In;Depth - Nu PlayStation

Another new feature for the blog will be our In;Depth feature where we have a look at an issue or run of a magazine that has been completely detailed and archived. This includes detailing the contents of the magazine and any supplements, recording the review scores and storing the adverts and scanning and making the magazine available for download.

This time: Nu PlayStation Magazine Issues 1-5

As far as I am aware these are the only five issues of Nu PlayStation released. This is the first magazine that I have had the privilege of scanning and archiving in it's entirety before this information was available anywhere else on the web.

While I had Issues 1-3 & 5 first, Issue 4 came into my possession later and completed the set. Seemingly a sister magazine of PlayStation Magic (a publication which has managed to elude me to this point), Nu PlayStation was launched late in 1999 at the tail end of the original PlayStations lifespan. The small publishing house of LCD Publishing enlisted Richard Melville as the editor for the inaugural issue while Arron Taylor took over from issue 2-4 and finally Lee Barrass took the reigns for Issue 5.

Review of Medal of Honour from Issue 5.

As well as the usual previews, news and features found in similar magazines of the time, Nu PlayStation also had reviews based on a 100 point score. Curiously though, the review score section was presented as a 'loading' bar of sorts and had three plot points between each ten points making it very hard to determine what score each game actually received.

To further add to the confusion, Issue 2 featured clarifications that two games reviewed in the first issue (Syphon Filter and Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver) featured incorrect scores.

Issue 3 section from the review of Le Mans 24 Hours apologising to readers for the previous issues glowing coverage of the game.

Furthermore, a small debacle ensued in Issue 2 after the game Le Mans 24 Hours received front page coverage which was followed by a fairly scathing review (45%) in Issue 3 that featured a section apologising for it's glowing six page feature and cover in the previous issue. This was followed by another review in Issue 4 where they gave the game a 79% and said the previous review was for a preview version and that it deserved another review as 'there's been a lot of effort and research gone into this game by one of the best games companies around.' Without getting too conspiratorial, I must imagine there may have been some angry phone calls from Infogrames HQ after they gifted the magazine preview coverage and were then met with a poor review a month later.

A follow up review for Le Mans 24 Hours seemingly to apologise to the publisher. Very messy indeed.

Outside of these obvious conflict of interest review snafus, there was also some interesting and funny mistakes elsewhere. For example the cover of Issue 5 dates the magazine as January 1999 despite it being the January 2000 issue, multiple games are incorrectly named in headings such as the review for Nascer 2000 (Nascar 2000).

Overall though, Nu PlayStation is an interesting and very cheap alternative to some of the pricier options that were available at the time (Official, Play, PSW, Total PlayStation). It had a pretty consistent style throughout it's run despite the editorial changes and generally had a clear voice. Sadly the magazine never saw the launch of the PlayStation 2 and my records of any future LCD Publishing titles are non-existent.

Why not check out the complete collection over on our Nu PlayStation page.