C+VG dead - how do you feel? • Gaming • General Gaming • Eurogamer.net

silentbob 23 Aug 2004 23:42:04 29,527 posts
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I know C+VG has for a long time been the butt of many a joke here at EG Towers. Now that it looks certain to disapear into the Future vortex, how do you feel about it not being around any more?

Personally, C+VG was my first ever Gaming Magazine. As a kid growing up in sleepy Port Isaac in deepest darkest Cornwall it was the only (yes I mean only) chance to see what was going on in the then pretty inaccessible world of Computer Gaming (no Internet).

I used to count the days until the release date every month. and the poor Newsagent owner who lived literally next door to me must have had the patience of a Saint to put up with the constant harrassment.

The magazine back then was respected and a genuinely good read, it was one of the first magazines to breed the bizarre 'Minor Celeb Video Game Journo' - the likes of Julian 'Jazz' Rignall being a prime example.

Ahhh, the days of drooling over Xenon on the Amiga and gawping over the Arcade Action section - yearning for his next visit to the nearest arcade.

It was also one of the first mags in my memory to fool me (no less than twice) with their imaginative April fool articles. Anyone else stung by the Brainstick?

It introduced me to gaming, it taught me the lingo, and cemented my fate as a financial slave to Japanese plastic boxes for ever more.

But then the competition got fierce, the magazine became more and more 'tabloid' in style and Journos left to startup splinter publications such as the excellent Mean Machines and ACE magazine.

And despite the fact that I haven't gone near buying, I feel more than a twinge of sadness now that it may actually be no more. A genuine icon from my gaming past is no more.

/Sniff

What do those others of 'a certain age' feel about it?

Badass 23 Aug 2004 23:55:41 110 posts
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It was my first regular games mag (I used to buy sinclair user on occasion).I have fond memories of CV&G, but that was at 13 years ago (if not longer) ago. I used to love Yob's Mailbag, I was young and innocent and thought his put downs were top notch. It wasn't always the clearest mag around, but I preferred it to mean machines. Later on I moved to snes specific magazines (mostly Future pulications ironically), and finally settled on edge. However, times are a changing - almost without doubt by the time a mag gets published the stuff's been on the internet for weeks.

So I reckon I'll shed a tear for what I remember from so long ago.

edit:typo

Edited by Badass at 22:57:04 23-08-2004

lost_soul 23 Aug 2004 23:58:10 9,372 posts
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I remember when they first started a dedicated console section (it was spun off into a seperate magazine after a while), all these fantastic looking games that I couldn't buy (my parents weren't stupid enough to believe my claims that a NES would help with my homework). I also remember reading features on new arcade games like Outrun, Afterburner, Alien Sydrome and Golden Axe and then having to wait ages for them to appear in the local arcades.

It's sad to see the magazine die off, even if I stopped reading it a decade and a half ago (even at 14, C&VG seemed a little juvenile

deem 24 Aug 2004 00:00:20 31,667 posts
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Deleted user 24 August 2004 00:03:07

Although it was always pretty much a 'B' magazine for me, it's sad to see such an old timer pass on.

To me it suffered the same problems as many of the other old multi-format mags: too many screenshots, not enough text and the inability to focus on subjects in any real detail. Understandable when you're casting such a wide net, but with the exception of Zero I always went for the format specific mags when able.

I do remember the first C&VG issue I bought though (it had Blasteroids on the cover and a Dragon's Lair review inside), and I remember a fairly violent comic strip inside about space marines in robo-suits that I saw briefly (any idea what it was called?) so I do have good memories of it before it went downhill.

silentbob 24 Aug 2004 00:14:54 29,527 posts
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Harry wrote:
It was fanboy biased shite. Glad it's gone.

Not when it started. In fact, I remember the review scores actually being very tough (was it out of ten, can't remember).

Zond3 24 Aug 2004 00:20:10 635 posts
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C+VG? pffft. Bring back BBC Micro User!

Deleted user 24 August 2004 00:57:27

moore25 wrote:
Future Publishing wouldn't buy a mag for a lot of money and then cancel it. It's not good business sense.

It could be that Future simply wanted to get rid of it as a rival to its existing pulications, though I'm not sure if the numbers make this a viable idea. But the principle of buying your competition can be a sound idea, business wise.

damnit! 24 Aug 2004 01:20:01 81 posts
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silentbob wrote:
...

Personally, C+VG was my first ever Gaming Magazine. As a kid growing up in sleepy Port Isaac in deepest darkest Cornwall.........

MUHAHAHAWHAWAHWA
now i understand a lot of things .............

Retroid Moderator 24 Aug 2004 01:37:43 45,464 posts
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True, it's been crap for years.

True, it's a huge pity that was so, as it was an excellent mag in the early days.

True, it'll be a pity if it gets axed to make way formulti-format mags with far less heritage.

Machiavel 24 Aug 2004 09:03:41 5,964 posts
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C&VG inspired my first pointless write-in to a magazine - a complete solution to an obscure TRS-80 adventure game, which I complicated by writing completely in rhyme (mixed up kid). Can't even remember the name of the game now, or be sure of the tolerant guy who wrote back thanking me (somebody's adventure page).

Animosus 24 Aug 2004 09:15:41 93 posts
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I remember buying my first CVG (and, indeed, games mag of any kind). It was the one with a hologram of Sonic on the front cover. Unfortunately I didn't get into games until quite late, but that was my 'first time' so to speak...

