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Missing Magazine: Game Player's PC Entertainment

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Not to be confused with regular old PC Entertainment, Game Player's PC Entertainment was published bi-monthly in the time between Game Player's PC Strategy Guide and PC Gamer, from 1992 to mid 1994.

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Here is the scan of my earliest issue of Game Player's PC Entertainment. https://archive.org/details/GPPCEVol5No2 I have five more!

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Volume 1 Number 2 exists as "The Game Player's Guide to MS-DOS Computer Games" and has been scanned! https://archive.org/details/GPGMSDOSCGVol1No2

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RetroDefense

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Kiwi brought this 'zine up in the shoutbox recently so I thought I'd post my notes.  This list is still early so question everything coming along nicely.

Issues doubted to exist - or perhaps confused with other issues - are highlighted in light greyish cyan.  Questionable, unknown and guesstimated data are noted with a question mark (natch).  Issues visually confirmed to exist via legible cover scan are indicated in bold.  Volume/Issue Numbers confirmed via an official back issue list are marked with an asterisk.  Whenever possible, an issue's internal copyright, title, and publication date are noted, along with cover display date and cover volume/number.  Any "not a typo" comment means the noted inconsistency isn't related to a mistake on my part.

I imagine this will be another fluid database entry no matter how many details we can fill in but the continuing work on part of marktrade, KiwiArcader, kitsunebi77 and Areala will likely give us the best possible picture of this magazine's convoluted publishing history.  Early Game Players issues may be known for their inconsistency but these RetroMags contributors have tackled the task with gusto.  Kudos to all - you guys and gals rock! :) 

List Updates

  • 08/29/16 - several confirmations thanks to a back issue list found in v5n6.  The list doesn't confirm issue titles or dates but does confirm volume/number.  Preserved issues are noted and linked - thanks marktrade and KiwiArcader!
  • 08/30/16 - some visual confirmations from kitsunebi77; some date guesswork and confirmed dates.
  • 08/31/16 - v4n6 details and more scan links (thanks Kiwi).
  • 09/02/16 - some additional confirmations (v5n1, v5n5); some date & title guesswork.
  • 01/08/17 - some additional confirmations (v5n7, v6n1, v6n4); scan link added (v6n1); scan links updated.
  • 02/05/17 - intro revision; revised list format; v1n2 and v5n7 updated; "Special Strategy Issue" added.
  • 02/06/17 - v6n4 updated
  • 07/13/17 - some additional visual confirmations (v1n1, v2n4, v2n5) - thanks @kitsunebi77
  • 02/25/18 - some additional info/corrections - thanks again @kitsunebi77

List Format

[Cover Title] [questions and notes]

  • [Standardized Volume # Issue #] ("[cover volume # issue # if any]" "[cover date if any]" "[cover display date if any]" - "[internal title if different than cover]" "[internal date]" "[internal special issue description]" - (c) [indicia copyright date] - [questions and notes])
  • [standardized volume # Issue # shorthand]? ([questions and notes])

The List

Game Player's PC Buyer's Guide (also see GPPCSG section below)

  • Volume 1 Number 1 ("Vol. 1 No. 1" "Display Until May 9, 1989" - this issue appears to break chronological order; perhaps numbering typo and actually v2n1?)
  • Volume 1 Number 2* (exist?; noted in back issue list as "PC Buyer's Guide"; actually v1n2 listed below?)

The Game Player's Guide to MS-DOS Computer Games

  • Volume 1 Number 2 ("Vol. 1 No. 2" "Display Until January 3rd, 1989" - "The Game Player's Guide" - (c) 1988 - presumed Winter or Holiday 1988; pg. 17 refers to 'SPECIAL STRATEGY ISSUE' mail-in offer)
  • v1n3? (exist?)
  • v?n?? ("SPECIAL STRATEGY ISSUE;" exist?; perhaps an issue of GPMSG below?; made available via TGPGTMCG v1n2; subscription bonus only?)

Game Player's MS-DOS Strategy Guide (sometimes Game Player's MS-DOS Buyer's Guide or Game Player's PC Buyer's Guide?)

  • Volume 1 Number 4* ("Vol. 1 No. 4" "Display Until March 11, 1988[?? 1989?]" Jan/Feb 1988[?? 1989?])
  • v1n5 - v2n1? (exist?; see v1n1 note above)

Game Player's PC Strategy Guide (evidently sometimes Game Player's PC Buyer's Guide)

