MAGNIFICENT MAGAZINE W

WITH NO INTERNET AND LIMITED TV TIME FOR GAMES, THE ONLY WAY TO GET INFORMATION ABOUT NEW RELEASES WAS THROUGH THE MAGIC OF THE PRINTED PAGE

hile plenty of column inches had been dedicated to the success of Atari and Space Invaders during the Seventies, the Eighties marked the first time that we got publications wholly dedicated to electronic games. Computer & Video Games opened the floodgates in the UK with its debut

November 1981 issue, and by the mid-eighties we had a formidable range of magazines delivering all the information gamers craved.

One reader who remembers those days well is Vinny Mainolfi, who was introduced to games magazines through issues of C&VG and Personal Computer World that came with his first computer. For him, the appeal of the magazines was one very distinctly tied to the Eighties. “Both magazines were a great source for game listings that I could type into my good old TRS-80 – bless it. I was more excited about the game listings than the actual game reviews.” With the early home computer market being so competitive, those multiformat magazines were key to begin with. But as market leaders emerged, so too did single-format magazines. “I treated myself to a brand-new

Commodore 64 and totally fell in love with Zzap!64 – mainly the Julian Rignall years. Seeing the game reviews such as Way Of

The Exploding Fist and Ghosts ‘N Goblins just blew me away. It was a different style of magazine that really fitted the times and vibes that we were all experiencing during our teenage years – the hair; the clothes; the music…”

While the format of news, reviews, tips and screenshots would define gaming coverage for years to come, the graphical limitations of the era meant that creativity was needed for memorable covers, with artists like Oli Frey providing memorable illustrations. “Many of the early covers of Zzap!64 hold a specific memory for me: when I purchased them, what the weather was like at the time; how happy/unhappy I was; what music I was listening to,” says Vinny. “Those covers were that powerful that they evoke so much feeling and memories.” Also hand-drawn were the portraits of the magazines’ writers, who felt like people you could connect to. “It’s what we craved: our very own rock stars of the gaming industry; and it’s something we needed to help boost our confidence about playing computer games – we were no longer spotty, greasy-haired, Bo-stinking geeky teenagers,” says Vinny. “The personalities helped to raise the profile of the gaming industry as a whole.”

Fondness for the magazines of the time led Vinny to create FREEZE64, a dedicated Commodore 64 magazine. “Many of our readers have said that receiving and reading FREEZE64 is like having Zzap!64 again. This is probably the highest compliment I could ever receive,” he says. “But my intention is to avoid copying any style that Zzap!64 had back in the day. What I do try and mimic is the feeling and anticipation of waiting for the next issue, and then receiving it. That excitement and build-up is one of my favourite experiences of magazines from back in the Eighties.”