''GameNOW'' (occasionally abbreviated to ''GN'') was a
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
-based
video game magazine
Video game journalism is a branch of journalism concerned with the reporting and discussion of video games, typically based on a core "reveal–preview–review" cycle. With the prevalence and rise of independent media online, online publicat ...
that was published by
Ziff-Davis
Ziff Davis, Inc. is an American digital media and internet company. First founded in 1927 by William Bernard Ziff Sr. and Bernard George Davis, the company primarily owns technology-oriented media websites, online shopping-related services, an ...
from November 2001 to January 2004. A total of 27 issues were published. In addition to video game consoles like
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
,
Xbox
Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...
,
GameCube
The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...
, and
Game Boy Advance
The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...
, ''GameNOW'' also covered games for
personal computer
A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...
s.
History
''GameNOWs roots began in July 1994
when the popular magazine ''
Electronic Gaming Monthly
''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews.
History
The m ...
'' launched a spin-off magazine called ''
EGM2''. ''EGM²'' was essentially "another EGM," only without a reviews section and a greater emphasis on import games.
Starting in August 1998, ''EGM²'' became ''
Expert Gamer
''Expert Gamer'' (often abbreviated to ''XG'') was a United States-based video game magazine that was published by Ziff Davis from August 1998 to October 2001. There are 39 issues of Expert Gamer in total. The bulk of ''XG''s content was video g ...
'' (often abbreviated to ''XG''), and the magazine's focus shifted away from news and previews to strategy and tricks. Despite the different name, ''XG'' continued ''EGM²''
's numbering system. ''XG'' lasted for 39 issues until October 2001 (with the last issue being ''XG'' #88).
The next month (November 2001), ''XG'' was replaced by ''GameNOW''. Although ''GameNOW'' maintained a healthy tricks section and occasional strategy guides, the magazine's focus shifted to in-depth previews and reviews. Targeted to a younger audience than that of ''EGM'' (16 year-olds, while also appealing to 10-15 year-olds), ''GameNOW'' concentrated less on industry insider-type features and more on the actual video games, including numerous large screenshots and elaborate feature articles.
In November 2002 (issue #13), the ''GameNOW'' staff was almost completely replaced when Ziff-Davis moved its
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 ...
magazines from the Chicago suburb of
Oak Brook, Illinois
Oak Brook is a village mostly in DuPage County with a small portion in Cook County in Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 8,163. This suburb of Chicago has the headquarters of several companies and organizations including Ace H ...
to
San Francisco, California
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
. Of the original staff, only two writers made the move to California. Shortly after the move, the magazine underwent a massive redesign.
Staff
The magazine's original editorial staff consisted of the following crew:
* Editor-in-Chief - Dan Leahy
* Managing Editor - Justyn Harkin
* Associate Editors - Phil Theobald, Ethan Einhorn
* Senior Art Director - Carey Wise
* Associate Art Directors - Dave Malec, Mark Manzo (Mark would eventually become an Associate Editor)
Once the magazine was relocated to San Francisco, the staff consisted of:
* Editor-in-Chief - Tom Byron
* Managing Editor - Carrie Shepherd
* Associate Editors - Phil Theobald, Ethan Einhorn, Miguel Lopez, Sushi-X
* Senior Art Director - Andrew Burwell
* Associate Art Director - Nicole Tanner
The return of Sushi-X
''GameNOW'' #16 (February 2003) featured the return of the ''EGM'' review ninja,
Sushi-X. An expert on fighting games, an actual photo of Sushi never appeared in the magazine. Instead, he was always shown as a pixelized, 16-bit era sprite. Even in this form, he still featured his trademark red
keikogi
(, "practice", , "dress or "clothes"), also known as or , is a traditional uniform worn for training in Japanese martial arts and their derivatives. Emerging in the late 19th century, the was developed by judo founder Kanō Jigorō.
Origin
Ja ...
,
katana
A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...
, and
sai.
Sushi's reviews differed from the other editors' reviews in that they were written with more flowery prose and were peppered with references to his ninja training and his quest for enlightenment.
