Best PCG Mag Cover of all time?

[SWard]

Hey!

I've been going through my PC Gamer mag collection, and was wondering what everyone's favourite cover is? I have to say, it actually tends to be games I don't play -

I'm also biased but because I was the community manager for this, it always gives me the feels:



Here's a bunch to help you make up your mind:

Recent issues of PC Gamer

Recent issues of PC Gamer

www.zinio.com

Looking forward to seeing your picks!

Stevie

 

[mainer]

I envy you that you still have room to keep your PCG Magazine collection. Back in the 90's I used to save all my monthly copies (and they had many more pages back them), as well as those of Computer Gaming World & Computer Games & Strategy Plus. But I eventually ran out of room to store them, somewhere in the middle 2010's (I think). So, I took them all to my local Salvation Army Store (they actually took them back then). I still wish I had them.

I can't remember any of the images, but from the ones in your link, it would have to be the June 2011 issue, with Commander Shepard on the cover for Mass Effect 3. I've spent literally hundreds of hours in the ME games over the years, and I was so excited for ME3. There were a lot of PCG articles after that because of the controversial ending, but it was still a great game.

 

[Alm]

I've only been able to keep a few copies where I was featured / mentioned and those are in storage.

Looking at that website I think this is my favourite.

https://imgur.com/a/yVQnDlF

View: https://imgur.com/a/yVQnDlF

 

[Frindis]

I got some prints water sealed and stored in a safe secure location to use a little James Pond jargon. Diablo 2, Quake, & System Shock 2 are some of my favorite editions. Why? Well, not juuust because of the games, but because they were a few of the magazines I used to read whenever I took a train from my hometown to the capital of Norway: Oslo. The ride took about 2 hours or so, so I just had enough time to read through the whole magazine, not to mention the return ticket to get excited about playing the demo discs.

 

[Volley]

It was the June 1996 Cover that got me my first PC gamer magazine purchase, still my favorite.

 

[Brian Boru]

The most iconic of those is undoubtedly 2011-09:

The rest are largely forgettable in a mass of similar covers on any newsagent magazine racks. I assume there are loads of sales data to support cramming as much 'content' as possible onto a cover, cos that seems to be the overwhelming design choice across all sorts of mags.

Honorable mentions:
2011-03 Total War Shogun 2
2017-11 Half Life
2013-09 The Indie issue
2018-10 Metro Exodus
2012-12 The Future of Minecraft
2018-05 Jurassic World

 

[Zloth]

Unfortunately, I mostly keep just the top 100 issues plus some random ones here and there. None really caught my eye, but issue 250 (March 2014) gave me a chuckle as it looks to have a review of Star Citizen!

Edit: Oh, there we are! There's a North American version of SWard's link, so I found the image link:

Edit2: OK, so the "reviewed" actually refers to the stuff below. Still funny!

 

[PCG Jody]

A memorable one from 2011.

 

[Valkanen]

I honestly feel the one where @Brian Boru is laying down like one of those french girls with the board game covering his unmentionables is clearly the best cover art of all time.

 

[Brian Boru]

Pardonnez moi?

 

[SWard]

What magazine are you two reading? Tsk tsk tsk

 

[PCG Phil]

Disappointed nobody has nominated the lion cover.

You have no idea how many meetings I had to go through just to put a lion's face on a cover.

 

[SWard]

Its amazing how the covers really do capture a time in gaming... going back into the archive and I can really feel how it felt sometimes, some of them just kickstart a bunch of memories of events and releases around that time.

It's like... old family photos but for gamers... does that make sense?

 

[Valkanen]

What magazine are you two reading? Tsk tsk tsk

It appears I was looking at the private collection of @Brian Boru my mistake.

On a more serious note..

This is a belter of a page, plus there's a Lion..

 

[SWard]

Yeah the Elden Ring one is stunning

 

[theMediaman]

As a '90s gamer, I'm partial to the early issues.

 

[Frindis]

Honorable mentions to the ones I already posted, this one is the winner. I would not be surprised if this edition sold really well since it most definitely would stick out in any shop already full of colorful magazines.

 

[CParsons]

I'm always a fan of the single image covers so this one stands out for me.

 

[Mknott]

It was the June 1996 Cover that got me my first PC gamer magazine purchase, still my favorite.

This is literally the same or at least very similar to one I was thinking of, I played so much X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter back in the day and was playing Jedi Knight a few weeks back multiplayer in 2022.

 

[JarlBSoD]

Can't find a picture sadly but Swedish PCG Had a Silver cover back when the game Silver was reviewd.