RetroDefense

This - in some ways - reminds me of Defunct Games' Countdown lists. If you like to track and correlate magazine review scores, be sure to check out their content sometime. And they may appreciate access to your Google doc as a reference once it's completed. Good luck with your project!

Yeah, a museum collection makes for very limited access - to be sure - but I appreciate The Strong deciding to archive these publications as part of video game history. The video game fanzine bubble burst quickly after the Internet went mainstream but I'll always appreciate those 90s-era print 'zines. Lots of work and love went into those things. When @Terry93D originally began compiling this list via the Digital Press forums, someone posted about a major preservation effort underway, spearheaded by Digital Press itself. I don't think it ever went anywhere, though. I may do some digging and see if anything ever came of it. I've toyed with the idea of digitally preserving and sharing my own collection - which sits at around 180 issues or so - but I always find myself having reservations. Digitally preserving history documented by paid, professional adults is one thing, but 90s fanzines were written primarily by minors. I'd probably be more comfortable with a case-by-case approach as situations vary. I know one former fan-ed who has granted permission for scans to be shared. I know another who has requested certain content not be. One former fan-ed is actively looking for his old issues long since lost. Another fan-ed - Sean Pettibone of In Between the Lines - passed away at a young age, and frankly, is one of the primary drivers as to why I'd like to see fanzines preserved. His 'zine was exceptional and deserves to be appreciated. 'Course, all this assumes the fan-ed would have the final word in having a 'zine preserved and shared, despite most fanzines containing content from numerous contributors. Don't know - I'm on the fence. Open to opinions.

Found this the other day and thought I'd share - Chris Kohler has donated his fanzine collection of 350 issues to The Strong. If the name rings familiar, you'll find Chris listed as the editor of Video Zone in the fanzine list above. He eventually parlayed this into a profession with Wired and now Kotaku. (Several fanzine editors went on to obtain careers in video game journalism or development, actually - Satoshi Tajiri (of Game Freak and Pokemon fame) probably being the most notable.) The interview is an interesting read for anyone curious as to the video game fanzine culture of the early 90s. And for some old-timers like myself, even a little nostalgic.

This can't happen soon enough. Along with catching up on scanning, I've been cleaning up the Game Developer dbase after making some corrections a good while ago. This involved deleting several issues which in turn involved renumbering several more issues, updating the Prev/Next nav buttons, and I'm currently working on updating the numbering in the gallery. It's a slow, tedious process and - as a coder myself - it's especially frustrating knowing how easily the process could be batch processed or even automated entirely. Or - if the rigid numbering system were dropped - not present a problem to begin with. So yeah, I'd love to see this made the priority as far as custom code is concerned. Even given some hiccups you'll encounter - incorrectly labeled issues, magazines switching their labeling format mid-run, etc - it'd make dbase maintenance all the faster and allow more time for scanning, cataloging, etc.

Thanks for contributing, @sandplasma! As I understand it, lack of credit is a temporary issue caused by the recent site upgrade. Full credit should be restored and working soon.