FunFactor

The grand finale of Season One is here! Our coverage of the 1995-1997 “Generation Gap” ends with a blowout review of (nearly) every (English-language print) review of Final Fantasy VII that we could find.

Starting with a quick look back at the first year of FunFactor, and discussion of what’s coming next, we then re-looked at the magazine we debuted the podcast with nearly a year ago, PSM No. 1. 

We then went on to review, well, all of these reviews:

PSM 1: https://archive.org/details/PSM_Issue_001_September_1997/mode/2up
Ultra Game Players 102: https://archive.org/details/Ultra_Gameplayers_102_October_1997_U/page/n83/mode/2up 

The Duelist 21: https://archive.org/details/duelist-21/page/n105/mode/1up

The Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine 1: https://archive.org/details/Official_US_PlayStation_Magazine_Volume_1_Issue_1_1997-10_Ziff_Davis_US/page/n85/mode/2up

EGM 99: https://archive.org/details/ElectronicGamingMonthly_201902

NEXT Generation 34: 
https://archive.org/details/NEXT_Generation_34/page/n53/mode/2up

GameFan Vol. 5, Issue 9: https://archive.org/details/GamefanVolume5Issue09September1997/page/n3/mode/2up

GamePro 46: https://archive.org/details/GamePro_Issue_099_October_1997/page/n49/mode/2up

EDGE 049: https://archive.org/details/Edge_Gaming/Edge%20Gaming%20vMagazine%20051/page/n65/mode/1up 

Game Informer 53: https://archive.org/details/game-informer-issue-53-september-1997

Campus Life Magazine (partial text archive): https://cmnexus.org/magazines/Campus_Life/issues

As always, we streamed this recording session live to FunFactor ULTRA members–so if you’d like to get in on the fun, just sign up at https://funfactorpod.com/! See you on the Discord, and you’ll see us when we next go live! 

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Sources include the Video Game History Foundation, the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections. The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!

ISSUE LINK: https://archive.org/details/game-informer-issue-53-september-1997/mode/2up

EGM DOCUMENTARY BY MY LIFE IN GAMING & GAME SACK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E010OPY1Tzw

Everybody’s favorite* N64 game ever is here: GoldenEye 007! But did Game Informer’s weird four-voice feature review system capture all the excitement at release?

*if you didn’t have a PC capable of playing first-person shooters online, that is. Did Game Informer’s review capture the skepticism Aidan and Ty had of it at the time?

Longtime EIC Andy McNamara’s letter from the editor takes shots at other magazines that allegedly don’t really play the games they’re reviewing, and we dig deep into who he could possibly have been talking about.

We also shared our best, brightest memories of that “new console smell,” the console acquisition and unboxing experiences that have stuck with us most.

As always, streamed this recording session live to FunFactor ULTRA members–so if you’d like to get in on the fun, just sign up at https://funfactorpod.com/! See you on the Discord, and you’ll see us when we next go live! 

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Sources include the Video Game History Foundation, the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections. The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!

ISSUE LINK: https://archive.org/details/NEXT_Generation_36

It’s time to review…the consoles??

NEXT Generation issue 36 marks the start of the magazine’s third year–and they’re not only calling winners and losers of the console generation the magazine was named after, this issue has leaks and rumors of the specs of the next-next generation! And then, wonder of wonders, they declare *the PC* the best console of the year!

That said, they also declare Lara Croft *the most famous woman in the world*, and we unpack a deep (and deeply cringey) interview with one of execs of the developer who created her. Then we reviewed their review of the SEGA Saturn!

Once again, we streamed this recording session live to FunFactor ULTRA members–so if you’d like to get in on the fun, just sign up at https://funfactorpod.com/! See you on the Discord, and you’ll see us when we next go live!

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Sources include the Video Game History Foundation, the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections. The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!

ISSUE LINK: https://www.retromags.com/files/file/6814-pc-gamer-issue-037-june-1997

One of the world’s biggest, hottest developers took an unprecedented dive into the rich fantasy world of one of their beloved gaming IPs, and pulled strings to get its beautiful, hand-painted art onto the cover of PC Gamer.

So why didn’t it ever come out?

PC Gamer’s huge feature preview of WarCraft Adventures: War of the Clans had great art, full professional voice acting, and young Aidan holding his breath for a game that would never be released. He and Ty talk about the pain of canceled games, and review PC Gamer’s review of Magic: The Gathering (known as “Shandalar”) for the PC.

We streamed this live to FunFactor ULTRA members–so if you’d like to get in on the fun, just sign up at https://funfactorpod.com/! See you on the Discord, and you’ll see us when we next go live!

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Sources include the Video Game History Foundation, the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections. The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!

ISSUE LINK: https://archive.org/details/GameFan9700/GameFan%20Vol.%205%20-%2012%20%28Dec%201997%29%20Quest%2064/page/n112/mode/1up

MOLLIE L. PATTERSON'S OLD LETTER TO DAVE HALVERSON (she's since said she's cooled down quite a bit, and they're on better terms): http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/gamefan/fatbabies.txt

Don't let the extremely long intro discussion on journalism, writing, and editorial mentorship--something both Aidan and Ty are clearly passionate about--dissuade you from checking out our look at the December 1997 issue of GameFan!

It's a huge one for the magazine, as it's the one where founding/longtime/iconic/controversial editor Dave Halverson steps down to make way for David S. J. Hodgson. There's some clear leveling up of GameFan's fannish production from the first issue we did, but there are still plenty of wild decisions being made in pursuit of cramming the most magazine the staff at the time could. 

It's also a huge time for our show, as we're wrapping up the first season and getting your feedback on what we're doing and where we're going next! Get on the Discord and let your thoughts be heard: https://discord.com/invite/5VBpWGSuz6

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Sources include the Video Game History Foundation, the Internet Archive, Retromags.com, our original research, and our personal magazine collections. The FunFactor theme, and all other original songs, are composed and performed by Millennium Falck. Check out his work at millenniumfalck.com!