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[Nreive]

Well, coming from the UK, I would like to see some stuff on UK mags like Sega Zone, MegaTech, Sega Magazine (before it changed to Sega Saturn Mag), Computer and Video Games (any from 1992-1999), and various other stuff that I can't quite recall at the moment. All dearly missed mags that I lost over ten years ago (but that's another story).

[meppi]

CVG is certainly something that we've been planning on doing in the very near future.
But I'm missing lots of issues from that set. I do have almost the complete Paul Davies years of CVG which were fantastic in every single way.

I've got the complete sets of the Official Sega Magazine and Megatech so I will certainly be scanning them as well, although it might take a while longer to release the complete magazines. As you might know, I take too much time cleaning up my scans to pump them out on a weekly basis.

But doing specific article scans to be put on the website wouldn't be a problem though, so you can expect them in the near future.

[triverse]

I've got the complete sets of the Official Sega Magazine and Megatech so I will certainly be scanning them as well, although it might take a while longer to release the complete magazines.  As you might know, I take too much time cleaning up my scans to pump them out on a weekly basis.

For the quality you bring to the table, the wait is more than worth it.

[STGuy1040]

I have some issues of CVG in storage but I can't remember which ones they are. None of the magazines I own are stored at my location because we lack the room (sigh) but I will check next week.

[triverse]

STGuy1040, if you have time let us know what you have and we can work out completing some sets, or getting close.  I see UK mags are popular though, it is the one region most requested so far from the various forums I am on so I say if we can, let's support those fans.

[Nreive]

I've got the complete sets of the Official Sega Magazine and Megatech so I will certainly be scanning them as well, although it might take a while longer to release the complete magazines.  As you might know, I take too much time cleaning up my scans to pump them out on a weekly basis.

For the quality you bring to the table, the wait is more than worth it.

I couldn't agree more. You have to be happy with the quality of the product you're working on or what's the point doing it. Your scans are immaculate and if I had stumbled upon them without pior knowledge that they were scans, I would have assumed they were the original publication files.

Just out of interest, how many issues of MegaTech were there? I'm thinking around 30... Wasn't the mag also sold off to another publisher (in a similar way to Future's MEGA)?

I do have the odd issue of CVG from the 92-99 era, which somehow survived the tragic magazine cull of 1999. Will need to check which ones they are.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing the scans, and the wait will be worth it.

[meppi]

Thank you for those really kind words. 

That's why I decided to go back to my old OSSM scans as well and redo them in the same way. They will take a bit of a backseat though since I scanned them before and a lot of people are looking forward to other magazines.

MagaTech has 29 issues in total. Not sure if it got sold of to another publisher though, I would have to check myself.
They are stored away nicely until I get to scanning them. I was lucky enough to buy all of them from a collector (he appeared in Retro Gamer a bit later with his magazines), so they are in immaculate condition.

I do know that the magazine started out as being published by EMAP, but like I said, I would have to check myself to see if that changed later on.

[homgran]

MagaTech has 29 issues in total. Not sure if it got sold of to another publisher though, I would have to check myself.
They are stored away nicely until I get to scanning them. I was lucky enough to buy all of them from a collector (he appeared in Retro Gamer a bit later with his magazines), so they are in immaculate condition.

I do know that the magazine started out as being published by EMAP, but like I said, I would have to check myself to see if that changed later on.

There were definitely more than 29 issues of MegaTech. I have issues 1-34, and I have seen adverts for issues 36 and 37. So, at the very least, there were 37 issues. I have been told by another collector that there were 40 issues of MegaTech in total, but I've only seen as far as issue 37.

EMAP sold MegaTech to Maverick Magazines in time for the January 1994 issue (which, incidentally, is the same month that EMAP launched Official Sega Magazine -- which became the home of a few ex-MegaTech staff writers). Maverick then bought MEGA from Future about six or seven months later. In the end, Maverick were churning out four Mega Drive magazines each month (all of them using the same pool of writers) and, as a result, the quality of each magazine suffered.

If there were 40 issues of MegaTech, then that would mean that the magazine closed at the same time as MEGA (which, given that they were run by the same team, isn't too far-fetched).

[Nreive]

If MegaTech survived until Maverick's demise, then it could be that there were around 39/40 issues - depending on when the issues were releasded within the month. The trouble with these later issues of MegaTech is that once the mag was sold on to Maverick, the readership declined, meaning that it's very rare to find any of these issues on auction sites. I myself stopped buying MEGA after issue 25 (after Maverick bought it), and was very lucky to get hold of issues 26-30 later on.

[meppi]

There were definitely more than 29 issues of MegaTech. I have issues 1-34, and I have seen adverts for issues 36 and 37. So, at the very least, there were 37 issues. I have been told by another collector that there were 40 issues of MegaTech in total, but I've only seen as far as issue 37.

EMAP sold MegaTech to Maverick Magazines in time for the January 1994 issue (which, incidentally, is the same month that EMAP launched Official Sega Magazine -- which became the home of a few ex-MegaTech staff writers). Maverick then bought MEGA from Future about six or seven months later. In the end, Maverick were churning out four Mega Drive magazines each month (all of them using the same pool of writers) and, as a result, the quality of each magazine suffered.

If there were 40 issues of MegaTech, then that would mean that the magazine closed at the same time as MEGA (which, given that they were run by the same team, isn't too far-fetched).

