So if any of you gamers out there are as old as me I'm pretty sure that you will remember this classic magazine that sadly closed down in 2010. I remember this being the first thing I saved my pocket money for as a kid every month and as I grew up the magazine stuck with me.
Starting in 1993 PC Zone was the UK's first Game focused magazine and laid out the path that lead to me being here today. Honestly, without PC Zone this website would never have existed, and all of the other review sites would not be in their current format, and I probably wouldn't be as in to gaming as I am today. I mean just look at that! Floppy disks... FLOPPY DISKS!!! I don't think kids today will know what one of those were but it brings me onto my next point.
The only AVP title worth owning (if you own one of the movies walk away now... )
PC Zone was great for providing you with demos, and on occasion full games, with each issue. This is something I really miss with today's online reviews and previews, you don't get to try out the demos for yourself any more. You can watch a video of someone testing out the game but you don't get your hands on the game while reading the article alongside it.
But as PC Zone grew up it became more than just a games magazine, you had regular segments develop such as Dear Wandy, a play on the Dear Deidre relationship advice columns you'd find in your red top newspapers like The Sun. And this was one of the things I loved about PC Zone, they were never above having and laugh and poking fun at themselves.
Because, let's be honest, this was first and foremost about games and the objective of a game was to have fun!
When I wanted to build my first gaming PC it was PC Zone that I turned to. As the years ticked by they offered more and more reviews on the tech you needed to play the latest games in the highest quality and also where to find the best deals. I guess Google and co have taken over this now but for me it was great to have that one place I knew I could turn to if I wanted to get that key bit of information.
PC Zone was also a great platform for writers just starting out, one of my favourites was Charlie Brooker who I'm pretty sure had to eat his own arse after losing a bet... Charlie regularly closed out the magazine before he became famous for his biting comments and cynical views of the world on TV. He divided readers and quickly rose to fame and departed the world of PC Zone too soon for my liking. Charlie's articles quickly developed into a war of words with the readers who took particular issue with him, but you could already see the comedic genius developing and you knew he was destined for big things.
This post has been a real trip down memory lane for me. PC Zone was a key part of my formative years and I really hope that I can bring some of that feeling of camaraderie to you all on JDG. If PC Zone taught me anything about gaming as I grew up it was that this lifestyle is about the community you are a part of. There is no them and us, we all share the same love of games and we all want to share our greatest achievements, the best laughs and our thoughts on every aspect of gaming. It seems fitting to let one of the writers of PC Zone close out this post themselves, so here you go:
PC Zone: In Tribute
Cheers,
Jon
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