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Next Generation Magazine (also known as NextGen) was a video game magazine that was made by Imagine Media publishing company (now Future Network USA).[1] It was affiliated to and shared editorial with the UK's Edge magazine. Next Generation ran from January 1995 until January 2002. Unlike its competitors GamePro and EGM which targeted an adolescent audience, Next Generation was directed towards a more mature, adult readership by focusing on the industry itself rather than individual games.
Lifecycle 2
In September 1999, Next Generation was redesigned, its cover name shortened to simply NextGen. This would start what was known as "Lifecycle 2" of the magazine. A year later, in September 2000, the magazine's width was increased from its standard 8 inches to 9 inches, however this wider format lasted less than a year. Subscribers of Next-Gen Magazine received issues of PlayStation Magazine when the magazine's life-cycle was terminated.
The brand was resurrected in 2005 by Future Publishing USA as an industry-led website, at http://www.next-gen.biz/.
Differences between Next-Gen and its contemporaries
Notable differences between Next Generation and other current video game magazines:
- Most video game magazines rank a game in several different categories (graphics, sound, gameplay, etc.) and sometimes provide an average score based on those numbers. Next Generation's review ranking system, on the other hand, was based on a number of stars (1 through 5), that ranked games based on their merits overall compared to what games were already out there.
- Its content didn't focus on screenshots, walkthroughs, and cheat codes. Instead the content was more focused on the game industry from an artistic perspective.
- Its interviews with people in the gaming industry often featured questions about gaming in general rather than about the details of the latest game or game system they were working on.
- Next Generation had a few editorial sections like "The Way Games Ought To Be" (originally written every month by game designer Chris Crawford) that would attempt to provide constructive criticism on standard practices in the video game industry.
- The magazine's construction and design also differed from its competitors. The design was decidedly simple and clean, its back cover having no advertising on it initially, a departure from most other gaming magazines. The first several years of Next Generation had a heavy matte finish cover stock, unlike the glossy paper covers of its competitors. The magazine moved away from this cover style in early 1999, only for it to return again in late 2000.
Issue history
| Lifecycle 1
| Lifecycle 2
|
|
|
| Issue | Feature
|
| v1 #1 (September 1999) | Dreamcast Arrives
|
| v1 #2 (October 1999) | Hooray for Hollywood
|
| v1 #3 (November 1999) | PlayStation 2 arrives
|
| v1 #4 (December 1999) | The War for the Living Room
|
| v2 #1 (January 2000) | Crunch time
|
| v2 #2 (February 2000) | The Games of 2000 Will Blow Your Mind
|
| v2 #3 (March 2000) | Raising the Bar
|
| v2 #4 (April 2000) | PlayStation 2: Hands-On Report
|
| v2 #5 (May 2000) | Sega's new deal
|
| v2 #6 (June 2000) | Ready for war
|
| v2 #7 (July 2000) | Metal Gear Solid 2
|
| v2 #8 (August 2000) | The Making of the Xbox
|
| v2 #9 (September 2000) | Dreamcast: The First Anniversary
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| v2 #10 (October 2000) | Broadband Gaming
|
| v2 #11 (November 2000) | GameCube: Can Nintendo Compete
|
| v2 #12 (December 2000) | 2001 PlayStation 2 games
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| v3 #1 (January 2001) | Got Talent: First Party Developers
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| v3 #2 (February 2001) | Games Grow Up
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| v3 #3 (March 2001) | Start your own game company
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| v3 #4 (April 2001) | Field of Indrema
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| v3 #5 (May 2001) | Old Systems, New Games
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| v3 #6 (June 2001) | Sega's Next Move
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| v3 #7 (July 2001) | Eidos on Edge
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| v3 #8 (August 2001) | GameCube Exposed
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| v3 #9 (September 2001) | Video Game U
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| v3 #10 (October 2001) | 25 Power Players
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| v3 #11 (November 2001) | Xbox arrives
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| v3 #12 (December 2001) | Nintendo's GameCube is here
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| v4 #13 (January 2002) | Xbox review
|
|
Current state
When the company publishing Next-Gen was forced to make cutbacks, the magazine ceased print. The brand was later revived and moved online. The website, Next-Gen.biz, carries much the same articles and editorial as the print magazine, and in fact reprints many articles from Edge, the UK-based sister magazine to Next-Gen.
In July 2008, Next-Gen.biz was rebranded as Edge-Online.com[2].
References
Template:Reflist
External links
Next Generation Magazine