That's so interesting. Thanks for setting the record straight!

I got these magazines as a single package from a collector who had to slim down his collection, so I always figured it was the complete set, just as the Super Play collection I bought back then.
Perhaps the person didn't feel the magazines under the new publisher fit into the series and therefor treated them like they didn't exist?
That's pretty much how I feel about CVG after Paul Davies got shoved aside and the whole team left a couple months later.
I wanted the magazine to be as brilliant as before, but it just turned into complete trash.

On a brighter note, your post reminds me a bit of the time when I posted about wanting to find all 6 MAXIMUM magazines on the meanmachinesmag board and that I was told by a certain Rich, that there were 7 issues.
I asked is he was sure about that only to be told by someone else is "I was taken the piss" or something.  
I replied that I had no idea why they would even ask that or something along those lines and was asked if I even knew who I was talking to.
Again, I didn't.

Turned out that Rich was Richard Leadbetter, which I didn't know by name at that time.
I love the magazines he has worked on but only remembered very few names like Ed Lomas and Steve Key for instance.
Such a great guy really, as he actually sent me the missing issues out of his own personal collection! I didn't even have to pay postage or anything!

[homgran]

If MegaTech survived until Maverick's demise, then it could be that there were around 39/40 issues - depending on when the issues were releasded within the month. The trouble with these later issues of MegaTech is that once the mag was sold on to Maverick, the readership declined, meaning that it's very rare to find any of these issues on auction sites.

Exactly. That's the odd thing about those later issues: they're quite rare because their quality is so low.

I myself stopped buying MEGA after issue 25 (after Maverick bought it), and was very lucky to get hold of issues 26-30 later on.

I was sad to see MEGA deteriorate so much over such a short period of time. The final issue was #31 (April 1995), and it's nothing more than a 30-page pamphlet -- printed on cheap, thin paper (the cover uses the same low-quality paper) and containing sparse, poorly-constructed page layouts. A far cry from the clean, glossy, stylish publication it once was!

That's so interesting. Thanks for setting the record straight!

No problem -- I'm glad I could provide some useful information.

I got these magazines as a single package from a collector who had to slim down his collection, so I always figured it was the complete set, just as the Super Play collection I bought back then.
Perhaps the person didn't feel the magazines under the new publisher fit into the series and therefor treated them like they didn't exist?
That's pretty much how I feel about CVG after Paul Davies got shoved aside and the whole team left a couple months later.
I wanted the magazine to be as brilliant as before, but it just turned into complete trash.

I'm the same with Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (Maverick's original Mega Drive magazine). It was once a fantastic magazine, but the quality deteriorated each time Maverick's acquired a rival publication. In the end, its final issues contained nothing more than re-prints of reviews/previews/guides that had been originally published 12-18 months earlier! It was a sad way for the magazine to die.

On a brighter note, your post reminds me a bit of the time when I posted about wanting to find all 6 MAXIMUM magazines on the meanmachinesmag board and that I was told by a certain Rich, that there were 7 issues.
I asked is he was sure about that only to be told by someone else is "I was taken the piss" or something. 
I replied that I had no idea why they would even ask that or something along those lines and was asked if I even knew who I was talking to.
Again, I didn't.

Turned out that Rich was Richard Leadbetter, which I didn't know by name at that time.
I love the magazines he has worked on but only remembered very few names like Ed Lomas and Steve Key for instance.
Such a great guy really, as he actually sent me the missing issues out of his own personal collection! I didn't even have to pay postage or anything!

That's awesome! For Rich to give you his own magazines (and they are, quite literally, his magazines!) for free... well, it just goes to show how passionate he is about videogame journalism. That's a really nice story.

[meppi]

That's one of the reasons why I'm so passionate about getting the scans as close to the originals as possible, even though it has taken me through 4 different versions of the scans by now.
I finally feel that I'm at the point where they look as pristine as they did the day you picked them up from the shelf.

It's so sad to see a magazine you loved so much for several years go down the drain like that.
With CVG it started with removing the freeplay supplement as I recall.
I even sent in a letter asking about it, but was ridiculed for being stuck in the past by some baboon who is probably flipping burgers these days. ;P
Even though the design went down the toilet straight away, the original team stayed on a bit longer, but after a couple of months they all just left as everything was decided and put into work without their input.

Really sad tale actually.
You can even read a special about it on the MeanMachinemag site: http://www.meanmachinesmag.co.uk/media/32/damiens-writing.php
Just click CVG 1996-1999

[Puslar_t]

It's interesting how the internet has enabled us to read about our favourite journalists from back in the day. One UK publication I notice scanners are shying from is Gamesmaster. They had a decent run during the 16-bit era, and while their 32-bit coverage suffered as most other mags at the time they were still readable.

[Nreive]

Yeah, Gamesmaster magazine had a good run during its first couple of years, getting 6 figure circulation figures.  I don't think it's a case of scanners shying away from Gamesmaster.  There are quite a few UK mags that I haven't seen anywhere: Game Zone, Sega Zone, Sega Pro, Mega Power, EDGE, Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, Megatech, and many more (although some of these may appear here in the future).  I think it's just a matter of what people have available to scan and focus on their fave mags first.  Gamesmaster issue 1 scans are available at http://www.gamesmasterlive.co.uk/ though if you want to check that out.