They’re smoking cigars, he got a chain full of flowers
Birthdays, as our crinklier readers will understand all too well, feel less like something worth celebrating the older you get. Collating the Edge Annual 93, a compendium of work from our first year that we’re giving away for free on iOS, made us feel positively ancient. Yet it’s with no little pride that we sat down late last year and began sketching out our plans for Edge’s 25th anniversary. Our thanks to you for joining the party.
Longevity is a precious commodity in videogames, but one man who’s been a constant industry presence throughout our time on shelves is Toshihiro Nagoshi. In the beginning, he was Sega’s arcade innovator; these days he’s its chief creative officer. Oh, and most importantly, he wrote an Edge column for several years. In Collected Works, he looks back on a remarkable career. In Game Changers, meanwhile, we celebrate ten games that have defined Edge’s lifetime, setting new standards for the wider industry to follow.
So, yes, we’re still here – and for this milestone, we thought we’d do something a little different. UK artist Dave White has been a friend of the show for years and a reader for even longer, and has graciously agreed to lend us his brushes. His interpretations of characters from four of his favourite games grace our split-run cover this month – and if you’ve nabbed Knight Solaire, then lucky you. Only 100 copies were produced worldwide, and were signed by White as they rolled off the printer.
If you missed out, all is not lost. A limited-edition box set (see p17) will ensure collectors get the full complement of anniversary covers. And there’s more. On the opposite page you’ll find a quote from a game, written in code (there’s one per cover game, taken from the series in question). Hidden throughout each of the four editions of the print magazine, our digital editions and a few other places, you’ll find the key. We suggest you work together – but only to a point. The first person to email us (edge@futurenet.com, subject line ‘ Edge 25’) with all four quotes, who said them and in which specific game, wins the original Solaire painting. The next ten get a box set. Good luck, and here’s to another quarter-century in the most dynamic form of entertainment on the planet.