''PC Gamer'' is a
magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to
PC gaming and published monthly by
Future plc
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 ...
. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games magazines in their respective countries.
The magazine features news on developments in the
video game industry
The video game industry encompasses the Video game development, development, marketing, and Video game monetization, monetization of video games. The industry (economics), industry encompasses dozens of job disciplines and thousands of jobs wor ...
, previews of new games, and reviews of the latest popular PC games, along with other features relating to hardware,
mods, "classic" games and various other topics.
Review system
''PC Gamer'' reviews are written by the magazine's editors and freelance writers, and rate games on a percent scale. In the UK edition, no game has yet been awarded more than 96% (''
Kerbal Space Program'', ''
Civilization II
''Sid Meier's Civilization II'' is a turn-based strategy video game in the Civilization (series), ''Civilization'' series, developed and published by MicroProse. It was released in 1996 for personal computer, PCs, and later ported to the PlayS ...
'', ''
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 ...
'', ''
Half-Life 2'', ''
Minecraft
''Minecraft'' is a sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made public in May 2009 before bein ...
'', ''
Spelunky'' and ''
Quake II''). In the US edition, no game has yet received a rating higher than 98% (''
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri'', ''
Half-Life 2'', and ''
Crysis'').
In the UK edition, the lowest numerical score was 2%, awarded to The
4th Golden Satellite Awards
The 4th Golden Satellite Awards, given by the International Press Academy, were awarded on January 16, 2000.
Special achievement awards
Mary Pickford Award (for outstanding contribution to the entertainment industry) – Maximilian Schell
Outsta ...
for Interactive Media Winner ''Big Brother 1''. The sequel, ''Big Brother 2'', was given an even lower score of
N/A%, the review explaining that "
'PC Gamer''put as much effort into reviewing it as they did in making the game". In issue 255, August 2013, the score of 2% was matched by the review of the re-released
Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude, originally given 3% when it first launched. In the US edition, the lowest score awarded was 4%, given to ''
Mad Dog McCree'', unseating the previously lowest-rated game, ''Skydive!'', given 5%.
Editions
There are two main editions of ''PC Gamer'', a British version and an American version, both are published by
Future plc
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 ...
. Founded in the United Kingdom in
November 1993, the American sister version was launched a year later in
June 1994.
There are also numerous local editions that mainly use the materials of one of the two editions, typically the British one, including a
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
n (discontinued in December 2011) and
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...
n edition (discontinued in December 2008). The
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
edition, though rooted in its UK counterpart, has grown to be more independent, largely due to the immense popularity of PC games compared to
console game
A console game is a type of video game consisting of images and often sounds generated by a video game console, which are displayed on a television or similar audio-video system, and that can be manipulated by a player. This manipulation usually ...
s in Sweden, and now produces most of its own material. An Australian edition was published monthly by Perth-based
Conspiracy Publishing since
August 1998, but it appears to have been discontinued in mid-late 2004. A
Spanish edition titled "''PC Juegos y Jugadores''" also existed, but closed in 2007.
Both American and British magazines are published thirteen times per year (twice in December),
although there are sometimes variations.
''PC Gamer'' UK
Magazine
The British edition of ''PC Gamer'' has been in constant monthly publication since 1993. Subscribers get a special edition of the magazine with no headlines on the front cover (only the masthead and
BBFC
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organization, non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national clas ...
rating).
Almost exclusively devoted to PC games, the magazine has a reputation for giving in-depth reviews.
The magazine originally shipped with an accompanying floppy disc. A CD
demo disc (labelled ''CD Gamer'') was released alongside the floppy disk edition from issue 11 onwards with the first CD Gamer containing all the content from the previous 10 issues' floppy discs. The single CD was later expanded to two CDs.
An edition with a 9 GB DVD known as ''DVD Gamer'' ran alongside the 2CD edition for a couple of years, until production of the CD Gamer edition ceased as of issue 162. The UK Edition then only came with a single double-sided DVD. In August 2011, the UK magazine announced it was to be discontinuing the disk as of issue 232, and replacing it with more pages of content within the magazine and exclusive free gifts.
Regular features
The magazine has many regular features which make up each edition of the magazine. These include sections called ´''Eyewitness''´, ´''Previews''´, ´''Send''´, where letters from the readers are spread over 2 two-page spreads, at least one special feature, which reports on gaming related issues such as the effect of PC gaming on the environment, a review section which reviews the latest released PC games and re-reviews titles that have been released on budget and ´''Extra Life''´ which reports on modding games and gaming culture and revisiting old games.
