What’s the title for that phenomenon once you find out about one thing for the primary time after which begin seeing it in all places? Ah, the frequency phantasm! I used to be continuously illused whereas scanning via these July 1996, 2006 and 2016 problems with PC Gamer journal, as a result of they simply maintain speaking about RAM. And given our present RAMpocalypse, effectively, all of it simply appears very well timed.
I suppose the opposite clarification is that PC avid gamers are all the time speaking about RAM.
It’s wild in hindsight {that a} {photograph} of a beige desktop would take precedence over a evaluation of Civilization 2 as the duvet of the July 1996 difficulty. Was that actually shifting copies on the newsstand!? The 2006 and 2016 points are much more hanging. Pour one out for LawBreakers, which present PC Gamer US Editor-in-Chief Tyler Wilde previewed on the time and favored. “Whenever it’s out, I’m confident LawBreakers can challenge all its cute and colorful competition. Not so much with blood or cursing, but with grappling hooks, afterburners, and zero-g no-look behind-the-back headshots,” he wrote.
LawBreakers! Was!! Good!!! But the tone was simply all fallacious for the time it got here out, and as we have seen from various failed makes an attempt to launch a brand new multiplayer FPS since, it is extremely arduous to get individuals to latch onto a recreation in that extra area shooter fashion.
Wes Fenlon
The July 2016 difficulty on this roundup options loads of me, with a multi-page comparability between the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive VR headsets, which launched across the identical time. I used to be on the VR beat for my first few years at PC Gamer, although our protection of the know-how fell off fairly steeply shortly after this launch. Turns out studying in regards to the potential of VR was fairly thrilling. Once individuals might truly purchase the headsets, effectively… much less so. It’s nonetheless fairly arduous to get individuals to care about VR stuff as we speak.
The a hundred and fiftieth difficulty particular for the July 2006 US magazine is an actual deal with, with all types of insights into the making of the magazine through the years. We’ll need to get that entire factor on-line sooner or later!
What was on the duvet?
July 1996: The Ultimate Gaming Machine (US, difficulty #26)
Cover story: “The Ultimate Gaming Machine” by Dan Bennett
There’s no journal characteristic destined to age extra poorly than one highlighting the easiest in laptop {hardware} at that very second. Then once more, on this period of AI-driven pricing insanity, a fantastic PC from a couple of years in the past (on the costs of some years in the past, too) truly does look mighty compelling as we speak. As for a $3000 PC in 1996? Well, nostalgia’s obtained to do a bit extra heavy lifting right here.
For the cash, the July 1996 PC Gamer cowl characteristic was recommending a 166 MHz Pentium with 16 entire megabytes of RAM, a 1GB HDD, a Super VGA card with 2-4 MB of VRAM, the ever-reliable SoundBlaster 16, and a 17-inch CRT monitor. The display screen might be the bit we would nonetheless get some use out of as we speak.
The different hotness within the final rig included an 8x CD-ROM drive (we weren’t even talkin’ burners, at this level) and a 28.8 kbps modem; I suppose 56k wasn’t an choice simply but. “Even at 28.8k, some of the fancier web pages will take a minute or more to download,” Bennett warned.
Cover hits:
- Duke Nukem 3D, Civilization 2, and Zork Nemesis reviewed
- Flight sims scrutinized
- On CD: The Pandora Directive
July 2006: a hundred and fiftieth difficulty (US, difficulty #150)
Cover story: “The 150 best moments from PC Gamer history”
This tour down memory lane focuses on the US issue of the magazine, naturally, as the UK and US productions were split back in those days. It leads off with a look back at the US mag’s very first cover feature, for Origin’s BioForge, and goes on to mention some other key moments: The mag’s 15% review of Battlecruiser 3000 A.D., Daikatana’s infamous ad, a compliment from South Park co-creator (and PCG reader) Trey Parker, and some wise called shots, including this one:
“Baldur’s Gate is the next step in the roleplaying revolution.”
Some notable milestones: Announcing Star Wars: Dark Forces, a world-exclusive first look at Quake 2, and December 1997’s 456-page issue. The Game Gods and The Next Game Gods issues get quite a bit of attention.
Cover hits: Nada
- On DVD: Auto Assault free trial, Hereos of Might & Magic 5
July 2016: Dishonored 2 (UK, issue #293)
Cover story: Dishonored 2 “Long Shadows” by Chris Thursten
Did Chris Thursten know he was playing one of the best PC games of the decade when he got his hands on an early build of Dishonored 2?
C’mon, you know he did.
“Dishonored has helped establish a new future for the immersive sim, one where it can enjoy commercial success and critical acclaim and expand the industry’s sense of who games might be for. Heir to a rich legacy, Dishonored 2 finds itself in a good position to exceed its ancestors later this year,” he wrote.
It’s a great feature, full of designer Harvey Smith and art director Sébastien Mitton saying smart things.
