GameFan
GameFan was a publication started by Tim Lindquist and Dave Halverson in September 1992 that provided coverage of domestic and import video games. It was notable for its extensive use of game screenshots in page design because of the lack of good screen shots in other U.S. publications at the time. The original magazine ceased publishing in December 2000. On April 2010, Halverson relaunched GameFan as a hybrid video game/film magazine. However, this relaunch was short-lived and suffered from many internal conflicts, advertising revenue being the main one.
History
The idea for the name GameFan came from the Japanese Sega magazine called Megafan. Although it began as an advertising supplement to sell imported video games mostly from Japan, the small text reviews and descriptions soon took on a life all their own, primarily due to the lack of refinement and sense of passion. Caricatures were given in place of actual editor profile, with profiles drawn exclusively by Terry Wolfinger. This particular method of reviewing and commenting seemingly freed its editors from the creative restraints commonly associated with competing publications. It also allowed certain editors like Dave Halverson to write multiple reviews of the same game under different pseudonyms.GameFan was well known for its extensive import game coverage and its expansive coverage of the emerging interest in anime. Another major feature that separated GameFan from other gaming magazines was the high quality paper it was printed on. GameFan
Even after its demise, several staff members attempted to have the brand resurrected by the publisher of Computer Strategy Plus, based in Burlington, Vermont. A deal could not be reached and the magazine was shuttered shortly thereafter
Controversy
In the September 1995 issue of GameFan, an article was printed that contained several derogatory comments about Japanese people. The text took the place of one of the paragraphs of one of the sports games reviews. The article discussed a Namco flight-simulator, Ace Combat, rather than College Football '96 and was poorly written.GameFan
Staff
Staff members of GameFan magazine had amusing aliases.Within the magazine there was a comic strip, The Adventures of Monitaur, an anime-derived series. Although the title character Monitaur was only drawn for the strip, the rest of the magazine's staff personae appeared as characters. Monitaur's main storylines were his struggles against The Blowmeister, who metaphorically represented the leadership of rival magazines such as Electronic Gaming Monthly''.
Golden Megawards
The winners of GameFans annual Golden Megawards were chosen by editors.| Award | Winner | Runners-Up |
| Game of the Year | Gunstar Heroes | Star Fox Landstalker |
| Best Action Platform Game | Gunstar Heroes | ' |
| Best Action/Adventure | Alien 3 | Flashback |
| Best Fighting Game | ' | Street Fighter II Turbo |
| Best Shooter | Silpheed | Star Fox |
| Best Action/Arcade Game | Batman Returns | Final Fight CD |
| Best Movie Game | Aladdin | Alien 3 |
| Best Cartoon Game | ' | Taz-Mania |
| Best Puzzle Game | Mean Bean Machine | Lost Vikings |
| Best Simulation | AH-3 Thunderhawk | MechWarrior |
| Best Strategy Game | Shining Force | King Arthur's World |
| Best Action/RPG | Landstalker | Secret of Mana |
| Best RPG | ' | Paladin's Quest |
| Best Driving Game | Crash & Burn | Formula One Rock & Roll Racing |
| Best 2 Player Game | Dashin' Desperadoes | Battletoads |
| Most Innovative New Game | Landstalker Tax-Mania | |
| Best Music | Lunar | Star Fox Gunstar Heroes Sonic CD |
| Best New Character | Bubsy | Aero Sparkster |
| Best System of '93 | Sega Genesis | SNES |
| Best Handheld | Game Gear | |
| Best New System | Atari Jaguar | 3DO |
| Award | Winner |
| Game of the Year | Earthworm Jim |
| Import Game of the Year | Clockwork Knight |
| Action/Platform Game of the Year | Earthworm Jim |
| Action/Adventure Game of the Year | Metroid |
| Action/Arcade Game of the Year | ' |
| Fighting Game of the Year | Super Street Fighter II Turbo |
| Shooting Game of the Year | Novastorm |
| Movie Game of the Year | Demolition Man |
| Cartoon Game of the Year | Mickey Mania |
| Simulation Game of the Year | Iron Soldier |
| Strategy Game of the Year | Shining Force 2 |