Magazine departments
Like most magazines, ''GameNOW'' features many recurring sections. These included:
Regular sections
* Rants & Raves - ''GameNOW''
's letters section was popular among its readers for its humorous and sarcastic tone. ''GameNOW'' wasn't afraid to poke fun at its readers, and many readers would write in hoping to be "zinged" in the pages of the magazine. Rants & Raves was home to several inside jokes among ''GameNOW''
's readership, including the frequent use of a particular screenshot from the PlayStation game ''
Final Fantasy VIII
is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation console. Released in 1999, it is the eighth main installment in the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Set on an unnamed fantasy world with science fiction elements, t ...
''.
* ''GameNOW'' Gallery - A two-page spread that focused on showing large screenshots and character artwork from upcoming games. This section is notable for featuring a spread highlighting
Rare's original character designs for
Joanna Dark
Joanna Dark is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the ''Perfect Dark'' video game series. She debuted in the Nintendo 64 first-person shooter ''Perfect Dark'' and is a player character in all the games of the series. Outside of vid ...
in ''
Perfect Dark Zero
''Perfect Dark Zero'' is a first-person shooter developed by Rare and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released as a launch title for the Xbox 360 video game console in 2005. The game is part of the ''Perfect Dark'' series and a pr ...
'' (issue #15, January 2003) and a spread showing several screenshots from the unreleased GBA game ''
Shantae Advance'' (issue #25, November 2003).
* Hot 10 - A previews section that counted down the top ten best games coming out each month.
* Now Playing - ''GameNOW''
's review section. The magazine's review scale was much like a school's report card, with grades ranging from A+ to F. A C grade denoted that the game was average.
* The A+ Club - A section that called special attention to all the games that received ''GameNOW''
's highest review score, an A+.
* The F Troupe - The polar opposite of The A+ Club. This section called out every game that received ''GameNOW''
's lowest score, an F. The F Troupe's mascot was Poo, an anthropomorphic piece of cartoon poop that the ''GameNOW'' editors created in the PlayStation 2 game ''
Magic Pengel
''Magic Pengel: The Quest for Color'', known as in Japan, is a 2002 role-playing video game developed by Garakuda-Studio and Taito for the PlayStation 2, published by Agetec in North America. Studio Ghibli also collaborated with this game, with ...
''.
* Tricks Now - A multi-page section near the back of the magazine that contained cheat codes for the latest games.
* Animal Crossing Bulletin Board - A small feature than ran within the Tricks Now section from issue #14 (December 2002) to issue #25 (November 2003). It featured strategies for the Nintendo GameCube game ''
Animal Crossing
is a social simulation video game series developed and published by Nintendo. The series was conceptualized and created by Katsuya Eguchi and Hisashi Nogami. In ''Animal Crossing'', the player character is a human who lives in a village inhabi ...
'' and original patterns that could be recreated with the game's pattern designer. Among the custom patterns were the ''GameNOW'' logo and a recreation of ''GameNOW''
's legendary ''Final Fantasy VIII'' screenshot.
Fan Club
When ''GameNOW'' began, Fan Club was the name of the letters section that ran in the back of the magazine. Starting with issue #4 (February 2002), the Fan Club section was expanded to include regular (and often humorous) mini-features in addition to the reader mail.
In issue #14 (December 2002), the letters section was moved to the front of the magazine and renamed Rants & Raves. The mini-features were retained in the now expanded Fan Club section in the back of the magazine.
Among the regular mini-features were:
* Top Ten - Although these top ten lists were often played straight by counting down the top ten games in a specific series or genre, there were occasional lists that were made for laughs.
* Crap from the Past - Poked fun at terrible older video games.
* Hot or Not - A lighthearted look at what the editors were into that month.
* Gamerdex - Inspired by the
Pokédex from
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
's
Pokémon
(an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise.
In terms of ...
series, this section highlighted a different type of gamer, including an illustration of the gamer.
