Read classic computer and game magazines on the Internet Archive
The Internet Archive site never ceases to amaze me. From the excellent Wayback Machine service to view archived pages of websites, over movie and video offerings, to ebooks, images, and plenty of games for Amiga, DOS, and all sorts of other devices.
Part of the site's vast collection of texts and ebooks are archived copies of classic computer and game magazines that you can read online, or download to your computer.
I read some of those magazines as a kid, and enjoyed them very much back. Since this was before the days the Internet took off, magazines were one of the main sources for information on new computer hardware, games, and tips and tricks.
Computer Magazine Archive
One of the main entry points is the Computer Magazines Archive on the site. It contains more than 18600 copies of classic computer magazines. Most are in English, but you will find German and other languages as well if you search long enough.
You find magazines for the Commodore Amiga there, C-64, PC, Sinclair, and many others. A click on one of the supported magazines opens the list of releases that are available. Each is listed with its name, sometimes volume and number.
Filters are available to display results by year, type, topic, or to search the collection of magazines instead.
A click on a magazine opens its first page in a reader area on the screen. You can read the magazine online right away there, and even use search the content of the magazine, or use the download options to download it in one of the available formats. This includes usually PDF, EPUB, and plain text.
The Computer Magazines Archive lists mostly computer magazines. Some game related magazines are listed there as well, but the bulk of magazines is about computers, hardware and technology.
Selection of magazines
- 64'er Magazine
- Amiga Format Magazine
- Amstrad Action Magazine
- Byte Magazine
- Compute! Magazine
- Creative Computing Magazine
- ZZap!64 Magazine
The Game and Gamer Magazines Archive
The Game and Gamer Magazines archive on the other hand features game related magazines only. You find magazines for home computers, PC, but also classic consoles in all kinds of languages.
The archive uses the same design and layout as the computer magazines archive. You can filter magazines by language and other parameters, use search, and read any of the magazines online, or download them to your local device instead for offline viewing.
Selection of magazines:
- Computer and Video Games Magazine CVG
- Electronic Games Magazine
- Electronic Gaming Monthly
- GamePro Magazine
- Official Sega Saturn Magazine
- Official XBOX Magazine
Closing Words
While many may read them to relive the fascination they provided in their past, others may find them useful even today. If you play classic computer games for instance, you may find useful information listed in those magazines as many came out during that time.
The same applies if you like to tinker with classic computer systems. If you still have an Amiga or C-64 around, or any other classic home computer, then you may find some of the magazines quite useful as they offer tips, tricks and information.
You find other magazines, e.g. newspapers, glamour magazines and the like on the Archive website as well. The main starting point for them all is the Magazine Rack on the site.
Now You: What was your favorite magazine back in the good old days?
Too bad IA is such a niche site. There is almost no reference to it outside it’s own source and sites like that draw a lot of suspicions sort of like Debate.org. Bet you never heard of it yet they claim like IA to be the biggest site for it’s deal.
That’s how socialism works. When something is free it’s crap. Sure IA may have lots to do but half of it is broken or doesn’t work correctly much like socialism and every nation that thinks they can do it (better) and it all leads to the same stupid crap of one leader making everything state ran and no private enterprise allowed. Period. Zippo.
Before you say (Norway,Denmark) They DO have a limited private enterprise and get the majority of their money from offshore drilling of the North Sea and they *like most of the EU* borrows from Great England and Germany. Oops Germany now since the UK exited. :p If the borrowing stops they too will be like cypress with major failed economy that can’t recover with no capital to gain from.
In Germany: Total!
I still have a full set of The Home Computer Course magazines. There were 12 in total I think each week (or was it month?) had a breakdown of a popular computer showing the innards and giving an overview of the hardware features. This is when I learned to program as there was a tutorial on BASIC. Fantastic times! :-)
In the 90s, I used to co-purchase with my classmate, a certain “Windows user” magazine (I think) and also PC Magazine. I got Winamp, Ifranview, internet timer/charge calculators, and many more from the CDs that came with it. Around this time I was exploring BBSes and began using dialup internet by the minute ; ) Good times.
Babbage’s Calculating Engine Weekly !
A literal lol!!
CU Amiga – or Amiga Format, can’t really pick just one.
Are those hacked scans ? I doubt Sinclair magazines ever got digitized by their publishers…
“What was your favorite magazine back in the good old days?”
Definitely Player One. French magazine covering the console market, mostly during the Sega and Nintendo era and up to the beginning of the Sony era. Died out before the PS2 came out. I still have them stored in an attic.
Here’s one featuring the release of Final Fantasy VII: http://www.abandonware-magazines.org/affiche_mag.php?mag=32&num=1943&album=oui
Nice initiative, Internet Archive, but you’re not coming first!
To my wife’s dismay, I still own many cubic feet of “Computer Shopper” magazines from the days when each month’s issue was physically almost too large to lift with one hand. To me, they offered the most useful technical information available, from the days when personal computers were new, and evolving fast.
Computer Shopper back issues still contain articles of lasting interest, so I hang on to the ones I have.
Over time, the magazine itself changed size and shape, got slimmed way down, and then disappeared entirely in its physical form. It is still available on-line, with fresh updates every few days. I still regularly read it on my computer screen, and would recommend it for its product reviews. For technical information, stick with GHacks!
http://www.computershopper.com/
I used to subscribe to ”CS” also. I was new to PC’s & had a lot to learn (still do). I kept one, from June ’99, & it is interesting to dig out the old folio version & look at the ads.There were many computer ”makers” back then, & it is illuminating to see what they cost for what you got (to summarize: a lot for not much).
I also did not know it was online, thanks. I will check it out.
I wish there were copies of the old U.S. audiophile magazines available, like ”Audio” & ”Stereo Review.” I wish milk still came in glass bottles, but I don’t miss the four-ply tires that were worn out after 19,000 miles. Life is a mixed bag. Win some, lose some, some get rained out.
Thanks for the reminder. I had completely forgotten that Computer Shopper was alive, kicking and online.