The first of what will likely become a decent magazine collection over time arrived today — an issue of Advanced Computer Entertainment (better known as ACE) magazine from 1990.
ACE is a magazine I used to really enjoy reading, because it was a multi-format magazine that was always enthusiastic and interested in new developments in gaming technology. And it's only become more interesting to return to over time, as many of those exciting developments ended up never happening — or ended up being a bit poop. Stuff like the Konix Multisystem, which would have been amazing if it existed… or the Philips CDi, which, well, I'm sure you all know about that by now.
Mostly, though, it's been a pleasure to read an actual magazine again. Reading PDFs on a tiny phone screen — or even a tablet — absolutely is not the same experience at all, and thus I'm convinced that my plan to collect some of these magazines, particularly issues that were either important to me or which I've never read before, is a solid one. And this issue in particular has been interesting — there's an article about Pixar from before anyone knew who Pixar was, for example, talking about the rendering software they'd been working on.
All this is actually part of a broader plan I have to spend less time on the Internet in general, because the Internet is really stressing me out at the minute for various reasons. And it doesn't have to be that way; I don't have to engage with it at all. So if I provide myself with alternative things that I enjoy engaging with that aren't Internet-based, that will get me into the habit of not picking up by phone and doomscrolling, or whatever else might end up stressing me out.
And why magazines? Well, because they're great to read on the toilet, obviously. If I take a magazine into the toilet instead of my phone, I can read something enjoyable rather than the garbage of the Internet — and perhaps learn (or remind myself of) something from video game and computing history in the process. Sounds like a win-win to me.
I've been outbid on that collection of 37 magazines on eBay I was looking at, but there are still about 20 hours to go on it. I think I'll do myself a bit of last-minute sniping tomorrow… I would like to get my hands on those, as it'll be a nice kick-start to a collection! Just need to find somewhere to put them now… hmm.
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