  • Volume 2 Number 2* ("Vol. 2 No. 2" "Display Until July 11, 1989" May/Jun 1989?)
  • Volume 2 Number 3* (Jul/Aug 1989?)
  • Volume 2 Number 4* ("Vol. 2 No. 4" "Display Until October 21st, 1989" - Sep/Oct 1989?)
  • Volume 2 Number 5* ("Vol. 2 No. 5" "Display Until January [??], 1990" - Nov/Dec 1989? - cover titled Game Player's PC Buyer's Guide)
  • v2n?? (exist? highly doubtful; not listed in back issue list)
  • Volume 3 Number 1* (Jan/Feb 1990?)
  • Volume 3 Number 2* ("Vol. 3 No. 2" "Display Until May 15, 1990" - Mar/Apr 1990?)
  • Volume 3 Number 3* (May/Jun 1990?)
  • Volume 3 Number 4* (Jul/Aug 1990?)
  • Volume 3 Number 5* (Sep/Oct 1990?)
  • Volume 3 Number 6* (Nov/Dec 1990?; labeled Special Buyer's Guide or perhaps another Buyer's Guide?)
  • v3n?? (exist? highly doubtful; not listed in back issue list)
  • Volume 4 Number 1* ("Vol. 4 No. 1" "Display Until March 5, 1991" - "January/February 1991" - (c) 1990)
  • Volume 4 Number 2* ("Vol. 4 No. 2" "Display Until April 30, 1991" - "March/April 1991" - (c) 1991)
  • Volume 4 Number 3* ("Vol. 4 No. 3" "Display Until April 30, 1991" - "May/June 1991" - (c) 1991 - display date not a typo)
  • Volume 4 Number 4* ("Vol. 4 No. 4" "Display Until August 20, 1991" - "July/August 1991" - (c) 1991)
  • Volume 4 Number 5* ("Vol. 4 No. 4" "Display Until October 22, 1991" - "September/October" - (c) 1991 - internal date not a typo)
  • Volume 4 Number 6* ("Vol. 4 No. 6" "Display Until December 7, 1991" - "1991 PC Buyer's Guide" - (c) 1991 - presumed Nov/Dec 1991)
  • Volume 4 Number 7* (holiday 1991?)
  • v4n?? (exist? highly doubtful; not listed in back issue list)

Game Players PC Entertainment

  • Volume 5 Number 1* ("Vol. 5 No. 1" "Display Until March 18, 1992" - Jan/Feb 1992?)
  • Volume 5 Number 2 ("Vol. 5 No. 2" "Display Until: June 2nd, 1992" - "March/April 1992" - (c) 1992 - editorial mentions 'Game Player's PC Strategy Guide: Special Buyer's Guide,' referring to v4n6)
  • Volume 5 Number 3 ("Vol. 5 No. 3" "Display Until July 21, 1992" - "May/June 1992" - (c) 1992)
  • Volume 5 Number 4 ("Vol. 5 No. 4" "Display Until September 8, 1992" - (c) 1992 - no internal date, presumed Jul/Aug 1992)
  • Volume 5 Number 5 ("Vol. 5 No. 5" "Display Until November 3, 1992" - (c) 1992 - no internal date, presumed Sep/Oct 1992)
  • Volume 5 Number 6 ("Vol. 5 No. 6" "Display Until January 5, 1993" - "November/December 1992" - (c) 1992)
  • Volume 5 Number 7 ("Vol. 5 No. 7" - "1992 Buyer's Guide Issue" - (c) 1992 - presumed holiday 1992; no display date on cover)
  • v5n?? (exist? doubtful given issue dates)
  • Volume 6 Number 1 ("Vol. 6 No. 1" "Display Until March 2, 1993" - "January/February 1993" - (c) 1992)
  • v6n2? (Mar/Apr 1993?)
  • Volume 6 Number 3 ("Vol. 6 No. 3" "Display Until July 6, 1993" - "May/June 1993" - (c) 1992 - copyright date not a typo)
  • Volume 6 Number 4 ("Vol. 6 No. 4" "Display Until Sept 7, 1993" - "July/August 1993" - (c) 1993)
  • Volume 6 Number 5 (Sep/Oct 1993?)
  • Volume 6 Number 6 ("Vol. 6 No. 6" "Display Until Jan. 4, 1994" - Nov/Dec 1993?)
  • v6n? (exist? doubtful given issue dates)
  • Volume 7 Number 1 (Jan/Feb 1994?)
  • Volume 7 Number 2 (Mar/Apr 1994?)
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RetroDefense Community Regular

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Has anyone ever seen a cover pic of any of the iterations before it became Game Players PC Strategy Guide?  I have no idea when I started buying this mag.  Can't remember if I owned any of the earlier issues or not, but I can't find anything with google to help me confirm.

 

I've seen very few cover scans so can't help you there.  This 'zine was completely off my radar back in the day.

 

I've updated my list to reflect what has been visually confirmed by myself or someone here outside of scans (namely Kiwi and his v4 post).  I also confirmed several volume/numbers thanks to an official back issue list.

 

I suspect the back issue list may actually be more complete than it lets on.  I wouldn't be surprised if v1n1, v1n3 and v1n5-v2n1 don't actually exist.  'Cause hey, Game Players.   :)

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kitsunebi Proficient

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Vol 2 No 2 was just on eBay recently and was titled "Game Player's PC Strategy Guide"

 

Ebay Item #152206821375

 

Winning bid: $1.

 

I'm weeping.

 

I've never seen that issue before.  If anybody notices more issues like this before they're ended FOR GOD'S SAKE PLACE A BID.   Or at least PM me about it.  I can always have it shipped to my parents if they don't ship internationally.

