PC Zone
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ISSN 0967-8220 | |
PC Zone, founded in 1993, was the first magazine dedicated to games for IBM-compatible personal computers to be published in the United Kingdom. Earlier PC magazines such as PC Leisure, PC Format and PC Plus had covered games but only as part of a wider remit. The precursor to PC Zone was the award-winning multiformat title Zero.
The magazine was published by
In July 2010, it was announced by Future plc that PC Zone was to close. The last issue of PC Zone went on sale 2 September 2010.[4]
First issue
PC Zone was first published by Dennis Publishing in April 1993 and cost £3.95. Billed as the first UK magazine dedicated exclusively to PC games, it was sold with two accompanying
The magazine was split into four sections: Reviews, Blueprints, Features, and Regulars. Among the first titles to be reviewed were
Regulars included a news bulletin, competitions and a Buyer's Guide which featured recommended games.
Evolution
In its original incarnation, PC Zone recognised that its audience consisted largely of males in their late twenties and older, and adopted a tone suited to that audience. This was in contrast to contemporary multiformat and console magazines aimed at children and teenagers. During this period, the PC was not yet widely recognised as a games platform in the UK, an attitude PC Zone arguably helped to change by championing a succession of notable games such as
By 1995, under the initial editorship of John Davison and then later Jeremy Wells (promoted from deputy editor with Davison moving on as publisher for the title), the magazine adopted a tone which heavily referenced
Towards the end of the decade, during the editorship of long time contributor Chris Anderson, the magazine underwent another redesign and a stricter scoring methodology was introduced. For a twelve-month period, it was rare for a game to score above 90%, although this was later relaxed, resulting in controversial 94% and higher scores for
Anderson was succeeded by Dave Woods. Most of the regular recurring features used in the current version of the magazine were introduced during this period, and Woods' final contribution was the redesign which marked the handover of the title to Future plc and the editorship to Jamie Sefton.
DVD Zone
Each issue of PC Zone came with a DVD-ROM containing game demos, videos, mods, drivers, freeware software and patches among other things. The DVD Zone sleeve would occasionally have unique codes which gave readers access to game betas, trials, and in-game content, among other things.
Later format
A new format of PC Zone was introduced in October 2005 for issue #159. By issue #220, the magazine cost £5.99 and included several regular features including Supertest, where reviewers discussed which game is best in its genre (later audio only); Steve Hill's NeverQuest, which followed the often unsuccessful attempts of Hill's venture into MMORPGs; Developer's Commentary, in which developers looked back on their recently released titles; Retro Zone, with a focus on a different retro platform emulated on PC each month; How To..., a guide with 8 tips for a recently released game and a Buyer's Guide, in which top games were listed, divided into 9 genres. The Buyer's Guide was developed from an indexed list of every game reviewed in the publication, along with closing comments. When the longevity of the magazine made this completely impractical it was pared down to just the best from each genre, becoming shorter with each redesign.
As of issue #220, the leaders in each genre are:
- Shooters: Half-Life 2 (inc. Episodes) : 97% / 91% / 82%
- Strategy: Empire: Total War : 94%
- Action/Adventure: Grand Theft Auto IV : 91%
- MMOs: World of Warcraft : 95%
- Sport: Football Manager 2010 : 88%
- Simulation: X3: Reunion : 92%
- : 95%
- Driving/Racing: GTR 2: 92%
- Oddball: Spore : 95%
The oldest game in the Buyer's Guide was Deus Ex, reviewed issue #93 and given 94%.
Review system
PC Zone prided itself on its reviews scoring system, which was based on the idea that 50% was an average grade. As a result, many publishers accused the magazine of being too harsh. Games that scored 75-89% were given a Recommended Award; games that scored 90% or more were given a Classic Award. Very few games, perhaps only ten a year, received the latter distinction. Games scoring under 20% were given the PC Zone Dump award (Previously the PC Zone Pants).
As a combined result of its honest scoring system and its age, PC Zone managed to acquire many UK and world print exclusives in terms of
The lowest scoring game ever was The Compelling Adventures of A.Gent, which garnered a score of 2%, as they stated it had "...gone straight to budget because there's no way it could live as a full-priced game."[5] The lowest scoring non-game release was Page 3 Calendar & Screensaver, which managed to score in the negatives at -10%.[6]
Staff
The last editor was Steve Hogarty, who left in July 2010, and was not replaced. He took over from Ali Wood, who left in December 2009. Previous editor Will Porter replaced Jamie Sefton in March 2008, who in turn was the replacement for Dave Woods after the magazine's redesign at the end of 2005. Steve Spence edited the hardware section until it was taken over by Philip Wand (who also wrote Dear Wandy, a monthly section featuring technical questions from readers which started out as Dear Wazza under Warren Christmas) at the end of 2004. There were discussion forums on the official PC Zone website, as well as on Philip Wand's own Dear Wandy site. There, members could request technical assistance and discuss gaming in general.
Pavel Barter contributed a regular investigative feature titled Special Report, which focused on various aspects of the games industry at large, as well as notable gaming figures and the specifics of the development process.
Other regular freelance writers included Jon 'Log' Blyth, Ed Zitron, Steve Hill, Martin Korda, Rhianna Pratchett, Richie Shoemaker, Daniel Emery, Paul Presley and David McCandless.
TV presenter and newspaper contributor Charlie Brooker was also a regular during the 1990s, reviewing games, and contributing humorous pieces such as “Sick Notes” and the “Cybertwats”.
References
- ^ "Standard Certificate of Circulation - PC Zone" (PDF). ABC. 2010-02-11. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-09-29. Retrieved 2010-02-16.
- ^ "Standard Certificate of Circulation - PC Zone" (PDF). ABC. 2009-02-12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-09-29. Retrieved 2009-03-18.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
- ^ Daniel Emery (2010-07-17). "PC Zone magazine is to shut after 17 years". BBC News. Archived from the original on 2010-07-16. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
- ^ "Budget Games". PC Zone. No. 39. Future plc. June 1996. p. 82. Retrieved March 11, 2022.
- ^ "Budget Games". PC Zone. No. 42. Future plc. September 1996. p. 86. Retrieved March 11, 2022.