| Role Playing Game of the Year | Final Fantasy III |
| Action/RPG Game of the Year | Illusion of Gaia |
| Driving/Racing Game of the Year | Road Rash |
| Puzzle Game of the Year | Bubba 'n' Stix |
| Best Adventure/RPG | Snatcher |
| Best 2 Player Game | Contra Eternal Champions Super Street Fighter II |
| Best Soundtrack | Earthworm Jim |
| Best Music | Final Fantasy III Burning Soldier |
| Best Special Effects | ' Donkey Kong Country Guardian War |
| Best FMV | Loadstar Burning Soldier |
| Best New Character | Earthworm Jim |
| Best New System | Sega 32X |
| Best System '94 | Panasonic 3DO |
| Award | Winner | Import Megawards |
| Game of the Year | Yoshi's Island | |
| 16-Bit Game of the Year | Yoshi's Island | |
| 32-Bit Game of the Year | Jumping Flash | |
| SNES Game of the Year | Yoshi's Island | |
| Genesis Game of the Year | Vectorman | |
| PlayStation Game of the Year | Jumping Flash | |
| Saturn Game of the Year | Virtua Fighter 2 | |
| 3DO Game of the Year | D | |
| Portable Game of the Year | Red Alarm | |
| Action Platform Game of the Year | Yoshi's Island | Hermie Hopperhead |
| Action Adventure Game of the Year | Skeleton Warriors | |
| Fighting Game of the Year | Virtua Fighter 2 Killer Instinct | |
| Shooter of the Year | Panzer Dragoon | Darius Gaiden |
| Movie/Cartoon Port Game of the Year | Skeleton Warriors | |
| RPG of the Year | EarthBound | Mystic Ark |
| Action RPG of the Year | Beyond Oasis | Tenchi Sozo |
| Racing Game of the Year | Sega Rally Championship | Motor Toon GP |
| Puzzle Game of the Year | Zoop | Puyo Puyo Tsu |
| Simulation/Shooting Game of the Year | Warhawk | |
| Strategy Game of the Year | ' | Tactics Ogre |
| Racing/Combat Games of the Year | Wipeout Off-World Interceptor | |
| Graphic Adventure/FMV Games of the Year | Mansion of Hidden Souls Discworld D | |
| Special Effects Game of the Year | Warhawk | |
| Soundtrack of the Year | Skeleton Warriors | |
| New Character of the Year | Astal |
| Award | Winner | Runners-Up |
| Top GameFan Game of 1996 | Tomb Raider |
|
| Best Import Game of the Year | Enemy Zero | Keio Yu Gekitai |
| Coin-Op Game of the Year | Virtua Fighter 3 | Street Fighter Alpha 2 |
| 16-Bit Game of the Year | Virtua Fighter 2 | Donkey Kong Country 3 |
| Portable Game of the Year | Wario | Red Alarm |
| Alternative Game of the Year | Nights | Tail of the Sun |
| Side-Scrolling Game of the Year | Guardian Heroes | Metal Slug |
| Action/Platform Game of the Year | Crash Bandicoot | Pandemonium |
| Action/Adventure Game of the Year | Tomb Raider | Super Mario 64 |
| Action/RPG Game of the Year | The Legend of Oasis | ' |
| Corridor Game of the Year | PowerSlave | Final Doom |
| Shooting Game of the Year | Panzer Dragoon Zwei | Virtua Cop 2 |
| Fighting Game of the Year | Street Fighter Alpha 2 | Fighting Vipers |
| Racing Game of the Year | Ridge Racer Revolution, Wave Race 64 | Jet Moto, ', Formula 1 |
| Racing/Combat Game of the Year | Wipeout XL | Motor Toon GP, Wipeout |
| Puzzle Game of the Year | Tetris Attack | Puzzle Fighter |
| RPG Game of the Year | Suikoden | Super Mario RPG |
| Strategy Game of the Year | Return Fire | Tecmo's Deception |
| Simulation Game of the Year | GunGriffon | Pilotwings 64 |
| Best Sports Game of the Year | Worldwide Soccer '97 | Cool Boarders |
| Best Game Story of the Year | Suikoden | Legacy of Kain |
| Best Special Effects of the Year | Super Mario 64 | Tomb Raider |
| Best Soundtrack of the Year | Suikoden | Tekken 2 |
| Best Use of FMV/CG of the Year' | Tekken 2 | Legacy of Kain'' |
Related publications
GameFan's original editor-in-chief, Dave Halverson, went on to publish Gamer's Republic, and then Play Magazine, consisting mostly of former GameFan and Gamer's Republic staff members. Gamer's Republic had a short run of 35 issues and has ceased publication back in July 2001 when the dot-com bubble burst. Play had a far more successful run of 97 issues until the publishing company filed for bankruptcy.Tim Lindquist, along with several other members of the original GameFan team, began a new magazine, Hardcore Gamer. They also began developing strategy guides as a part of their publishing company, DoubleJump Books. The magazine had a short run of 36 issues before they began focusing exclusively on their website.
