TurboPlay
TurboPlay Magazine is a bi-monthly, U.S.-based video game magazine which was published by L.F.P. from June/July 1990 through August/September 1992. It was available via subscription only. A total of 14 issues were released, on schedule. TurboPlay exclusively covered NEC's line of video game consoles, especially the North American models: TurboGrafx-16, TurboGrafx-CD, Turbo Duo and the handheld TurboExpress. NEC's SuperGrafx also received some minor coverage.
Overview
Each 32-page issue features software and hardware reviews and previews, strategy guides and cheats, letters to the editor, one or two feature articles and contest announcements. These bi-monthly contests often required folks to be creative and winning entries were awarded one Grand Prize and five Runners Up.Feature articles ranged from coverage of trade shows to behind-the-scenes peeks at game development.
Both HuCard and CD-ROM games were reviewed. Since the TG-CD library was relatively small, the bulk of reviews cover HuCard games. The format of the game reviews changed over the course of the first few issues: initially games were not given a quantitative score, then games were graded on a scale of one to five stars, finally, with issue #5, TurboPlay adopted VG & CE's standard format for reviews.
NEC did not produce TurboPlay, and thus did not have editorial control over its content, but NEC was the primary source of advertising revenue. As a result, NEC's ads dominated the pages of TurboPlay, although one could also find ads for mail-order companies and a small roster of third-party publishers: Tengen, Radiance Software, IGS, and Working Designs.
Publication history and personnel
TurboPlay was a spin-off magazine from the editors of VideoGames & Computer Entertainment, a popular multi-platform magazine of the late 1980s / early 1990s. VG&CE, like TurboPlay, was published by L.F.P. The two magazines would occasionally run cross-promotions to encourage readers to subscribe to their sister publication.Alan Hunter, Jim McDermott, Van Arno and other illustrators supplied the cover art for TurboPlay.
Lee Pappas and Andy Eddy lent their talents to TurboPlay, as did many other VG&CE staff / reviewers. Notable writers for TurboPlay included Victor Ireland and Donn Nauert. Donn Nauert was senior editor of TurboPlay for the first twelve issues, with Chris Bieniek taking over the reins for the final two issues.
Donn Nauert, a celebrity of sorts in the gaming community also contributed regularly to TurboPlay. Beginning with issue #4, Victor Ireland wrote "Games Around the World", a regular column that profiled PC-Engine games available in Japan. He also covered many trade shows and even penned a feature article on "The Sound and Vision of CD+G".
Initially, the software reviews in TurboPlay were uncredited, but eventually the authors were acknowledged. Some reviewers from VG & CE were commissioned to write reviews for TurboPlay as well. Donn Nauert and Chris Bieniek eventually became permanent staffers at TurboPlay.