There is also a ´''Systems''´ section, which reviews and recommends hardware such as video cards and monitors. The back page of the magazine is entitled ´''It's All Over''´ and usually consists of game related artwork such as a version of
Dalí's ''
The Persistence of Memory'' featuring items from ''
Portal''.
For a time, one of the magazine's features, ´''Gamer Snap''´, where amusing pictures sent in by readers were printed in the magazine, however the feature was discontinued and replaced with a ´''Guess the game''´ where readers sent in drawings of memorable scenes in video games drawn in
Microsoft Paint.
Forum and blog
The ''PC Gamer'' blog was started to coincide with the transfer of the ''PC Gamer'' UK site to become part of the Computer and Video Games network which incorporates all of Future plc's gaming magazines. The move brought some controversy, with many long-standing members of the forum leaving due to the new forum's cramped spacing, advertising and slow loading times. The introduction of a blog was seen as one of the redeeming features of the switch. The blog has since been regularly updated with contributions from many of the magazine's staff. The topics discussed range from the controversy over violent video games, to the benefits of buying a PC over a console.
In 2010, PC Gamer re-launched their website and blog by bringing together the online communities of both the US and UK magazines into one website. As a result, the PC Gamer blog now has contributions from both the US and UK magazines, all hosted at the new website along with the forums for both magazines.
Podcast
The ''PC Gamer'' UK podcast started on 4 May 2007 and ran 93 episodes until its final episode, which was released on 5 July 2013. It had a rotating cast made up of members of the staff including Chris Thursten, Tom Senior, Graham Smith, Tom Francis, and Marsh Davies. The podcast was formerly hosted by Ross Atherton until his departure in June 2009 and then by Tim Edwards until his departure in 2012. The host position varied between Chris Thursten and Graham Smith from week to week. Previously monthly, the podcast was recorded every
fortnight
A fortnight is a unit of time equal to 14 days (two weeks). The word derives from the Old English term , meaning "" (or "fourteen days," since the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights).
Astronomy and tides
In astronomy, a ''lunar fortnight'' is h ...
. Participants discussed the games they had been playing and news from the industry, and answered questions submitted via
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
.
The podcast began again in March 2016 with a new episode being released weekly.
''PC Gamer'' US
Magazine
The American edition of ''PC Gamer'' launched in 1994.
In 1999, Future US, then known as Imagine media, purchased rival magazine ''PC Games'' and merged its staff into the magazine.
Demo disk
Similarly to the British edition, the magazine shipped with a
demo disk
Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to:
Music and film
*Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release
* ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes
* ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...
, though diskless versions were available. The CDs were replaced by DVDs in the American edition on a month-to-month basis.
When PC games with
full motion video
Full-motion video (FMV) is a video game narration technique that relies upon pre-recorded video files (rather than sprites, vectors, or 3D models) to display action in the game. While many games feature FMVs as a way to present information duri ...
(FMV) sequences were popular in the mid-to-late 1990s, ''PC Gamer's'' CD-ROM included elaborate FMV sequences featuring one of their editors. To access the features of the CD, including the demos,
patches and reviews, the user had to navigate a 'basement', which played very much like classic PC games such as ''
Myst
''Myst'' is a graphic adventure/puzzle video game designed by the Miller brothers, Robyn and Rand. It was developed by Cyan, Inc., published by Broderbund, and initially released for the Macintosh in 1993. In the game, the player's characte ...
''. It was in this game sequence that the magazine's mascot, Coconut Monkey, was introduced just as the editor was leaving the magazine, marking the transition from the FMV demo CDs to the more contemporary menu driven demo CDs that were subsequently used. The cover disc of the July 1998 issue of the Slovenian, Swedish, and UK editions of ''PC Gamer'' were infected with the Marburg virus, which ''
CNN Money
CNN Business (formerly CNN Money) is a financial news and information website, operated by CNN. The website was originally formed as a joint venture between CNN.com and Time Warner's '' Fortune'' and ''Money'' magazines. Since the spin-off of Ti ...
'' stated caused the malware to become a "widespread threat".
In the September 2011 edition of ''PC Gamer'', it was announced that they would be dropping the demo disk altogether and concentrating on improving the quality of the magazine instead with a promise of a larger magazine printed on a heavier paper stock. The usual demo disk content would be made available online.
[PC Gamer (US), September 2011]
References
External links
*
*
Archived PC Gamer magazines on the
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music ...
{{Video Game Critics
Magazines established in 1993
Home computer magazines
Monthly magazines published in the United States
Computer magazines published in the United Kingdom
Computer magazines published in the United States
Video game magazines published in the United Kingdom
Video game magazines published in the United States
1993 establishments in the United Kingdom
1994 establishments in the United States
Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom