Atari Age

By Atari Inc.

Behold, the hallowed pages of Atari Age, Atari's own dedicated publication.  It was published bi-monthly (until the very end).  In retrospect we can now see the sheer advertising gimmick that it was, but no Atari fan can deny the thrill of seeing what these wizards of gaming had in store for us next.  Also included are the 2 incredibly rare newsletter-style issues that pre-date the more well-known magazine style, as well as some bonus materials.

Atari Club Magazin

By Atari Inc.

This is Germany's version of Atari Age.

Atari Connection

By Atari Inc.

Originally called The Atari Connection, this was Atari's own dedicated magazine for users of their home computers and was published quarterly by Atari's "Products Company" division.  The magazine was cancelled within days of the Tramiel takeover.

Atari Explorer

By Atari Corp. / Atari Explorer Publications Corp.

Originally headed by Neil Harris and subtitled "The Official Atari Journal", this magazine covered the 8-bit and 16-bit Atari computers. The first issue came out in February 1985 and the final issue was Jan/Feb 1993.  Bill Skruch and Shiraz Shivji were two of the advisory board members, and over the years the magazine featured contributions from several  industry luminaries such as Chris Crawford, Bill Wilkinson, Arnie Katz, Bill Kunkel, and Joyce Worley.   David H. Ahl (founder of Creative Computing magazine) took over as editor in June 1986, which is when the magazine really hit its stride.  A few months later, the magazine was being produced by a new subsidiary, Atari Explorer Publications Corp, which was headed by David Ahl.  The magazine went on hiatus on March 15, 1990. When it resumed early the following year, it was being headed by John Jainschigg and published in-house at Atari. 

Big K

By IPC Magazines Ltd

Based in London, this magazine's focus was mainly on home computers, especially those from the U.K.  Most issues included a cassette that contained programs for various computers, and the magazine also featured the very first digital comic, "Shatter", which was created on an Acorn computer.  It only ran for 1 year - exactly 12 issues.

Blip

By Marvel Comics

A short-lived video game magazine that was printed in comic book-style format, and on the same type of paper (which made for some rather low-quality photos).  It premiered in February 1983 and ended in August that same year.

Classic Gamer Magazine

By Chris Cavanaugh

At the height of the video game fanzine craze, Chris took self-publishing to the next level and created CGM, which was one of the few, great "indie" magazines that popped up in the late 1990s.

Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games

By Ahl Computing, Inc.

Renowned Creative Computing magazine creator David H. Ahl started this well-written but very short-lived spin-off dedicated to video games. How short-lived?  It lasted exactly 2 issues.

Electronic Fun with Computers & Games / Computer Fun

By Fun & Games Publishing Inc.

Similar to Electronic Games, but with writing and articles aimed at an older audience. Ran from November 1982 to March 1984, after which it changed its name to Computer Fun and ran for 2 more issues before folding.

Electronics For Kids

By Charleston Publishing Co.

Subtitled the "Toy Buyer's Guide to Consumer Electronics" and a supplement of Toy and Hobby World magazine.

Electronic Games / Computer Entertainment

By Reese Publishing Co., Inc.

Arnie Katz, Bill Kunkel, and Joyce Worley. Those 3 names will forever be synonymous with what is widely regarded as the best classic video game magazine - ever.  It was also the first magazine devoted to the subject of electronic games, and set the standard for the scores of imitators that soon followed.  It debuted in Winter of 1981 and ran until April 1985 when its name was changed to Computer Entertainment. It only lasted 4 issues under this name before folding.  It was reborn in the early 1990s, but it wasn't the same.

I/O

By Atari (UK) Inc.

This was the official magazine for Atari's UK home computer club.  By issue 4 the abbreviation was dropped in favor of the full spelling (Input/Output), but the magazine only lasted 5 issues.

JoyStik - How to Win at Video Games

By Publications International Ltd.

Easily the most artistic game magazine ever created, and unique in the fact that it features no ads.  It's also known for featuring a column by the world's first professional home video game player, Todd Rogers.  The first issue debuted in September 1982. The December 1982 issue was a special issue devoted to home games. Starting with Volume 2, the subtitle was changed to "How to Win At Home, Computer & Arcade Games". Sadly, the magazine only lasted for 10 issues.

K Power

By Scholastic Inc.

Devoted entirely to computers with an emphasis on education, this magazine only lasted 8 issues before merging with Family Computing.