Sad to see it go, although I haven't bought it since I was about fifteen when it went down to 10p or something for a year or so.

Vroom 24 Aug 2004 09:30:14 4,643 posts
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I still have that hologram.!

)
And the one on the following months cover of mario.

Not that sad to see it go. It was a good mag years ago.

Edited by Vroom! at 08:30:39 24-08-2004

Blerk Moderator 24 Aug 2004 09:37:05 48,222 posts
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I used to buy an occasional issue waaaaaaaay back when, but never liked it much. They had this dreadful 'fanboy' thing going on even back in the 80s - the C64 was their love-piece and everything else was shite. Then the 8-bit consoles arrived and suddenly nothing else was any good any more. And then the 16-bits, and so on and so on. They just jumped from one 'this is the best ever' platform to another, ignoring everything else that happened to be around at the same time.

I'm not particularly sad to see it go, indeed - I'm more surprised that it's lasted as long as it has.

Not even the Bug Hunters can save 'em now! ;-)

pjmaybe 24 Aug 2004 10:17:52 70,666 posts
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Still got the first issue somewhere, y'know, back when they had Oric game listings...!

Will hang on to that sucker, probably worth a bit one day (not!)

Peej

Retroid Moderator 24 Aug 2004 15:30:26 45,464 posts
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Blerk wrote:
the C64 was their love-piece and everything else was shite.

Yes, but that was true, wasn't it?

/Runs away

/Trips up over massive non-Commodore computer collection

Deleted user 24 August 2004 15:33:47

C&VG as I know and loved it died many years ago, and I am well over mourning its loss.

In short - Couldn't give a fuck!

Stevas-mkII 24 Aug 2004 15:53:09 3,848 posts
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How do I feel? You know those aunties you have who the family don't speak of? You know? Like, her - you know - the one who had the... problem. Remember? And she went to a... doctor for it. Yes. A doctor, mind; and he said that there wasn't really anything wrong with her - no, I tell you, Reg said she admitted it once - but she still insisted that she take those pills, even though on the front it said you shouldn't if you were allergic to some stuff that she was... allergic to. But Reg was a funny one for that sort of thing anyhow, always going behind her back like that. Remember at the wake, while she was in the kitchen, when he said to everyone that he'd known for years about her affair with Derek? And we were all completely shocked... well, I mean, a lot of us weren't even aware Derek was that way inclined, right? He was always gay to me, for a start. Then Reg tells us that Derek had been getting it on with...
Anyway, I bumped into David on the bus... you know? David? Derek's brother in law? Oh, he's in law or something. About a year and a half back I got on the bus, and there he was, and he told me that her and the big black fellah she'd ran away with a year or so later ended up having an idiot son, and a really pretty daughter - she's been on the telly, don't you know. Mmm. I think she's a childrens presenter, or something. And the idiot son walked off a cliff. Bang. Just clear walked off it. They were all out for the day, and they turned around and he was gone. Like that. hundred and fifty feet to the rocks. They found out later that he'd written several pretty fucking awesome short stories, and he had them hidden away in his room. Only autistic, weren't he? Yeah. Funny world, right?
And then I got off the bus and stood in a lump of the most stinkingest dogshit you ever laid your nostrils on, and forgot all about it while I tried to find a bit of grass to shuffle on.
That's how I feel.

Yeah, I dunno. I think maybe I lost my own point there. Whatever. Like, nobody read this far anyhow - right?

PondScum 24 Aug 2004 16:01:26 367 posts
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Purely from a nostalgia perspective I'll miss it (like milk bottles with tinfoil on top and real cream in the neck). Haven't bought it in 15 years though, but I do remember their circular logo and waiting to see their reviews of games. Shame it turned into such a comic :-(

Retroid Moderator 24 Aug 2004 16:43:51 45,464 posts
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Stevas mkII wrote:
Yeah, I dunno. I think maybe I lost my own point there. Whatever. Like, nobody read this far anyhow - right?

Sorry, what?

mal 24 Aug 2004 16:58:49 29,326 posts
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Zond 3 wrote:
C+VG? pffft. Bring back BBC Micro User!

It's still going. BBC Micro User because The Micro User which later merged with Acorn User which now exists (sort of) as Qercus. The editor behaves like a blinkered fanboi in public forums though, so I wouldn't recommend it.

I've never read C&VG, so I won't miss it. I will miss Dennis publishing though, as they used to have some good journos on the books. And I am pissed off that Future has an effective monopoly now.

Deleted user 24 August 2004 17:00:55

PondScum wrote:
Purely from a nostalgia perspective I'll miss it (like milk bottles with tinfoil on top and real cream in the neck)

You can still get those you know.

Nemesis 24 Aug 2004 17:13:42 20,312 posts
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I won't miss it, really. In the 80s, it was a "multiformat" but only if you had the C64/Speccy. Not much cop for an Acorn user, so it was best to stick to the User mags. My Nan used to get me it for Xmas and I'd read it feeling pissed off I didn't get the C64.

I remember being shocked that it was still about TBH.

JaysonG 24 Aug 2004 17:15:55 830 posts
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Anyone remember the yellow pages with the "drawings woz dun by you" section?

When they stopped that I stopped buying it.

Its a sad day but sad in the same way as when they'll finally cancel the simpsons, puting it out of it's misery.

Edited by JaysonG at 16:21:08 24-08-2004

Deleted user 25 November 2010 10:54:24

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