''Future Gamer'' was an

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

e-zine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to being online only was the computer mag ...

created by

Future Publishing Future plc is an international multimedia company established in the United Kingdom in 1985. The company has over 220 brands that span magazines, newsletters, websites, and events in fields such as video games, technology, films, music, photogr ...

History

''Future Gamer'' was launched in 1998 with Andy Smith as

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

. ''FG'' as it became known to fans, was the world's first

e-mail Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...

deliverable gaming magazine. This business model was unsuccessful. ''FG'' ran for about 18 months before finally being reshaped into the UK version of

Daily Radar ''Daily Radar'' was a news aggregator and portal site for Future US's male-oriented content, including sports, film and television, and video games. Daily Radar started as a gaming website like IGN, GameSpy and GameSpot, and was later renamed and re ...

, later

GamesRadar ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', ''Edge'' and '' Computer ...

. Campbell, Stuart (April, 2000). ''CTW: The Entertainment Computer Trade Weekly''.

Staff

Amongst others: * Andy Smith (Editor) * Steve Bradley (Deputy Editor) * Andy Ashwin * Mark Eveleigh * Alan Jarvie * Amazing Bryan

Community

FG spawned a close online community through its

newsgroup A Usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from users in different locations using the Internet. They are discussion groups and are not devoted to publishing news. Newsgroups are technically distinct ...

. This included a ''

Half Life Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable at ...

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...

('' GC'') that was featured in a subsequent advertising campaign. Despite community pressure, at 00:00 on 23 May 2001 Future Publishing shut down their

News Server A news server is a collection of software used to handle Usenet articles. It may also refer to a computer itself which is primarily or solely used for handling Usenet. Access to Usenet is only available through news server providers. Articles and ...

in favour of

Internet forums An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporar ...

. This, along with the demise of the original magazine, led to the ''FG'' community seeking out a new home. It has endured to this day through a variety of newsgroups and is currently situated at ''vgj.forum'' on ntp://nntp.cheeseorsausage.com nntp.cheeseorsausage.comand a
cheese or sausage

References

External links

Magazines established in 1998 Defunct British websites Online magazines published in the United Kingdom Video game websites Magazines disestablished in 1999 Defunct computer magazines published in the United Kingdom {{Videogame-website-stub