Retro Games Journalism: Electronic Gaming Retail News July 1991

October 28, 9:15 AMLA Classic Game ExaminerJuan Martinez

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This recurring series of blogs will take a look back at gaming magazines from the late 80s to the 90s.  Today, we consume almost all of our gaming information through online sources; leaving behind the days of print.  Without anything tangible to hold onto anymore, these once-great publications need to be preserved and archived so that we can see the evolution of games as a business and the outlets that covered them.

Electronic Gaming Retail News - July 1991

Now here's something you don't see everyday: a Sendai-published (EGM's first home) magazine exclusive to retailers during the early 90s.  Not a lot information is out there about the magazine, other than a small mention in a column by Ziff alumni and current Magweasel Kevin Gifford.  Electronic Gaming Retail News (or EGRN as I want to call it) was not made for the ten-year old kid who was looking for a recommendation on Sonic The Hedgehog.  It dealt with pricing structures and developer production values.  The features were not about how awesome the graphics were on the Super NES; rather, it was more industry-focused, talking about the ugly Nintendo-Sony "Playstation" divorce and the JVC-Sega CD connection.  Other talking points from the magazine include what consumers want in a video game (turns out it's the same stuff we want now), the uncertain future of RPGs (ah, the irony), the upcoming holiday season which was the first that featured the three major 16-bit (well, if you want to call the Turbo-Grafx 16 true "16-bit") consoles, and the threat of game rentals stores (again, irony). 

Also included in the 32-page book is a fascinating interview with then-Sega big wigs like Tom Kalinske.  While the tone of the interview is far less scathing than the infamous Jack Tretton interview from EGM a few years ago, I was surprised to see some of the tough questions posed in the piece.  I guess game journalists had back bone then.  Too bad it wasn't in a magazine the public had access to.  According to Gifford, the magazine was around from 1991 to 1993.  If anybody has any information about these magazines, I'm sure places like Retromags would love to see them preserved  

Special thanks to TheRedEye, a member of the Retromags forums who scanned the pages you see in this flickr stream.

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