Next Generation (magazine)

• 1. A Different Kind of Magazine

  ›

  Next Generation launched in January 1995 with a premise that set it apart from every other gaming magazine on American newsstands: it would cover the video game industry, not the games themselves. While rivals GamePro and Electronic Gaming Monthly filled pages with screenshots, walkthroughs, and cheat codes, Next Generation aimed at readers who wanted to understand how games were made, who made them, and where the whole industry was heading. That unusual bet shaped everything from its editorial line to its physical design.

  Published by Jonathan Simpson-Bint and edited by Neil West, the magazine ran under the banner of GP Publications at first. Other editors included Chris Charla, Tom Russo, and Blake Fischer. The magazine had a formal relationship with the UK's Edge, sharing content and editorial direction across the Atlantic. That connection gave Next Generation a more analytical, European sensibility at a time when most American gaming press was enthusiast-focused and console-partisan.

• 2. The Physical Object

  ›

  The back cover of the first several issues carried no advertising at all, which was nearly unheard of for a consumer magazine in the mid-1990s. That refusal to sell the back page to sponsors signaled to readers that Next Generation had different priorities.

  The cover stock for the magazine's first few years was a heavy matte laminated finish, a deliberate contrast to the glossy paper covers used by competitors. That texture gave the magazine a more serious, almost trade-publication feel. In early 1999, the magazine abandoned that matte finish, then brought it back again in late 2000.

  In September 1999 the publication was redesigned and the cover name shortened to NextGen. A year later, in September 2000, the magazine's width was increased from its standard 8 inches to 9 inches. That wider format lasted less than a year before being dropped.

• 3. No Bylines, No Walkthroughs

  ›

  One of Next Generation's most distinctive editorial policies was its refusal to use bylines on most content. The editors explained that the magazine's entire staff should share credit or responsibility for each article and review, even when a single person wrote it. That collective authorship model was rare in consumer journalism.

  The review system ranked games on a scale of one through five stars, measuring each title against what was already available rather than against some abstract ideal. The emphasis was on relative merit within the existing library of games.

  A regular column called "The Way Games Ought To Be" ran every month and was originally written by game designer Chris Crawford. It aimed to provide constructive criticism of standard practices in the video game industry, treating game design as a craft worth debating seriously. Interviews in the magazine frequently asked developers about gaming in general rather than drilling into the specific title they were promoting at that moment.

• 4. Covering the 32-Bit Transition

  ›

  Next Generation arrived on newsstands before the North American launch of either the Sega Saturn or the Sony PlayStation, meaning the magazine's earliest issues were built around anticipation rather than coverage of released hardware. The very first issue, dated January 1995, focused on new game consoles. Issue three covered the PlayStation. Issue four covered the Atari Jaguar. Issue eight, from August 1995, focused on Sega Saturn TV commercials.

  The magazine tracked the 32-bit generation closely through its run. By December 1996, issue 24 put PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and Sega Saturn head-to-head in a comparative feature. When the Dreamcast arrived, NextGen devoted multiple issues to it across 1999 and 2000, including a first-anniversary retrospective in September 2000. The final issue, dated January 2002, reviewed the Xbox, which had launched the previous November.

• 5. Industry Questions as Cover Stories

  ›

  A survey of the magazine's cover features across its seven-year run reveals how seriously it took industry analysis as a journalistic subject. Issue 16, from April 1996, asked how to get a job in the video game industry. Issue 22, from October 1996, examined venture capital in game development. Issue 30, from June 1997, posed the question of why a game cost fifty dollars.

  Issue 41, from May 1998, covered the fall of BMG Interactive. Issue 43 examined licensing. Issue 44, from August 1998, analyzed the console wars of 1999 before they had arrived. Issue 48 asked whether video games could make it in Hollywood. These were the kinds of questions trade publications asked, not consumer gaming magazines, and Next Generation treated its readers as capable of engaging with them.

• 6. Rebirth and Closure

  ›

  Next Generation ceased publication with its January 2002 issue. Subscribers who had been receiving the magazine found copies of PlayStation magazine arriving in its place as the title wound down.

  The brand did not stay dormant for long. In 2005, Future Publishing USA revived it as a website called Next-Gen.biz, carrying much the same editorial approach as the print magazine and reprinting articles from Edge, the UK sister publication. The website continued the tradition of industry-focused coverage rather than consumer game guides.

  In July 2008, Next-Gen.biz was rebranded as Edge-Online.com, folding the American brand into its British counterpart's online identity. The magazine had run from January 1995 to January 2002, a span of exactly seven years, and the September 1999 redesign had effectively divided its run into two distinct eras under two different cover names.