* Gaming Evolution - Took a video game character or series and traced its evolution from its humble beginnings to its current success. The section also made note of the subject's most embarrassing moments.
* Fan Letter Art - Envelope art sent in by the ''GameNOW'' readers.
* $10 Treasures - Discussed discount games available for the PlayStation.
* Giuseppe Contelli's What If? - A spotlight for long-time ''EGM²'', ''Expert Gamer'', and ''GameNOW'' reader Giuseppe Contelli's nonsensical "What If" scenarios. A prime example: What if Bullet Bill did attract Joanna Dark and she reads the inscription, "I am in love with yours" on him?
* Cool Job - A short interview with video game industry insiders where they explained what their job involved and how they got it. A notable interview subject was
Charles Martinet
Charles Martinet (, ; born September 17, 1955) is an American actor and voice actor, known for his portrayal of both Mario and Luigi in the ''Super Mario'' video game series since 1992. He is also the voice of other characters in the series suc ...
, Nintendo's voice of
Mario
is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...
.
* Super Lucky Love Love Japan - A section that highlighted import games, anime-based games, and
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
. This section is an evolved version of the old feature, Super Lucky Imports.
*
Game Critter Super-Squad! ''Hsu and Chan'' is a comic strip created by Jeremy "Norm" Scott that appeared in the video game magazine ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' from November 1999 until the September 2008 issue. The strip has appeared at 1UP.com until September 30, 2009 whe ...
- A comic strip by cartoonist
Jeremy "Norm" Scott ''Hsu and Chan'' is a comic strip created by Jeremy "Norm" Scott that appeared in the video game magazine ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' from November 1999 until the September 2008 issue. The strip has appeared at 1UP.com until September 30, 2009 w ...
, the creator of
Hsu and Chan ''Hsu and Chan'' is a comic strip created by Jeremy "Norm" Scott that appeared in the video game magazine ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' from November 1999 until the September 2008 issue. The strip has appeared at 1UP.com until September 30, 2009 wh ...
(of which GCSS was a spin-off).
April Fools
It's a tradition among Ziff-Davis' video game magazines (particularly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly''), to plant an April Fools joke in the April issue. During its brief history, ''GameNOW'' only had one April Fool's joke.
In issue #6 (April 2002), on page 42, there was a one-page preview for an Xbox game called ''Metal Gear Solid X''. Before ''
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance'' was announced for either PlayStation 2 or Xbox, ''GameNOW'' ran this preview for the fake game. ''MGSX'' was said to be an Xbox port of the PlayStation 2 game, ''
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty''. The biggest selling point of this game was that after playing through the game once, a bonus mode was unlocked, allowing a play through the game again as the series' main hero,
Solid Snake, instead of ''MGS2''
's hero, Raiden.
Additionally, extra features in the Solid Snake mode included the return of Nastasha Romanenko (from the original ''
Metal Gear Solid
is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces opera ...
''), a boss fight against
Revolver Ocelot
Revolver "Shalashaska" Ocelot is a recurring fictional character in Konami's ''Metal Gear'' video game series. Throughout the series, he takes on a variety of roles: the archenemy of Solid Snake, the best friend of Naked Snake, the right-hand ma ...
, the chance to assist Raiden in battles from the first play-through (this time from Snake's point of view), and access to previously locked areas of Big Shell.
The preview featured seven very convincing (yet phony) screenshots of the new features. The two screenshots that show Snake wandering through a red office building were photographs of the ''GameNOW'' offices that had their colors altered and the Metal Gear characters inserted into them. In the first-person screenshot that shows Snake in a helicopter shooting down at a
Harrier jet, the hand holding the gun belongs to Mike Vallas, the man who created the fake screens.
Notes
External links
Ziff-Davis' official websiteThe ''GameNOW'' message boards on 1up.com
{{Ziff Davis
Monthly magazines published in the United States
Video game magazines published in the United States
Defunct computer magazines published in the United States
Magazines established in 2001
Magazines disestablished in 2004
Magazines published in Chicago
Magazines published in San Francisco