Cover hits:
- Battlefield 1, Lawbreakers, Mafia 3 previews
- Oculus Rift vs. HTC Vive VR headset verdict
- 10 games that changed PC gaming
In the news
July 1996
- A CyberAuthor Speaks: “Stephenson himself is certainly no stranger to computer games. ‘The two computer games I’ve spent a lot of time with have been Myst and Marathon,’ he says.”
- “The PC is starting to invade the living room, and one of hte first of the new wave of family PCs is the Gateway Destination 2000”
- BeBox highlighted as a “new rival to the PC”
- DreamWorks Interactive, a “joint venture between Microsoft and Steven Spielberg’s company” is making The Neverhood Chronicles
- Online RPG Merdian 59 launches. It’s still alive today.
July 2006
- Ubisoft ditches anti-piracy tech StarForce after a class action lawsuit
- Viacom buys XFire chat program for $102 million
- The writer behind famous “EA Spouse” blog is revealed
- Cult basic Another World will get an XP-friendly re-release for its fifteenth anniversary
July 2016
- Respawn, Dice, and Visceral are all making new Star Wars video games
- Lionhead shuttered
- Eric Barone talks Stardew Valley: “My wildest dreams have come true and I’m in this whole new world.”
The hottest {hardware}
July 1996
In addition to the “ultimate” rig featured on the cover, in this issue’s “Tim’s Tech Shop” column we learn that RAM prices have “finally started dropping.” Ahh… a better time, huh?
The whole feature is dedicated to the ins and outs of the memory industry and the misleading promise of programs like RAM Doubler and SoftRAM that people turned to when they couldn’t afford more physical RAM. Maybe we’re destined to see a repeat, there…
July 2006
From the archives
Enjoying this trip down memory lane? You can still subscribe to PC Gamer to get new problems with the journal (in print!) each month.
PC Gamer’s Logan Decker evaluations a desktop PC by defunct system builder Vigor Gaming, the Force Recon Axe. $3300 in 2006 obtained you a 78%-scoring system utilizing thermo-electric cooling to sit back an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ and twin GeForce 7900 GTX graphics playing cards. Plus two entire gigs of DDR RAM.
Also featured on this difficulty: Configuration suggestions for the then-new Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. Bethesda itself supplied tricks to rising the quantity of blood or grass, upping shadow decision, and skipping the intro cutscenes.
July 2016
Nvidia revealed the GTX 1000 collection, hyping up the brand new GTX 1080 and 1070. The 1080, particularly, would show to be a monster hit with its 8GB GDDR5X VRAM.
Yours actually additionally reviewed each the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive VR headsets, after testing each throughout a number of business occasions within the two years prior. I scored the Vive increased, 85 vs. 76, for its higher monitoring and specialised controllers, which the Rift did not have at launch.
This was the height of VR pleasure. While some nice video games have been launched within the years since, the know-how has by no means come near supplanting our day-to-day gaming or basic laptop use.
Our highest and lowest evaluation scores
July 1996
- Civilization 2 – 97% – “An immensely addictive and playable strategy game that’s the rightful heir to the Civilization crown.”
- Duke Nukem 3D – 93% – “There’s no subtle way to put it—Duke kicks ass.”
- AH-64D Longbow – 94% – “AH-64D Longbow isn’t just the best chopper sim ever—it’s one of the best flight sims, period.”
- TacOps – 90% – “All the detail and authenticity you could ask for, plus tremendous replayability.”
- Zork Nemesis – 89% – “It’s pretty, it’s spooky, and it’s immensely entertaining.”
- CrossWorld – 30% – “There’s nothing new here; for crossword fanatics and cheaters only.”
- Star Trek: Klingon – 35% – “Even die-hard Trekkers will find their faith tested by this sorry cash-in.”
July 2006
- Tomb Raider: Legend – 90% – “Luscious to look at and a thrill to play, Tomb Raider: Legend is a welcome comeback.”
- Space Rangers 2: Rise of the Dominators – 92% – “Space Rangers 2 is an endlessly replayable, always thrilling romp through space.”
- Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends – 89% – “One of the year’s stand-outs in what is an increasingly crowded and competitive genre.”
- RF Online – 35% – “RF Online fails as a PvE game, and its PvP gameplay isn’t engaging enough to make up for that fatal flaw.”
- American Conquest: Divided Nation – 40% – “Recommended only for history buffs on a budget.”
July 2016
- Total War: Warhammer – 86% – “If you find real history a bit bland compared to glorious nonsense made up by British people, this is the Total War for you.”
- Offworld Trading Company – 88% – “Master its complex systems and Offworld Trading Company is ruthless, immediate and thoroughly rewarding.”
- The Banner Saga 2 – 86% – “A handsome and brutal strategy sequel that benefits from a range of intelligent improvements to the game.”
- Democracy 3: Africa – 65% – “New setting, same old intrigues. Democracy 3: Africa is a clever simulation but plays it far too safe.”