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    Opinions on older magazines, MAXIMUM?

    Does anyone remember the magazine MAXIMUM?
    I thought I'd ask since with all this talk of Edge vs Games people seem to forget about some of the great mags of the past. Yes we all remember C&VG etc etc but some of the more recent(ish) mags tend to get forgotten.
    Don't get me wrong I still like some current mags, I sometimes buy Edge and usually get Games but each seem to have very little 'soul' like older mags had. Not to mention some of their content, Games E3 coverage for instance, shocking.
    Anyway, apologies if this subject has been brought up before (I did search but found nothing ) but I thought it would be nice to hear people opinions.

    #2
    I think i've every issue of that sitting in the roof space.

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      #3
      MAXIMUM was great, about as hardcore as indepth preview gets, good coverage of import stuff and they're love of fighters,Arcade games and Neo-geo always had me coming back for more, shame it never came back after issue 7.

      i was going to scan all the mags but im crap at scanning plus i don't want to destroy my mags for the prefect scan.









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        #4
        Yeah, Maximum taught me almost everything I know about Tekken....

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          #5
          Originally posted by Tobal
          i was going to scan all the mags but im crap at scanning plus i don't want to destroy my mags for the prefect scan.
          Nice one! I'd check those links out if I didn't have all the issues in my bookcase next to me.
          It was a top mag and its a shame the market can't sustain a similar one now. In depth reviews and previews, that actually informed you about a games play mechanics and what you could expect for your money, are you listening Games!!
          Sadly, as I hinted at, I don't think the present market can sustain a similar title with that level of detail and craftsmanship...

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            #6
            Maximum was a good idea in theory, and it certainly came good where the guides were concerned, but some of the writing was absolutely awful. The Leadbetter School of Journalism. Something like Maximum should be all about the games, but a good portion of each issue actually ended up being about the writers' egos. "This screenshot is what's known in the trade as a Master's Grab. No other magazine is capable of providing this standard of action-packed image!!!11!"

            And so on. The sort of **** that was bad enough in the 16bit mags.

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              #7
              I have them all and really loved it at the time. Shame it was canned so early in its life.
              Some of the writing was a bit ****e, aye, but most mags of the time were in the same vein.

              Good mag in it's day. Don't be bad mouthing it or you'll get a beating!

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                #8
                Maximum was a real hardcore( I stand by the phrase ) magazine.Thats the simple reason why it didn`t appeal to the masses.

                I have every issue and it is such a quality magazine. A big sized mag, it had great covers and immaculate presentation throughout. The writing style was a bit like a Fanzine in a way, but a quality one all the same. It really did feel like a true gamers bible rather than some half-baked intellectual overblown wad of nonsense.

                A classic magazine that was totally unique and is always missed.

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                  #9
                  I remember Maximum, they did a HUGE feature on Tekken just as Budge hinted at, was a fair bit ago now but it did teach me a few things for the arcades. I always thought it was a passionate mag, but really can't remember anything other than reams of Tekken pages.

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                    #10
                    still have the 7 issues they released in my cupboard

                    it was the best magazine around in its day and its better than most today

                    i loved it because of the massive page coverage it gave to most games and it loved the Neo Geo and did loads of features on Neo games especially Kabuki Klash and the kingof fighters series

                    they were coming out when resident evil was about to make its mark so you go lovely close up big close up of that fecking huge spider

                    shame it didnt run for longer - but i remember in the last issue they mentioned it all down to money

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by kingston lj
                      The writing style was a bit like a Fanzine in a way, but a quality one all the same. It really did feel like a true gamers bible rather than some half-baked intellectual overblown wad of nonsense.
                      Spot on! I think you hit the nail on the head there.
                      I dispute E. Randy Dupre's opinion that the writing was awful. If it was guilty of anything it was that it was passionate about its subject. Not in an 'up its bottom' EDGE (though I think Edge has become better in recent years) way but an old style 'we really love games way' ala Mean Machines.
                      I'd hazard a guess that if a vote was taken with the question - 'Why do you buy GamesTM?' the poll would be a landslide for the Retro section. Why is this? Not just nostalgia but because they are deliberately trying to ape the old style of games journalism too.

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                        #12
                        Actually, I quite like the front half of GamesTM as well.

                        Just had a look at those scans; man, if they had an exclamation mark tax, Maximum would have gone bust even sooner.

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                          #13
                          The graphical capabilities are AWESOME!!!

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by E. Randy Dupre
                            The graphical capabilities are AWESOME!!!
                            Mwhaha! Sarcasm, I like it! 8)

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                              #15
                              That's a comment that appeared more than once in the magazine's lifetime, and I think it's a pretty good example of what was wrong with the journalism at Maximum (and certain other EMAP publications at the time). It's meaningless, the sort of rubbish you see in PR releases.

                              Plus, they had an editor who, without any trace of irony, refered to himself as "The Master". They didn't only aim at the self-confessed hardcore - in itself, that would have been fine - but they honestly believed themselves to be some kind of gaming gods. Every preview or guide had to include at least one mention of how amazing they were. "Only we can show you the PATH to TRUE GAMES MASTERY." It's difficult to read a mag objectively when you want to punch some self-awareness into the writing team.

                              Its failure was inevitable. It'd spend a good wedge of the available pages providing guides for games which hardly any of its readership would be able to play. Yes, it was good that they gave coverage to these releases, but they spent far too much time on them. They were also incapable of releasing it on a regular basis.

                              It was obviously supposed to be CVG for 20-somethings, but forgot that CVG was already bringing those readers in simply by having such an obvious love for games. That mag was fun, whereas the only jokes ever told in Maximum were of the "Gary tried to beat Warren at Tekken 2 the other day and failed miserably! Mind you, neither can match up to my ULTIMATE PLAYING SKILLZ!" variety. Totally up its own pipe.

                              It had its good points, but I'm trying to level out the positive feedback in the thread
                              Last edited by E. Randy Dupre; 04-07-2004, 19:50.

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