Retromags Forum: Retromags - The Vintage Video Game Magazine Archive

One of the biggest problems we have run into over the years, is how to provide these magazines to our users. The first venue we tried were torrents on Mininova and ThePirateBay. Now this was all fine, because the Retromags collection was only around 25-40 magazines. We also benefited from having our name/links on two of the biggest trackers on the internet. People would see our work, and then come to this website to see what else we had. Once our collection of magazines grew, it became quite a chore to keep it seeded 24/7/365.

We then tried housing the Retromags collection locally on this website. The entire Retromags collection was uploaded here and we put quota's on how much could be downloaded. It was a tiered system that allowed donators/contributors to download more than their guest/member counterparts. Then we were hit with an email from our webhost, stating that we were using more than our fair share of bandwidth/storage.

So we went out and signed up for a Lifetime Premium MegaUpload membership. Again we re-uploaded the entire collection of magazines. This time everyone was on the same level, the links were available to everyone. The only restrictions were those that MegaUpload put on users. People who wanted to download the magazines faster, could pay $10 for one month of Premium Membership from MegaUpload. This allowed us to provide the magazines 24/7 and not violate our web hosting terms of service.

Then as we all know, the FBI shutdown MegaUpload and instantly ALL our download links were useless. I started uploading files to the local server almost immediately since we were with a different host, but realistically this is not a viable solution. So we needed a new solution.

Phillyman came up with the idea of putting everything onto Newsgroups. Unlike torrents there is no need to seed. Once a file is uploaded to one newsgroup provider, it becomes available on others. Also the files can remain available for years. Your IP address is not exposed like P2P clients (Limewire, Bearshare, etc). There are no wait times or captcha's to enter like premium download services (MegaUpload, HotFile, Rapidshare).

It is true that Newsgroups are not free, but unlimited access to the Retromags collection was never free. And right now there is no unlimited access. But in order to provide access to the scans without having to re-enter everything in the Download Manager every couple of years, this is probably the best solution.

A lot of people will not like this change, and that is understandable. But it is really the only viable and long term solution that exists apart from not making scans available anymore.

I don't know when this will take full effect. More details to follow soon.

Retromags Monthly Update - Month Ending January 31, 2012

New magazines for the month of January



Video Games & Computer Entertainment Issue 36 January 1992

Sega Visions Issue 22 December-January 1995
Sega Visions Issue 23 February-March 1995
Sega Visions Issue 25 September 1995

Marvel Super Heroes OST Booklet + Spine Card
X-Men Children of the Atom OST Booklet + Spine Card


PLEASE NOTE: Some of these releases are currently not available due to MegaUpload being shut down.


January's contributors:

E-Day
strikefile


Please feel free to thank our contributors by using the comment system in the Download Manager!




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These files are in .CBR/.CBZ Format
You will need Comic Book Reader
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Today, the U.S. Justice Department shut down the MegaUpload site during an investigation into alleged copyright infringement. Normally this is just another story about a site dealing in copyright infringement being shut down. However, MegaUpload was the "official" site Retromags used to host its magazine collection after the previous site host shut this site down when the magazines were hosted locally. This means that 99% of Retromags' collection is currently unavailable for download.

I am not sure how long this will last, or what this site will do with the current situation at hand. Stay tuned.


E-Day
Retromags Curator

Retromags Monthly Update - Month Ending December 31, 2011

New magazines for the month of December

64 Extreme 07 (1997)

Computer & Video Games Issue 215

N64 Pro Magazine 29 (Christmas Special)

Sega Force Winter 1992

Total N64 Magazine 01 (1997)
Total N64 Magazine 02

Video Games & Computer Entertainment Issue 31 August 1991



December's contributors:

E-Day
gladiator
wonderman


Please feel free to thank our contributors by using the comment system in the Download Manager!




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These files are in .CBR/.CBZ Format
You will need Comic Book Reader
installed on your computer to read this file.
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Retromags Monthly Update - Month Ending November 30, 2011

New magazines for the month of November

Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 036 July 1992
Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 055 February 1994
Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 056 March 1994

Game Players Issue 022 April 1991
Game Players Issue 035 December 1993
Game Players Issue 055 August 1995
Game Players Issue 056 September 1995
Game Players Issue 057 October 1995
Game Players Issue 058 November 1995
Game Players Issue 059 December 1995
Game Players Issue 060 Holiday 1995

Judge Dredd Poster Mag

"Kuro no Dansho" - The Literary Fragment - Guide Art Book
"Kuro no Dansho" - The Literary Fragment - Guide Art Book II


November's contributors:

E-Day
strikefile


Please feel free to thank our contributors by using the comment system in the Download Manager!





****************************************
These files are in .CBR/.CBZ Format
You will need Comic Book Reader
installed on your computer to read this file.
****************************************