Game Player's PC Buyer's Guide Vol. 2 No. 5 (November/December 1989)

Oh man.  Unlike 99% of the mags around here, this one is full of game I've played (and love)!

• Codename: Iceman
• The Colonel's Bequest
• Conquests of Camelot
• Curse of the Azure Bonds
• Hero's Quest (aka Quest For Glory I)
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
• King's Quest IV
• Leisure Suit Larry III
• Loom
• Mean Streets
• Might & Magic II
• Space Quest III

Nothing but glorious graphic adventures (and an RPG or two) as far as the eye can see.  It was a good time for PC gaming of that sort, with everything running in DOS with 16-color EGA graphics.  A few years later and VGA and Doom would start a sea change that would eventually choke the graphic adventure genre nearly out of existence.

As Hoagie pointed out, this is the September/October 1989 issue of Game Player's PC Strategy Guide.  I'm trying to fix everything now.

Dammit...Just noticed that not only has an erroneous database been created for this issue, but it's in the wrong download category as well.  E-Day is killing me with his kindness.

I think I fixed everything on our site, but of course the file itself when downloaded will still be titled with the incorrect date.  No way to fix that without re-uploading, I think.

Please don't.

This is very complicated and I can't explain it quickly.  There are threads somewhere where this has been discussed at length.  The title switched back and forth from issue to issue BUT THEY ARE THE SAME MAGAZINE. 

Same numbering system.  The same subscription would get you both.  It would be like putting Nintendo Power's strategy guides (you know, those 4 issues - Final fantasy, Super Mario 3, etc.) in their own category, when in fact they were part of the regular run of Nintendo Power.

When the mag changed to Game Player's PC Entertainment, then YES, it gets it's own entry, because that IS a permanent name change.  But the Buyer's Guide issues are just part of the regular run of the Game Player's PC Strategy Guide.

Volume 2 No.2: Game Player's PC Buyer's Guide

Volume 2 No.3: Game Player's PC Strategy Guide

Volume 2 No.4: Game Player's PC Strategy Guide

Volume 2 No.5: Game Player's PC Buyer's Guide

Volume 3 No.1: Game Player's PC Strategy Guide

I don't think this has ever been a problem before:

Just now, E-Day said:

So is this September/October or November/December?

You're coming at me too fast, bro.

There's a reason I left this database incomplete.  Without the issues on hand, it's %#$% hard to say.

We know that Game Player's PC Strategy Guide Vol.3 No.2 is March/April 1990, so it stands to reason that Vol.3 No.1 is Jan/Feb 1990.

Since it was published bimonthly, I at first assumed that Vol.2 No.6 was Nov/Dec 1989 and your issue would be Sept/Oct, but I just looked at my copy of Vol.2No.4 and it is labeled Sept/Oct. 

Which means that yours is probably Nov/Dec. and there may not even BE a Vol.2 No.6

These issues are rare as hell, so finding pics or information to bear these details out is nigh impossible.  Sadly, the Buyer's Guide didn't include the date inside, and without knowing what the date on the Vol.2 No.6 issue is (or even if it exists) it's kind of hard to place it exactly.

All we know for sure is that it's Vol.2 No.5.

I'm tentatively inclined to call the Vol.2 No.5 issue Nov/Dec 1989, but I've also removed the Vol.2 No.6 issue from the DB until we can confirm that it exists.

Hell, you can leave the date off of all of them if you like.  The volume and number are clearly marked, so we know they're in the right order at any rate.  Or do as you suggest and we can correct the date as needed if contradictory information comes to light.

I'm looking a the subscription card for the Vol.2 No.4 issue and it refers to the mag/mags as "Game Player's PC Guides" (since the Buyer's Guide and Strategy Guide were more or less the same publication.)

Further reinforcing the idea that they are the same mag, the subscription ad also features "Game Player's" magazine, and offers a bundle subscription which includes "Game Player's" as well as the "Game Player's PC Guides" by saying:

Quote

Get BOTH Game Player's magazines at a spectacular savings

So if the Game Player's, Game Player's PC Buyer's Guide and Game Player's PC Strategy Guide were all different mags, it would have said "get all 3" rather than "both."  The 2 PC titles are one and the same.  Just confusing as hell.

They continued with an annual buyer's guide when they changed their title to Game Player's PC Entertainment, but in that case the Buyer's Guide was published as a Holiday issue and was still published under the Game Player's PC Entertainment name.

Perhaps Vol.2 No.6 exists as the Nov/Dec issue and Vol.2 No.5 is a holiday issue?  Or maybe the other way around?

Feh.  Game Player's hates organization.