Random Monday : Relive Gaming History with the Computer Gaming World Museum

Monday, June 23rd, 2008, 12:00 amRoys

An oldie but goodie link(s) from the random Gnomes’ random lair (but not as confusingly random as The Download Munkey, heh) featuring some really classic gaming magazines for various platforms. I haven’t got much interest in consoles and early computers since the first computer I got was a 486 clone long after stuff like the Commodore 64 and Ataris were long gone and I still haven’t got a console

Anyway, buried in that treasure trove of a post was the link to the Computer Gaming World Museum where high resolution scans of the first 100 issues are available for download in PDF format. These 100 issues span the 11 years from its inception in Nov 1981 to the 100th issue in Nov 1992 for a total of 7438(!) pages (according to Wikipedia).

I haven’t downloaded every single issue of the 100 available for download (yet) since I’m downloading at the rate of 5 per month which means there’s about 70 more to go. The early issues show a surprising level of technical detail in some of the reviews and articles which probably meant that computer users in 80s were either techies or number crunchers accustomed to wargaming or complex tabletop board games. While poring over some of these old issues, I also came across some interesting games that I have never seen or heard before and will probably download them once I clear my current backlog of downloaded games and books

The really old issues are also a very good read not only for the sheer number of wildly imaginative ideas in some of the games from that era, but for some of best gaming art that ever graced the cover of any computer gaming magazine. My absolute favourite is without doubt Vol 2 Issue 5’s depiction of a spacecraft with 12 Space Invader killmarks

I’ve got some fond memories of the old (but not so old) issues of Computer Gaming World in my collection bought from one of the second-hand bookstores in Bras Basah, the earliest (half-mutilated, not by me of course - I’m strictly against cruelty to books) issue being the Aug 1999 issue #181 featuring a much younger Indiana Jones.

Frankly speaking, I felt that while the CGW previews and reviews weren’t too bad, the increasing number of ads and thinning number of pages during the end days really disappointed me with Jeff Green’s always enjoyable Greenspeak column being the only 1UP over the competition.

Computer Gaming World’s last issue was in November 2006 after 286 issues and 25 years in publication. As a sidenote, my PC gaming magazine of choice after the demise of Computer Gaming World is now the awesome PC Gamer Malaysia which offers the most bang for the buck at RM 8 (or it is RM 9 - can’t remember the exact price since I haven’t been to Malaysia for several months already )

Download the classic CGW issues at the Computer Gaming World Museum (textfiles mirror) Only the CGW Museum has the complete cover gallery for every single issue of Computer Gaming World.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
100+ Best Freeware Games x2
Artzmania - Free Arts E-Mag

13 comments:

Dian, Monday, June 23rd, 2008, 7:50 am

RM 8? man that is really cheap.
I thought Gaming For Windows mags still available, now its dead too?
but yeah, sometimes i got to think why bother buying PC mags when a lot online gaming mags available.
Roys, Monday, June 23rd, 2008, 7:45 pm

Yes that is extremely cheap considering that PC Gamer (the american version) retails for around 20 SGD which is close to RM 45

PC Gamer Malaysia is printed on thick quality paper unlike some of the other magazines I’ve encountered which makes it worthwhile to buy and read at leisure. Any good online mag to recommend?
dian, Monday, June 23rd, 2008, 8:21 pm

i just read gamespy and gamefaq for almost everything in gaming, and sometimes i read 1up too, there’s one online mags that i usually download but i forgot to bookmark it, i stop download it since it has a lot of commercial.
Roys, Monday, June 23rd, 2008, 11:00 pm

Ah I see … Haven’t really kept up with commercial games nowadays since my machine is hopelessly out-of-spec with the latest games. Currently into the indie games scene, although I’m ashamed to say I haven’t bought even a single indie title yet
gnome, Tuesday, June 24th, 2008, 4:09 am

Thanks for the plug and the amazing post my friend!
Roys, Tuesday, June 24th, 2008, 7:28 pm

Thanks! You should be updating the lair more often, friend
gnome, Wednesday, June 25th, 2008, 3:58 am

Wish I could. You wouldn’t be able to imagine how incredibly busy I am. Gotta finish my PhD in a few months, keep up with my teaching duties and try not to lose everyone close…
Roys, Wednesday, June 25th, 2008, 10:15 am

Yeah, gotta set your priorities right. You really deserve a a break after your PhD is done
gnome, Wednesday, June 25th, 2008, 5:32 pm

Of course I do, but -thing is- I’ll first have to spend a whole fecking year in the army… Oh, well…
Roys, Wednesday, June 25th, 2008, 10:28 pm

One year? Count yourself lucky - ours is two damn years. Mine was 2.5 years.. at least it’s all over now
gnome, Thursday, June 26th, 2008, 4:11 am

Actually 9 months… Yeah, you’re right, it could be worse, but I’m too old to accept orders…
Roys, Thursday, June 26th, 2008, 11:54 pm

Nah, you’re wrong. There’s no minimum age for refusing to take orders Anyway I think you’ll get over it very quickly.
gnome, Friday, June 27th, 2008, 6:20 am

Yep so do I… Just hope the PhD is over by then…