Ash Scans: EGM2
Posted on 20. Jan, 2010 by Simon in Ash Scans
Video games have come a long way. Historically relegated to the Dungeons & Dragons caste, classic games such as “Pong” and “Donkey Kong” were often associated with little more than potheads and pre-teens. Usually both simultaneously.
Something strange happened with the next generation of gamers however. As platforms from Nintendo and Sega began to grow more ubiquitous in the early 90′s, many kids went home after school and had controllers permanently glued to their hands. Moreover, unlike their parents who stigmatized gaming as a child’s hobby, the popularity of Mario and Sonic became a groundswell in the grunge era, paralleling the growth of computers and the advent of the internet. Suddenly, electronic games were mainstream cool, and those kids who grew up playing them weren’t quite ready to cede their controllers.
EGM was born of those heady times, an artifact representative as much of popular culture in 1993 as the health of the magazine industry. This issue, which is just one amongst an entire box of EGM publications I still have, was the inaugural edition of EGM2, the magazine’s attempt at expanding into bi-monthly run.
Reading the editorial from this EGM2 is telling not just of how culturally omnipresent Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and actual Arcades were in the days, but how the market for video game news had grown so insatiable that EGM literally could not squeeze it all into a monthly publication.
“…We doubled our staff, bought more computers, scanners, and electronic imaging devices… we finally have enough pages [with EGM2] to cover the industry the way it should be — with no compromises due to page limitations.”
I posted about the archaic feel of a recent Vanity Fair exhibit at the ROM, but quotes like the above really hit home how far the magazine industry has changed. In a burgeoning video games business that has since grown larger than even film or television, EGM was on the vanguard of breaking news and editorialized snark.
Famous for mountains of news and April Fools jokes, it was long considered the smart gamer’s bible until the internet rendered the format useless — a victim of the ADD likely perpetuated by the very games it covered. Even more amazing is that (as evidenced by even glancing at these scans) EGM became an empire despite (because of?) shoddy layout, toilet humour, inane first person editorial voices and fictional monthly columnists, often shadow written by full-time staffers (Sushi-X, Quarterman).
In an attempt to jump on the online bandwagon, EGM became Gamespot.com until 2003, after which the publication split and started 1up.com (itself forgotten amidst the shuffle of video game websites). Something about the magazine’s mammoth publication simply didn’t translate online — the walkthroughs, tips-and-tricks and breaking news sections were all competing against websites the specialized in just those niches. What was once EGM’s strength (pages enough to span two monthlies) soon became its downfall as nimbler, more timely websites began usurping EGM’s bi-weekly schedule.
On January 6, 2009, EGM folded. Although a long time coming, when I heard this news early last year it was like hearing your elementary school had burned to the ground. It doesn’t affect you really, but it certainly brings you pause.
Ah, but this story isn’t over yet. Last May, Steve Harris (the original founder of EGM) announced he had acquired the print and online rights to his long-time baby. EGM is set to relaunch with a March 2010 issue and presumably online at www.egmmag.com.
I don’t know if EGM will survive it’s Lazarus moment, but I do know I’ll be supporting it. If not in newsstand sales then at least with online hits.
What can I say? Nostalgia is a powerful thing.
Below is the link to the cover, editors note and the first breaking story about the original Sony Playstation, all from the inaugural issue of EGM2:
Jef
Feb 1st, 2010
Oh my god, Sushi-X! I stopped reading EGM a long time ago (also, playing video games), but this definitely brings some nostalgia. I wish I had kept my issues, Nintendo Power too.