That was a very interesting read. Thanks for the article.
Due to my place of origin and general lack and latency for getting fresh info from videogames industry (my generation was still playing NES and lucky ones Mega Drive when the world already saw 32 bit machines) I completely missed all the hype of generational changes from 8 to 16, and then from 16 to 32 bits. I knew about Playstation around 1997 - 1998 but it was so far away and unreachable. Saturn I saw only on a photo once. Also I was too young at that time to be really thoughtful about hardware and game development.
So with all this in mind it was extremely interesting to couple years ago, being 40 now, to download early issues of both EGM and Edge and get through them starting with 8 and 16 bit all through the Saturn and Playstation appearance, and then Nintendo 64 with Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time.
In retrospect, I can imagine how exciting it all was to be witness to all those generational changes, how burning was desire to get your hands to a new piece of fascinating hardware, how excruciating was the need to wait for any new piece of information or actual release of something from Nintendo.
Original articles on Final Fantasy 7 and Mario 64 - oh my. So jealous to people who were reading all that at actual release time of those epic games.
And boy did Edge felt as a very serious publication from people who think about videogames as an industry and art form. It really was from adults and for adults. Their knowledge of insides of videogames and new hardware and all the deep dives should have felt incredible at the time when you had no other sources of information other than printed magazines. Never understood why not reference the articles writers though. That felt weird and too sterile, almost soulless. I would prefer to know who's behind those words.
Unexpected thing about those old issues was reading the readers letters section. Each time I think I don't need to waste my time on it and each time 99% of letters are such fascinating read.
I am reading the Edge nowadays through Magzter app, though not in full - many features are not my cup of tea, some dev studios profiles and interviews are not interesting to me and some of them are too long to waste my time on it. And the hard stance of the mag to spend it's time on obscure (is indie more correct term here?) games that are more in the "art form" department than in the "fun to play" one makes me to sift through pages faster than I probably should. Yet still I like to support the idea of games publications and subscribe for modern Edge, Retro Gamer and Game Informer.
Comments 1
Re: "Yes, It Was Elitist, And No, That Wasn't A Bad Thing" - EDGE Alumni On Why The Mag Is Still Going Strong, Over 30 Years On
That was a very interesting read. Thanks for the article.
Due to my place of origin and general lack and latency for getting fresh info from videogames industry (my generation was still playing NES and lucky ones Mega Drive when the world already saw 32 bit machines) I completely missed all the hype of generational changes from 8 to 16, and then from 16 to 32 bits. I knew about Playstation around 1997 - 1998 but it was so far away and unreachable. Saturn I saw only on a photo once. Also I was too young at that time to be really thoughtful about hardware and game development.
So with all this in mind it was extremely interesting to couple years ago, being 40 now, to download early issues of both EGM and Edge and get through them starting with 8 and 16 bit all through the Saturn and Playstation appearance, and then Nintendo 64 with Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time.
In retrospect, I can imagine how exciting it all was to be witness to all those generational changes, how burning was desire to get your hands to a new piece of fascinating hardware, how excruciating was the need to wait for any new piece of information or actual release of something from Nintendo.
Original articles on Final Fantasy 7 and Mario 64 - oh my. So jealous to people who were reading all that at actual release time of those epic games.
And boy did Edge felt as a very serious publication from people who think about videogames as an industry and art form. It really was from adults and for adults. Their knowledge of insides of videogames and new hardware and all the deep dives should have felt incredible at the time when you had no other sources of information other than printed magazines. Never understood why not reference the articles writers though. That felt weird and too sterile, almost soulless. I would prefer to know who's behind those words.
Unexpected thing about those old issues was reading the readers letters section. Each time I think I don't need to waste my time on it and each time 99% of letters are such fascinating read.
I am reading the Edge nowadays through Magzter app, though not in full - many features are not my cup of tea, some dev studios profiles and interviews are not interesting to me and some of them are too long to waste my time on it. And the hard stance of the mag to spend it's time on obscure (is indie more correct term here?) games that are more in the "art form" department than in the "fun to play" one makes me to sift through pages faster than I probably should. Yet still I like to support the idea of games publications and subscribe for modern Edge, Retro Gamer and Game Informer.