Title: VIDEO GAME UPDATE
Dates: Jan’82 - July’90
# of issues: 100 + 1 index and 1 special edition
Name Change: COMPUTER ENTERTAINER (Apr’84)
Publisher: same as title
VGU wasn’t exactly a fanzine, even
though it was independently produced. It was an average of 16 pages of
professionally done and somewhat unbiased info about the latest video game
products. It started out as an informational newsletter to customers of a
mail order company called Video Game Takeout. It had a surprisingly long run
for an independent b/w publication. VGU survived the Crash of ’84 and
continued into the Nintendo era. It saw the intro of Sega and the first
signs of CD-Rom games. It added a computer games section when they gained in
popularity. I found VGU to be a great source of information, reviews and
listings during the early days of video gaming. They were notable for their
programmer interviews, CES (pre-E3 industry convention) reports and annual
best game awards. I got my name in an early issue as the discoverer of the
“Easter egg” in Desert Falcon (2600). New games were rated separately for
graphics followed by game play.
A regular feature was a complete
listing of all soon to be released games. This list was constantly being
updated to reflect delays in release dates, cancels, name changes and
additions. A lot of titles wound up as vaporware and never got past the
prototype stage. VGU ended rather abruptly and I still don’t know why. If
anyone knows what happened, please email me. Celeste Dolan, if you’re still
out there, I would love to hear from you again. One of my user friends clued
me into VGU and I managed to get several gems for my game collection. In
this issue I would like to reprint some of those articles strictly for
nostalgia purposes. The companies mentioned most likely no longer exist.
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