Time capsule - Quake in PC PowerPlay magazine
Following my last feature, and continuing the theme of Quake appearing in 90s Australian video game magazines, here I present to you some of the Quake articles from the magazine PC PowerPlay. This was the the sister magazine of Hyper which I previously featured, and as of July 2020, is the only Australian PC gaming focused magazine still being published. In fact it has now lived on longer than it's older sibling Hyper which has since been discontinued. PC PowerPlay is today published by Future.
This does not feature every article from the magazine from back then as sadly I don't have access to every issue. Sorely missing is the game review for example. Still, it's a little piece of regional Quake history that I believe should be preserved for what it is.
Enjoy!
PC PowerPlay from May '96
A preview article for the then upcoming Quake in the very first issue of PC PowerPlay.
PC PowerPlay from Nov '96
Post release article of Quake describing the explosion in popularity among the PC community and a description of some of the online clans that had formed, and also an article about Quakezone.
PC PowerPlay from May '97
A review of the mission packs.
PC PowerPlay from Jun '97
An article describing the customization to Quake being made in the Quake community thanks to mods.
And an ad from Dynalink modems offering a free copy of Quake if you buy one of their dial-up modems. What a deal!
PC PowerPlay from Jul '97
An article about an upcoming LAN party in the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre called Armageddon #3 which would become host to many a Quake tourneys. I wonder how it turned out?
Also in this issue, an in depth article following the "Doom Clone" genre, which naturally includes lots if commentary on Quake.
PC PowerPlay from Dec '99
Jumping all the way forward for a retrospective article looking back at what PC PowerPlay considered the greatest PC games of all time, guess who takes the cake... You guessed it! Quake!
For reference, the top 10 list was as follows:
- Quake
- Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
- Thief: The Dark Project
- Falcon 3.0
- Grand Prix Legends
- Masters of Orion 2
- Doom
- Ultima Underworld - The Stygian Abyss
- Harpoon
- The Last Express
A bit an odd mix if you ask me, even for the time. Other notable games for this blog were System Shock 2 at #13, Half Life at #17, Wolfenstein 3D at #33, and Duke Nukem 3D at #50.