The DieHard GameFan name was resurrected by Alex Lucard as a website, , with Halverson's blessings. While there is plenty of coverage on the major releases, the site also prides itself on reviewing more "indie" games, much in the spirit of the original magazine.
2010 relaunch
After the bankruptcy of Fusion Publishing and the closure of Play, Dave Halverson immediately began work on his latest magazine, a relaunch of GameFan. The magazine returned to newsstands on April 2010, headed by Halverson and a few key staffers from Play with Rob Duenas serving as the new art director. It was available in both print and digital formats, the latter of which was sold directly through GameFan's online shop.For the first two issues, GameFan featured a section titled MovieFan which covered movies, anime, and comics. The first two-thirds of the magazine were devoted to GameFan, then readers needed to turn the magazine upside down in order to read the MovieFan magazine. As of issue 3, the MovieFan portion of the magazine was discontinued, but later issues would still feature anime and comic reviews similar to Play. In its second and final issue, MovieFan conducted one of the last known interviews with late filmmaker, Satoshi Kon.
Up until issue 5, the magazine had been on a consistent, bi-monthly release schedule. Unfortunately, problems occurred with the magazine's development due to issues with advertising revenue, causing the sixth issue to be released on August 2011, eight months after issue 5, and with an entirely new editing team, headed-up by newcomer James Bacon. Issue 7 was assembled by only three people - Editor in Chief Dave Halverson, Art Director and Graphic Designer Rob Duenas, and Managing Editor James Bacon - and was released in December 2011. Soon thereafter Duenas resigned. The reason for his departure was due to an overwhelming workload stating that he worked "20 hours a day for two weeks straight and still short cover art". Despite the stressful working conditions, Duenas harbored no ill will towards Halverson or the magazine, stating that he would have still been willing to contribute with cover illustrations or providing assistance with layouts. Soon after Duenas' departure, Bacon left for reasons unstated.
A press release was issued on April 18, 2012, highlighting the supposed future of Paper Planet brands: GameFan and Girls of Gaming. The company planned on increasing their online presence through app development for mobile devices as well as a new GameFan TV online channel. None of these plans had ever come to fruition, with the slight exception of a YouTube channel. Former Destructoid editor Wesley Ruscher was named the magazine's new editor-in-chief but resigned shortly after the release of issue 8 stating that it "lacked the necessities to keep food in belly and a roof over head."
As of June 2013, GameFan's web presence had been in a mostly inactive state for about a year. Issue 9 was finally made available in February 2013 after missing their holiday 2012 release. This issue was only worked on by two people, Dave Halverson and Greg Orlando. Issues 8 and 9 were only available in a digital format. GameFan would later go on a two-year hiatus, returning in 2015 with a rebooted, redesigned magazine and website. In February 2015, GameFan simultaneously released issue 10 digitally and in newsstands. The digital version was released gratis on Magzter with the use of a promotional code. The magazine went through a complete overhaul, simplifying its layouts and design, most likely in order to have the magazines completed on schedule. The size of the print magazine is significantly smaller compared to previous issues. In addition to that, they also redesigned their logo and their mascot, Monitaur.
On May 6, 2015, GameFan had announced a partnership with Destructoid to help promote the GameFan brand with collaborations and free subscription offers. The initial plan was to bring back the dual-cover format from the first two issues, only instead of a MovieFan portion, it would be exclusive content created by Destructoid for the magazine. According to GameFan's official Facebook page, the deal with Destructoid would have allowed for the magazine to be released on a monthly schedule. However, the deal with Destructoid seemingly fell through as only one issue of the GameFan/Destructoid magazine had ever been released. As of January 2019, there have been no new updates regarding GameFan's overall status in more than three years.