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.jpg) Gary Harrod's cover artwork for issue 12 | |
| Editor | Julian Rignall |
|---|---|
| Categories | Video game journalism |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| First issue | October 1990 |
| Final issue Number | September 1992 24 |
| Company | EMAP |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Website | www |
| ISSN | 0960-4952 |
Mean Machines was a multi-formatvideo game magazine published between 1990 and 1992 in theUnited Kingdom.
In the late 1980sComputer and Video Games (CVG) was largely covering the outgoing generation of8-bit computers like theCommodore 64,ZX Spectrum,Amstrad CPC and the 16-bitAtari ST andAmiga.Julian Rignall built and launched a consoles-oriented section of the magazine calledMean Machines. The inaugural section was featured in the October 1987 issue of the magazine and largely covered games on 8-bit games systems like theNintendo Entertainment System andMaster System.[1] It included features on newly emerging Japan-only consoles such as thePC Engine.
Over the ensuing months,CVG increased its coverage of consoles and started a 'Mean Machines Megaclub'.[1] At the same time, a newimport gaming marketplace started to emerge fueled by demand for these new consoles. Small retailers in Britain began importing consoles and games directly from Japan, modified them for the UK market and sold them on.
Rignall and newly hired designer Gary Harrod spent two weeks planning the design, editorial tone and style, and published Mean Machines Issue Zero: a 16-page test version of the magazine that to elicit feedback from potential advertisers and readers. Only ten of these magazines were published, although a mini version was reprinted and given away free with Issue 15 of the magazine.[1] Another early attempt on covering the video game console market isComplete Guide to Consoles which lasted for four issues and one exclusively for theSega gaming systemsThe Complete Guide to Sega.
The first issue covered theSega Mega Drive, Sega Master System, Nintendo Entertainment System,Game Boy andAmstrad GX4000 consoles. Within a few months theAmstrad was taken off the market due to poor sales, and theSuper Nintendo Entertainment System replaced it in the magazine's focus, making MM a mainly Sega and Nintendo only magazine. Coverage was also given to other machines like theNeoGeo and PC Engine.[1]
Following the lead of parent magazineCVG,Mean Machines covered both domestic and imported releases; this meant that the magazine could review titles that were months away from UK release. At the time, import gaming was more popular than it is now, as increased territory lockouts and swifter UK release dates have made import gaming a relatively niche market.
ISSN 0967-9014 andISSN 0965-4240
As the UK video games market grew and matured, Sega and Nintendo emerged as the two dominant manufacturers. EMAP split the magazine in two, creatingMean Machines Sega and the officially-endorsedNintendo Magazine System.
After a successful launch, monthly sales ofNMS dropped to a level just below the originalMean Machines at its peak, and the circulation ofMMS began to decline, and at the end of 1993, EMAP Images launched the officially endorsedSega Magazine, which competed with sales of its own independent Sega publication.
The magazine was published until 1997. The staff were then incorporated intoOfficial Sega Saturn Magazine.[2]Nintendo Magazine System becameNintendo Official MagazineISSN 1466-1748, and continued until the official Nintendo licence was won byFuture Publishing. The lastMean Machines magazine wasMean Machines PlayStationISSN 1364-3746; the originalMean Machines staff had long since moved on. This soon folded after the launch ofOfficial PlayStation Magazine. Only six issues were released.[1]
Julian Rignall (Editor),[3] Gary Harrod (Designer), Richard Leadbetter (Staff Writer),[4] Radion Automatic (Staff Writer), Oz Browne (Designer), Matt Regan (Staff Writer), Angus Swan (Staff Writer), Paul Glancey (Contributor),[5][6] and Robert Alan Bright (Staff Writer).