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Winning bid: $1.

 

I'm weeping.

 

I've never seen that issue before.  If anybody notices more issues like this before they're ended FOR GOD'S SAKE PLACE A BID.   Or at least PM me about it.  I can always have it shipped to my parents if they don't ship internationally.

 

Sorry about that. The auction seemed really fishy to me, though. A seller with zero ratings and a shipping cost of $16+ for one magazine? IDK.

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Sorry about that. The auction seemed really fishy to me, though. A seller with zero ratings and a shipping cost of $16+ for one magazine? IDK.

 

Hmmm.  Didn't notice that.  I do have a pet peeve about people who try to make all of their profit from the shipping.  I wish there were tighter regulations on how much shipping someone can charge based on how much the actual shipping cost is. 

 

Although when I look at it, it says $7.35 expedited shipping.  $8.35 total isn't unreasonable (although there's no telling what the final bid would have been in a bidding war)

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Hmmm.  Didn't notice that.  I do have a pet peeve about people who try to make all of their profit from the shipping.  I wish there were tighter regulations on how much shipping someone can charge based on how much the actual shipping cost is. 

 

Although when I look at it, it says $7.35 expedited shipping.  $8.35 total isn't unreasonable (although there's no telling what the final bid would have been in a bidding war)

 

 

$7.35 to Japan? Are you sure you don't have an old address on your ebay account? lol

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kitsunebi

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$7.35 to Japan? Are you sure you don't have an old address on your ebay account? lol

 

Oh, were you quoting the shipping price to Japan?  I wasn't logged in or anything.  I set it to give me the prices in $$, and it just assumes I'm in the US, I guess.  Of course, even if I WAS logged in, it would be a US address.  I don't have a Japanese credit card, so to sign up/log in to things like eBay or PayPal I have to use my permanent US address (aka my mom lol), since that's the billing address for my American credit card.

 

I didn't check to see if this guy even ships outside of the US, but like I said before, in that case, I could just have it sent to my parents, who I could collect it from when I visit over winter holidays, or they could pass it along if they ever send me a package for some other reason.  I order stuff from amazon in the US all the time and have it shipped to my parents because it's cheaper to have them to mail it to me than for me to order the same thing from amazon.jp, or else it simply isn't available here.

 

It's also sometimes necessary to log into my VPN from a US hub just to access certain US sites that are blocked in Japan.

 

You can move to another country, but you never really leave lol.

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Oh, were you quoting the shipping price to Japan?  I wasn't logged in or anything.  I set it to give me the prices in $$, and it just assumes I'm in the US, I guess.  Of course, even if I WAS logged in, it would be a US address.  I don't have a Japanese credit card, so to sign up/log in to things like eBay or PayPal I have to use my permanent US address (aka my mom lol), since that's the billing address for my American credit card.

 

I didn't check to see if this guy even ships outside of the US, but like I said before, in that case, I could just have it sent to my parents, who I could collect it from when I visit over winter holidays, or they could pass it along if they ever send me a package for some other reason.  I order stuff from amazon in the US all the time and have it shipped to my parents because it's cheaper to have them to mail it to me than for me to order the same thing from amazon.jp, or else it simply isn't available here.

 

It's also sometimes necessary to log into my VPN from a US hub just to access certain US sites that are blocked in Japan.

 

You can move to another country, but you never really leave lol.

 

Oh no, I wasn't quoting shipping price to Japan. It looked like they were using the automatic shipping calculator so that it gave different prices to people based on location, and for my location in Arizona it was over $16, which is just silly.

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Oh no, I wasn't quoting shipping price to Japan. It looked like they were using the automatic shipping calculator so that it gave different prices to people based on location, and for my location in Arizona it was over $16, which is just silly.

 

That's odd.  I pretty much always have my VPN turned on.  It's set to Japan (to theoretically get a faster connection), but I've had issues with some websites detecting it as the Netherlands.  Either way, I wouldn't think an automatic shipping calculator would quote me a price cheaper than Arizona :lol: .  Not that any of this matters or anything.

 

OK, now that I'm really looking at it, it says USPS priority mail.  Don't they have flat rate envelopes a lot cheaper than $16?

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kitsunebi Proficient

kitsunebi

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Still no database entry yet, but maybe if I upload it, it will come. :)

 

Done.  I also corrected the vol/no info for Game Player's PC Entertainment Vol 5 No 2 (which had been listed as Vol5 no 3) and fixed the database on the back end so that the issues would display in the correct order (they were backwards).

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Another issue up!

https://archive.org/details/GPPCEVol5No5

https://community.retromags.com/files/file/3966-game-players-pc-entertainment-volume-5-issue-5-september-1992/

Done.  I also corrected the vol/no info for Game Player's PC Entertainment Vol 5 No 2 (which had been listed as Vol5 no 3) and fixed the database on the back end so that the issues would display in the correct order (they were backwards).

Good catch. I just fixed it in the gallery, but it'll have to be fixed in the download manager as well.

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