There were many classic video game magazines published over the past several decades, but arguably, the king of them was Electronic Gaming Monthly. Its multi-person reviews, more mature attitude, style, humor and its unflinching yet fair looks at all sorts of games made them a massive success back in the day, and even bits like their famous “Sheng Long” April Fool’s joke had a huge impact on gaming culture. Lasting from 1989 to 2014 (with a hiatus from 2009 to 2010 after Ziff-Davis initially canceled it and founder Steve Harris purchased the rights months later), EGM has over 260 issues under its belt covering twenty-five years of gaming history. And now, EGM is officially commemorating that legacy with the Electronic Gaming Monthly Compendium, whose Kickstarter campaign officially began today.
As seen in the campaign video above (with an assist from Jon Bailey), the Electronic Gaming Monthly Compendium is a project that includes a hardcover book covering not just looks at every issue of EGM, but deeper looks at different games and trends that emerged over the timeline, with contributions not just from past EGM almuni such as Steve Harris and Dan Hsu, gaming industry veterans such as Peter Moore and Trip Hawkins, and current online gaming presences such asHappy Console GamerandDefunct Games,all helping to contribute towards a deeper look at gaming history. The whole shebang will be available in both digital and hardcover versions, with special editions available for backers at certain levels.
“The Electronic Gaming Monthly Compendium is an ambitious new book that honors that legacy, combining meticulously curated excerpts from the magazine with new insights and never-before-told stories to explore gaming’s evolution, from its earliest frontiers to today’s modern landscape.” - Kickstarter campiagn description
The Electronic Gaming Monthly Compendium, however, is just one half of the project. The other half is the EGM Digital Archive, which thanks to preservation efforts, will provide fans with an official way to read every issue of EGM, complete with a full database that people can use to search for specific games, franchises, writers and more. While sites such asRetromagshave thankfully provided access to all of these issues as well, this database aims to take things to a new level. On top of that, the EGM Compendium will contain codes that readers can use in the Digital Archive to go even deeper on certain subjects. It does seem a bit odd to evoke memories ofthe infamous Final Fantasy IX Official Strategy Guide,but hopefully this take on such a format will be executed in a better fashion.
As it turns out, there seems to be a rather huge demand for the Electronic Gaming Monthly Compendium. Not only did the project reach its $35,000 funding goal in just a few hours, but as of the time of writing, it has now gone on to raise over $110,000 in less than a day. This means that several stretch goals have already been met, including extra content such as a countdown of the 1,000 greatest games of all time and a look at gaming’s biggest failures, and expansion of the Digital Archive to now include spin-offs such as EGM2 and the end-of-year Buyer’s Guides. If the campaign reaches $250,000, the reward for the stretch goal there will be a brand new print issue of EGM, the first in over a decade.
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Speaking as someone who probably wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for Electronic Gaming Monthly, this writer cannot be more excited that such a preservation project is underway, especially given current problems such as the cancelation of Game Informer and the erasure of their whole website earlier this year. If you want to contribute towards this particular part of games media preservation, feel free to check outthe official Kickstarter campaign pageand donate, which you can get rewards such as the first-ever print version of issue #237, which was finished but never published due to the first Ziff-Davis cancelation. The campaign for the Electronig Gaming Monthly Compendium will run until November 13 (with the Compendium set to arrive in 2025) and here’s wishing the project is a massive success.
