vermilion
Gnome Thief
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Location: Everywhere
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PostRe: GamesMaster - 25th anniversary issue
by Vermilion » Thu Feb 22, 2018 6:37 pm

NickSCFC wrote:
Vermilion wrote:CVG was legendary in the late 90's, especially the weird yellow pages in the centre which featured lots of reader made stuff including 'Drawinz wot u dun' (bad art was given a turd rating and published anyway)...

https://imgur.com/XzQ9XMx

https://imgur.com/abvknkU

https://imgur.com/feNXbHo

https://imgur.com/sF8USF2


CVG was incredible between 1996 and 1999, I believe it was the second best selling gaming magazine after Official PlayStation, the redesign after the Dreamcast launched was a huge mistake.

This issue was probably the peak...

Image


The readers most wanted top 10 at the beginning of the freeplay section was one of my favourite features, I once nominated Mr Blobby 64 and they actually went and printed it in the honorable mentions below the main chart.

Unfortunately i never read the issue you've posted, as i first started buying it a few months later.

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Dangerblade
Member
Joined in 2008

PostRe: GamesMaster - 25th anniversary issue
by Dangerblade » Fri Feb 23, 2018 12:09 am

Whoever the other person who voted for Maximum is is my spirit animal.

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Moggy
"Special"
Joined in 2008
AKA: Moggy

PostRe: GamesMaster - 25th anniversary issue
by Moggy » Fri Feb 23, 2018 8:51 am

jawafour wrote:Their sole gaming website, gamesradar+, is an unbelieveavly weak offering.


They should have kept a vibrant forum community going rather than just casting them out into the wilderness.

NickSCFC

PostRe: GamesMaster - 25th anniversary issue
by NickSCFC » Fri Feb 23, 2018 8:54 am

Dangerblade wrote:Whoever the other person who voted for Maximum is is my spirit animal.


Great magazine, a prettier looking EDGE, though about half of the magazine was dedicated to guides.

You can download the issues as PDFs by the way...

http://www.outofprintarchive.com/catalogue/maximum.html

Image

Dat first issue cover :wub:

Last edited by NickSCFC on Fri Feb 23, 2018 9:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
jawafour
Member
Joined in 2012

PostRe: GamesMaster - 25th anniversary issue
by jawafour » Fri Feb 23, 2018 9:17 am

Moggy wrote:...They should have kept a vibrant forum community going rather than just casting them out into the wilderness.

I kinda feel that I should be looking at Future-owned gaming website for the latest news and reviews, not Eurogamer or GoNintendo. Future was a major player in UK gaming (paper) media but they just haven't really channelled that power into an electronic format. Official Nintendo Magazine was probably their best effort at an online gaming website and I suspect that was funded by Nintendo. With sales dwindling on their paper-based gaming mags it feels like they should be going all-out promoting attractve digital options but I can't see them doing so. I think they're struggling for resources - money and people - now.

Of course, as poorly as Future has managed its (lack of) online presence, the other challenge is something I've mentioned before - the fact that people have now devalued the worth of journalism. Folk won't pay for quality writing and insight when they're happier to accept poorer-quality text as a freebie. The rise of social media means that anyone can shout out their views on anything and get fast feedback... and, with that power, they're not gonna pay to hear someone else's opinion. Back in the day, thousands of kids would be on tenterhooks to discover what, say, Julian Rignell of Zzap!64 thought about the latest game release... now they have access to thousands of opinions for free on Facebook.

Tl;dr Future ain't gonna change, people aren't gonna pay for journalism, and I'm annoyed about both.

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Moggy
"Special"
Joined in 2008
AKA: Moggy

PostRe: GamesMaster - 25th anniversary issue
by Moggy » Fri Feb 23, 2018 9:24 am

jawafour wrote:
Moggy wrote:...They should have kept a vibrant forum community going rather than just casting them out into the wilderness.

I kinda feel that I should be looking at Future-owned gaming website for the latest news and reviews, not Eurogamer or GoNintendo. Future was a major player in UK gaming (paper) media but they just haven't really channelled that power into an electronic format. Official Nintendo Magazine was probably their best effort at an online gaming website and I suspect that was funded by Nintendo. With sales dwindling on their paper-based gaming mags it feels like they should be going all-out promoting attractve digital options but I can't see them doing so. I think they're struggling for resources - money and people - now.

Of course, as poorly as Future has managed its (lack of) online presence, the other challenge is something I've mentioned before - the fact that people have now devalued the worth of journalism. Folk won't pay for quality writing and insight when they're happier to accept poorer-quality text as a freebie. The rise of social media means that anyone can shout out their views on anything and get fast feedback... and, with that power, they're not gonna pay to hear someone else's opinion. Back in the day, thousands of kids would be on tenterhooks to discover what, say, Julian Rignell of Zzap!64 thought about the latest game release... now they have access to thousands of opinions for free on Facebook.

Tl;dr Future ain't gonna change, people aren't gonna pay for journalism, and I'm annoyed about both.


I was just making a sarcastic point that Future kicked us out of our online home and forced us to slum it here. ;)

I agree with your points though, Future were a major player and just seem to have thrown it all away.

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Preezy
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Location: SES Hammer of Vigilance

PostRe: GamesMaster - 25th anniversary issue
by Preezy » Fri Feb 23, 2018 3:38 pm

You could say they're not...

...

...the future 8-)


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