Missing Magazines, My Database & More

[VGBounceHouse]

Now that I have gone through the majority of my magazine collection I am working on the database for my site. First up are a few missing magazines here at RetroMags.

Missing Magazines

Computer Play was a short-lived CGW competitor in the late '80s. I have two issues:

Issue 4, November 1988

Issue 5, December 1988

There are a couple of site out there preserving this one. I got the numbering based on

https://archive.org/details/computerplaymagazine

Beckett Massive Online Gamer was one of two MMO-focused magazines I came across. I have the second issue dated August/September 2006, and from generic seraches it appears to have remained bi-monthly throughout it's run which ended in 2011.

Here's a post about their last issue:

http://thefriendlynecromancer.blogspot.com/2011/12/end-of-era-final-issue-of-becketts.html

Massive is another MMO-based magazine. Again I only have a single issue, the debut:

The magazine was marked as a quarterly and doesn't have a date beyond the copyright year of 2006. It appears they became MMO Games at some point. Based on the linked article in Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMO_Games_Magazine

it appears it may have launched in June. There are three covers on a fan Facebook page but otherwise I don't have an issue count on this one either.

I don't have quickie scans for the rest as the cat is sleeping on top of the stack of boxes lol but...

There is a Code Vault here but tied to GamePro where the issues I have, November 2003 and February 2004, are not in the database so I don't know if they are the same thing.

There is already a thread about Computer Games Strategy Plus and a contributor scanning them for their own site. I have a bunch as well but am mainly signposting it for a topic below.

Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games is another one I have brought up before, and as far as I can figure, I have both issues that were produced, Spring and Fall of 1983.

Electronic Entertainment is another "complicated" one that has three threads here. I have a number of issues across it's run but like Computer Games Strategy Plus I will be handling it differently.

I already created a thread for Foul but have found no additional issues or information, probably need to do a bunch more digging before it can be added.

Play magazine ran a number of Girls of Gaming specials and am not sure how they fit in.

I already have a thread up about Manci Games which only had the two issues I have.

Online Arena may be a one-shot so I don't know how it would fit in.

Ultimate Gamer has a stub page. I still haven't found the one issue I'm missing but the info in the thread should make it possible to get this one up.

Video Games Player also has a thread and a stub. I have two issues plus one of "Computer Games", the name they pivoted to for a short time. This one also has the same naming issue I raise below.

My Database

I have already synced my database with RetroMags with a fields for the URL and issue number used here, but I'm handling magazines a bit different. I'm not looking to change the ways things done here but did want to raise a particular difference. Since my focus is on research into the hobby/industry the timeline is very important, and to me magazines changing names is just one of those things. So for me Next Generation and NextGen are the same magazine and I have a consistent numbering from start to end rather than restarting at issue 1 and treating them as wholly different publications. While I don't have a browser up yet at my site, the functionality will support clicking NextGen and being taken to the first issue on a page that contains all issues of both Next Generation and NextGen as I consider them a single "publication".

The same is true of EGM2/Expert Games, Electronic Games/Computer Entertainment/Electronic Games (1992), Electronic Fun/Computer Fun, Computer Games Strategy Plus/Computer Games Magazine/Computer Games and Video Games Player/Computer Games. For each of these my issue numbering starts at 1 and continues until the end of the run. That is my numbering, I also include any printed issue, volume and number information.

I also am trying to get the exact shelf date of the magazines to build a timeline and have been recording as much information as I can. I definitely need to find a magazine distributor like Ingram to nail it all down.

I may need to jump back and edit this but food just arrived!

[marktrade]

Are you talking about IDG's Electronic Entertainment from the mid 90s? There are other publications from different publishers that carried the name "Electronic Entertainment," like the non-nude series from Playboy in the early 80s (there were only four or five issues) and another which I just discovered recently that used to be called "Arcade" magazine published by the Mead Corporation, which also published "Coin Slot" magazine (for slot machine owners and collectors) as well as other books about slots. "Arcade" started in 1982 and changed its name to "Electronic Entertainment" in 1983.

Edited April 26, 2016 by marktrade

[Areala]

"Girls of Gaming" were yearly one-shots, like the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, and they carried their own individual numbering system. They are not considered issues of Play Magazine for the purpose of slotting them into the run of the regular magazine, and they did not replace the monthly magazine for the month where they were released. I know there were at least four, but I don't know exactly how many. I hope that, at least, helps with that.

*huggles*
Areala

[Sean697]

Next Gen actually does continue numbering from Next Generation here. It does not start over at 1. In general all the magazines that are name changes do the same but are grouped by their name more or less. But continue numbering.

[marktrade]

Here's a cover from that run of Electronic Entertainment from the Mead Corporation that I was talking about. It's the only issue I have, from September 1983.

Edited April 27, 2016 by marktrade

[VGBounceHouse]

Are you talking about IDG's Electronic Entertainment from the mid 90s? There are other publications from different publishers that carried the name "Electronic Entertainment," like the non-nude series from Playboy in the early 80s (there were only four or five issues) and another which I just discovered recently that used to be called "Arcade" magazine published by the Mead Corporation, which also published "Coin Slot" magazine (for slot machine owners and collectors) as well as other books about slots. "Arcade" started in 1982 and changed its name to "Electronic Entertainment" in 1983.

Yeah, sorry about that, it's IDG's that starts as Electronic Entertainment, becomes PC Entertainment and finally settles on PC Games. I actually don't remember ever seeing the other one you just posted the cover from before.

"Girls of Gaming" were yearly one-shots, like the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, and they carried their own individual numbering system. They are not considered issues of Play Magazine for the purpose of slotting them into the run of the regular magazine, and they did not replace the monthly magazine for the month where they were released. I know there were at least four, but I don't know exactly how many. I hope that, at least, helps with that.

Thanks, I should have used "search" on the magazine list page lol I do wonder if they should be treated like Code Vault/GamePro specials, at least from an editorial standpoint on my site. Hmm, wouldn't want them to be part of the numbering, gonna have to think on that one

Next Gen actually does continue numbering from Next Generation here. It does not start over at 1. In general all the magazines that are name changes do the same but are grouped by their name more or less. But continue numbering.

I did notice that though they don't appear on the same page/pages as in at the bottom of Next Generation it would be on the new user to jump back out to the list and click NextGen rather than the list saying Next Generation (NextGen) and having it run contiguous. I think this is more of an "issue" on short-lived market pivots like Electronic Games to Computer Entertainment where someone unfamiliar with the magazine would either have to download and read the last issue to know of the change, or pay close attention to the cover of the first issue in the Gallery here.