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The Lost Art of the Game Company Newsletter

Posted by Zonk on from the lucasarts-newsletter-where-sam-and-max-had-their-day dept.

simoniker writes "Over at GameSetWatch, Kevin Gifford has been talking about the history of the video game company newsletter, explaining it as '...a concept that's likely completely alien to people who began their game careers anytime after the SNES. During the classic era, and especially during the NES years, free newsletters were a common way for third-party software makers to build a mailing list and advertise directly to consumers.' He then shows off some scans of some of his own collection, including newsletters from Acclaim, FCI, and even Natsume."

28 comments

  1. Nintendo offers this still by notanatheist · · Score: 1

    When you sign up at http://my.nintendo.com/ they offer you a few different mailings. The really want the consumer at the core with the DS and Wii.

  2. Good ol' days by Purity+Of+Essence · · Score: 3, Informative

    My subscription to The New Zork Times ran out years ago.

    "All the grues that fit, we print"

    I seem to remember Beagle Bros have a good newsletter, too.

    --
    +0 Meh
    1. Re:Good ol' days by drerwk · · Score: 1

      My favorite newsletter as well. The authors at Infocom were just plain good writers in all the work they did. (Disclaimer - I worked there many ages ago; as a 6502 hacker, not as an imp.)

  3. Re:Congrats Slashdot! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Other console gaming forums are making fun of the idiotic Fox News-ish console gaming coverage here on Slashdot. Things haven't been this bad here on Slashdot since the infamous John Katz days.

    Oh come on! If this site were Fox News, we'd all be voting for Microsoft and praying for the Playstation 3 to get on with the rapture already.

  4. Offline... by Misch · · Score: 2, Interesting

    In the board/card/table gaming world, Looney Labs does a pretty good job with their mailing lists. Yes, they keep up on the games that are being released, but since it's practically a small family operation, they have blog entries and such that go out as well.

    --

    --You will rephrase your request for me to go to hell. Goto statements are not acceptable programming constructs
  5. I miss good newsletters by tabacco · · Score: 1

    I actually miss the days when developers' newsletters were fun to read, instead of just occasional e-mail blasts. There are definitely some companies still doing a good job of it, though. I really enjoyed Double Fine's Boot Camp Bulletin, which was the Psychonauts newsletter. (Shameless plug:) The company I work for also does a pretty good job, in my opinion: Telltale Interloper. I think it's largely a case of trying to put a bit of personality behind the company, which is what older printed newsletters used to do. I'd love to see more of it :)

    1. Re:I miss good newsletters by connect4 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I remember reading an old Sierra On-line newsletter in the mid 80's that came in the box with Space Quest II, there was a story in there about how Steve Wozniak had suffered amnesia after a plane crash. He had written to Sierra to congratulate them on "Mystery House" for the Apple II, which he had enjoyed playing during his recovery, even though he was apparently unaware at the time of his own role in devoloping the computer used to play the game. I got the impression that the guys at Sierra were pretty pleased with themselves.

      I wish I still had those newsletters . . . they're a piece of gaming history now.

    2. Re:I miss good newsletters by tabacco · · Score: 1

      Yeah, Sierra used to rule :)

  6. Who says its a lost art? by MMaestro · · Score: 1

    They're rare and hard to find but I've been on the subscription list for several game company newsletters for years now. They're all e-mail based but they're still around. The content can be hit or miss at times (some read like advertisement) but others can be really informative (interviews or exclusive screenshots).

  7. Fabio! by Dan+East · · Score: 2, Funny

    LOL, check out the newsletter for Acclaim which features a sword-wielding Fabio ala Conan the Barbarian.

    Dan East

    --
    Better known as 318230.
    1. Re:Fabio! by MyDixieWrecked · · Score: 1

      That's actually the cover to one of the first issues of EGM (I believe it's #3 or #4?). I had that issue sitting on my coffee table for posterity at an old apartment, but my roommates and guests seemed to prefer to use that as a coaster/notepad rather than the 60s/70s era playboys and early Penthouse.

      It's also the Wizards & Warriors II cover art (as is illustrated above the Great Fabio).

      --



      ...spike
      Ewwwwww, coconut...
  8. Re:finger by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    .plan
    I think you mean "bang."
  9. Oh My God! They're Not Even Human! by Headcase88 · · Score: 1

    The Johnny Turbo Story has all of these newsletters beat.

    --
    "When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"
  10. Re:finger by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

    Only id's .plan give you both the "bang" and the "finger" of what's going on in the old days.

  11. Too tasteful by empaler · · Score: 1

    I prefer the Running with Scissors-flavoured newsletter.
    Too bad the past three have been sent to me twice each, without much content, and not online. The linked one has Steve Irwin, though. Tasteful stuff. Like that horrible new movie.

  12. PC game co. newsletters? by CaptainNerdCave · · Score: 1
    does anyone remember the days of getting stuff from game companies regarding upcoming software? i remember getting stuff from sierra after buying lords of the realm 2; i was even asked to be a beta tester.

    what's happening to the commitment to keeping gamers on-board for the long haul?

    1. Re:PC game co. newsletters? by tabacco · · Score: 1

      Small developers are your friend :)

  13. I miss game humor by kjs3 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Forget the company newsletters...I miss the gaming humor sites like Old Man Murray & BitchX Gaming Insider.

    1. Re:I miss game humor by tabacco · · Score: 1

      Out of curiosity, did you know that Eric Wolpaw from Old Man Murray helped write Psychonauts?

    2. Re:I miss game humor by kjs3 · · Score: 1
      (ObCarson) I did not know that...

      Wonder what they're up to now. Funny, irreverent guys.

    3. Re:I miss game humor by jalefkowit · · Score: 1

      Chet and Erik of Old Man Murray fame have been picked up by Valve Software to write for their upcoming game, Portal. Should be interesting to see if they can make a game as funny as OMM used to be.

      --

      Read my blog.

    4. Re:I miss game humor by kjs3 · · Score: 1

      Good for them, and thanks for the pointer. Anyone who gave me that many laughs deserves good things...

  14. I only got two.... by sesshomaru · · Score: 1
    There were two decent Game Company Newsletters that I used to get. The first one was the New Zork Times (later change to the Status Link after the New York Times sicked some Orks on them). It was kind of jokey, and would have articles about their new games and also their disasterous, company destroying business product the Cornerstone database.

    The other was SEGA Visions the free SEGA magazine. It was really good for a free magazine, and had some good strategy guides (I think I still have the one for Dark Wizard someplace).

    Some other companies tried, but none of their efforts impressed me. Usually they gave up after a while... of course, even SEGA eventually did that on their slow slide to oblivion...

    --
    "MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."
  15. Gone? No, just gone wrong. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is reality coming full circle... this goes on all the time, for every industry. It's called SPAM. It's the personality-lacking evolution of the newsletter, and I'm sure you have quite a few of them in your inbox, just like the rest of us.

    What you want is for your spam to have character. Well, some of it does... but that doesn't change what it is. No one appreciates getting advertisements all the time. You're talking about signing up for advertisements... well, most places do still have mailers you can sign up for. They aren't what they used to be... so what you want still happens, but not the way you want it to.

  16. You forgot AtariAge by c64cryptoboy · · Score: 1

    http://www.atariage.com/magazines/atariage.html

    --
    I put the 'fun' in fundamentalism
  17. I can't be the only one... by HeavenlyBankAcct · · Score: 1

    I can't be the only one who was convinced for years that Nintendo of America was run by a goofy, spikey-haired adolescent and his sweater-vested counterpart.

    Come on, fess up.