Edge Magazine 25th Anniversary

[The Boston Crab]

I can't believe it. I bought the first issue but I never had any money as a kid so I just read it whenever I could at my mate's. Now I have a deep longing to go back and read every issue somehow. It was a glimpse at another world for me, when I couldn't afford any console until me and my brothers got a PlayStation for Christmas when I was 15 or something. That's what Edge reminds me of, the mid-late 90s and exponential developments in technology and graphics and the promise of so much stuff I'd never be able to afford.


Anyone got all the Edge mags they would give me?


Any memories of Edge?

[Z]

Are any of their compilation issues worth getting? The Retro Making of one looks like it might have a lot of cool articles in it.

[the]

Any memories of Edge?

I was in the pub meeting a mate a couple of years ago, and there was a copy of Edge in a pile of magazines for people to read. I set the stopwatch on my watch and challenged my mate to skim through its text and find any mention of Peter Fucking Molyneux. Stopwatch off at 1 minute 50 seconds.

Edge Magazine is, was and always shall be for arseholes. NP mate x

[biggytitbo]

Only that I would read it in Smiths and like you drool longingly at all the new games hardware I wouldn't be able to afford. Amazing that all that  stuff that seemed like incredible, mind boggling technology and all those games that seems impossibly unattainable are now freely available for nothing in about 2 minutes.

[mrfridge]

I had the first 50ish issues but flogged them on eBay about five years ago. It was a great magazine and 'looked' infinitely nicer than any other game mag when it first came out. Still does to be fair, I spotted a copy in a shop the other day and noticed that the cover layout hasn't actually changed in 25 years has it? Still exactly the same font/logo? That's pretty good going, most other mags would have been overhauled a couple of times at least by now.

[New Jack]

I read it frequently from about 2003 to 2008 and have random mags still. They're interesting. The new ones now seem quite dull, really thin, whereas I think gaming has absolutely exploded which is a bit odd.

There's a thread on the Bear and Badger forums where some enterprising soul plonks the newest scores in. I've found I largely agree with their scores, even now. Far Cry 5 got slated.

I have a few of the old specials. The Retro one from about fifteen years ago is ace, it's the making of old games, and is a superb read. Who doesn't want to read about the making of Head Over Heels?

Their lack of online presence annoys me. I think magazines can benefit from not duplicating content online for free, but there's essentially nothing now. I want a database of reviews basically.

Glad it's survived thus far. Good on you, Edge.

7.

[biggytitbo]

I read it frequently from about 2003 to 2008 and have random mags still. They're interesting. The new ones now seem quite dull, really thin, whereas I think gaming has absolutely exploded which is a bit odd.

Aye but the 'Edge' part really doesn't work so well these days considering the rate of technological improvement and wow factor in games has slowed to a crawl. The last 10 years compared to say, 91-2001 or even 98-2008 has been one of very small incremental improvements rather than major leaps.

[Hecate]

Didn't everybody stop buying magazines when they were ten or something, especially if they didn't have a disk sellotaped to the cover?

"Ooh edge gave it an 8, edge gave it a 9", yeah? Well the crab gave it C/E/-F (-tits).

Buying edge magazine, imagine that. Fucking grown adult sat there reading about nintendo. I fucking hate gamers.

[Hecate]

I want a database of reviews basically.

Is this any good? It's just the arbitrary numbers, but that's the money shot, innit?
https://fusiontables.google.com/DataSource?docid=1D1odIVhdCE8zlBp5Ha1bNsLNAU83UF1WBiYYl5A#rows:id=1

[New Jack]

Oh that's quite good! Ta. I'm gonna sit about, as an adult, reading Edge scores!

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Didn't everybody stop buying magazines when they were ten or something, especially if they didn't have a disk sellotaped to the cover?

"Ooh edge gave it an 8, edge gave it a 9", yeah? Well the crab gave it C/E/-F (-tits).

Buying edge magazine, imagine that. Fucking grown adult sat there reading about nintendo. I fucking hate gamers.

Edgy.

[Hecate]

Imagine that, grown adult, logging in to an internet forum, making a pun like that.

What magazine do you subscribe to? Cunt month?
Arse tasting necrophile fortnight? Eh?
Big fanny digest?

[The Boston Crab]

Pun-ch.

[petercussing]

I'll 'edge my be(dge)ts that his pun joke edges out the edge pun you were going to be e(d)gged into doing, He(dge)cate(dge)

[Kelvin]

Buying edge magazine, imagine that. Fucking grown adult sat there reading about nintendo. I fucking hate gamers.