L'Atarien

By Rive Ouest - Cato Johnson France

This was France's version of Atari Age and was published by Rive Ouest - Cato Johnson France" on behalf of "PECF Atari France".  "PECF" was the nickname of the company "Productions et Editions Cinematographiques Francaises", a company 100% owned by Warner Communications.  It launched in late 1983 and was bi-monthly until June 1984, when it went on hiatus until December of that year. From that point, the focus changed to Atari's home computers.  Like Atari Age, only 11 issues were made, with February 1986 being the final issue.

Leisure Time Electronics

By Charleston Publishing Co.

Subtitled "The Buyers' Guide To All Leisure Electronic Products". This was a large-format magazine that was published monthly.

Microkids

By Microkids Publishing

Decent albeit very short-lived magazine that focused on home computers but also has articles everything from computer camps to arcade games.  Also featured a column by "The Vid Kid" Rawson Stovall, who was famous for being the first nationally-syndicated reviewer of video games in the United States.  By July 1984 the magazine merged with K Power.

Odyssey Adventure

By J.I. Scott Co.

Magnavox's own dedicated magazine for Odyssey2 owners, which was published quarterly.

Playboy Guide Electronic Entertainment

By Playboy Enterprises, Inc.

Much like the old Video magazine, coverage mostly pertains to TVs, VCRs, and stereo. Since there's only a smattering of information regarding video games, the issues here only contain those pages.  It's unknown exactly how many different issues were published, but we're guessing less than 10.

ROM

By Peter Ellison

An independent Atari-only magazine based in Canada and printed bi-monthly.

Sega Computer

By Nomac Publishing Ltd. Later published by Sega Software Support

Subtitled "The Official Sega User Club Magazine", this bi-monthly magazine was originally published by Grandstand Leisure Ltd. under Nomac Publishing Ltd. Sega Software Support took over publishing the magazine, starting with the May/June 1986 issue.  A year later, Geoff Crawford of Poseidon Software took over the magazine when Sega Software Support ceased operations.

TV Gamer

By Boytonbrook, Ltd.

Another London-based magazine. It started off covering home video games for Atari, Intellivision, Colecovision, and Vectrex, but soon started covering home computers. Only 14 issues were produced.

Video ("Arcade Alley" columns)

By Reese Publishing Co., Inc.

"While Electronic Games is well-remembered by most of the gaming world, I almost never see any references to Video, the magazine in which Arnie Katz and I created the first videogame review column, 'Arcade Alley.' More than that, however, Arnie (then writing under the pseudonym 'Frank Laney Jr.' in order to protect his regular editorial gig) and I wrote quite a few features for Video editor Bruce Apar.  'Arcade Alley' launched in 1978 but continued to appear in Video until around 1983, overlapping the appearance of EG. In the December '81 issue, in fact, we produced the following look at the gaming world a decade after the arrival of Pong. So take a trip into a past in which you may not have even been alive and feel some of the raw passion that was building for this amazing new hobby... videogames!"   -Bill Kunkel

Video Games

By Pumpkin Press, Inc.

An excellent magazine, aside from the occasional vodka ads, that started bi-monthly in 1982 and became monthly in 1983. The last issue we know of was the Summer/Fall 1984 one.

Video Games Player / Computer Games

By Carnegie Publications Corp.

A bi-monthly magazine that ran from Fall 1982 to October/November 1983 before changing its name to Computer Games. It ran under that name for another 7 issues, from December/January 1984 to January/February 1985.

Videogaming Illustrated / Videogaming and Computer Gaming Illustrated / Video and Computer Gaming Illustrated

By Ion International, Inc.

Ran from August 1982 to April 1983 before undergoing a make-over and resurfacing as Videogaming and Computer Gaming Illustrated.  It ran under that name from June 1983 to December 1983, after which it was again renamed!  Starting in January 1984, it was now called Video and Computer Gaming Illustrated. Unfortunately, only one other issue was produced (March 1983), after which the magazine finally folded.

Vidiot

By Creem Magazine, Inc.

Subtitled "The Magazine of Video Lunacy!", it's a smaller-sized magazine with larger photos - rock stars, actors, scantily-clad models, and the occasional video game screenshot - which tells you right there not to expect any sort of serious journalism here.  Only 5 issues were published, over the course of a year.  Guess nobody at Creem took it seriously either.