Retronauts Volume III Episode 18: Video Game Media

This week on Retronauts, the podcast about old video games… we don’t even talk about games! Or hardware! Or anything interactive! Instead, we talk about something just as retro: these floppy bundles of paper that would have information about games! (Yes, yes, har-har). From backer Daniel Turner we have nearly two hours of talk featuring a (very American) rundown of notable game magazines from the usual scope of Retronauts (very ‘90s). That means plenty of chatting about about GamePro, Electronic Gaming Monthly, Video Games & Computer Entertainment, and of course, DieHard GameFan, among many others.

We all enjoyed game magazines for different reasons, but one of the common themes brought up was that of personality — sure, for a while, it was great when magazines would shotgun previews and import news onto page spreads, but once magazines like Game Players transformed themselves into more jovial, freewheeling publications and made the editors seem like the regular people they were (are!), it’s like the clarity of our memories shot up tenfold. Go figure.

But we just don’t talk about magazines — tangents include tip-focused paperbacks and game company newsletters, as well. In the second part of the show, we talk about some of the earliest and most notable game websites (or AOL portals, depending), including a little site called 1UP. Returning guest Matt Leone is with us to help explain and share in the nostalgia-go-round that is this episode. And if you're wanting to join us, you can find many of the magazines we talked about on sites like Retromags.