I've asked around, and the feeling is unanimously mutual.

[madhair60]

Didn't everybody stop buying magazines when they were ten or something, especially if they didn't have a disk sellotaped to the cover?

"Ooh edge gave it an 8, edge gave it a 9", yeah? Well the crab gave it C/E/-F (-tits).

Buying edge magazine, imagine that. Fucking grown adult sat there reading about nintendo. I fucking hate gamers.

I printed this post out and came on it.

[Hecate]

Whey man, do you really need to sit down and read what some jaded wank has to say about playing far cry for the fifth time?

Just play stuff and make your own mind up.

[The Boston Crab]

I never give a shit really about reviews in any context, especially these days now I figured it all out, but I used to love the Tomorrow's World element to it, and now I'd probably love the retrospective look at stuff that I'm now really familiar with, just to see how it was perceived at the time and how that's changed.

[New Jack]

I seem to remember Edge saying they wish they gave Red Dead Redemption a 10, and they retroactively awarded Super Mazza Bros a 10 so fair fucks

[Kelvin]

Whey man, do you really need to sit down and read what some jaded wank has to say about playing far cry for the fifth time?

Just play stuff and make your own mind up.

Good job we all gave boundless time and money to just play everything, and make our own minds up.

It's a transparently stupid hot take, anyway. People do usually make their own minds up. Reviews just exist as a guide as to what games excel or stand out in a busy marketplace. I haven't played a bad game in years, and generally I only play good to great games, because I use reviews and gameplay footage to vet the quality beforehand.

[Hecate]

Print media is dead, just scan the new releases list, watch a few trailers or look at a couple of gameplay videos on youtube, download a demo, legit or naughty, apply for the beta.
It takes the same time as sitting down and reading some dry boring magazine.

I haven't played a bad game in years

Aye ye have, smash bros.
I have to play that shit with my nephew, so I know.

8 out of 10.

[Hecate]

hot take

What's that, the opinion of anybody who doesn't have "journalist" written on their business card?
I dread to think of all the games you might have loved that you've missed because the revered Edge magazine didn't cover it or gave it a bad score.

What's your cut off, a 6?

[New Jack]

Hecate fucking shit up in the Edge thread

I think my favourite Edge score is giving a 10 to Bayonetta 2. wtf

[Hecate]

Wow. So that's gaming perfection, is it? A boring spectacle fighter with an annoying camera?

[New Jack]

They gave FIFA 10 a 9

[The Boston Crab]

Bayonetta 2 S / B+ / C
Smash Bros (any) S++ / C / A+
FIFA 10 A / ??? / A+
Red Dead Redemption A+ / D / B+
Super Mario Bros A- / C+ / A+

Hope everyone feels better now.

[Bazooka]

They gave FIFA 10 a 9

And Ocarina of Time a 10 because you can't go higher.

[Kelvin]

Print media is dead, just scan the new releases list, watch a few trailers or look at a couple of gameplay videos on youtube, download a demo, legit or naughty, apply for the beta.

I currently play most of my games on Switch, so the latter options aren't viable, and I generally find demos too limited to make a decision. Bear in mind, I don't have huge amounts of money to spend on games that seem 'okay, but might get better'. I want to play the best games out there, and the quickest, most time/cost efficient way to do this is by looking up reviews (on sites I broadly agree with) for the games that look most appealing, and then getting a sense of the consensus around them.

I often don't even read or watch the reviews, just look at the scores from places I trust, and then make my own mind up about the pros and cons of a game once I've played it myself.

I do understand the basis of your thinking, and it's true that I'm less likely to play a game that has middling reviews, but maybe clicks with me as a gamer on a personnel level, nowadays. However, I consider that less preferable, and more risky, than playing well reviewed games that look like theyll appeal to me. Playing games is expensive on Switch, and I generally like to know I'm not going to be wasting my money, even if that means missing out on some curates eggs that I would probably enjoy.

Aye ye have, smash bros.
I have to play that shit with my nephew, so I know.

*Eye twitches*

[Kelvin]

Obviously I'm not buying games that don't look like they'd appeal to me, or based of one or two reviews. I just find that trusted sources provide a better success rate than simply watching a few videos.

[madhair60]

There are no good games mags currently running and there haven't been since NGamer finished, frankly