Hyper (magazine)

Hyper was a multi-platform Australian video game magazine and Australia's longest running gaming magazine, published from 1993 to 2019.

Hyper
HYPER Issue 1 (December 1993)
EditorDaniel Wilks
CategoriesVideo games
FrequencyQuarterly
(previously Monthly)
Circulation17,000
PublisherFuture Australia
(previously Next Publishing Pty. Ltd./nextmedia until 2018)
First issueDecember 1993
CountryAustralia
Based inStrawberry Hills, New South Wales
Website
ISSN1320-7458

History

Hyper was launched in 1993 by Next Media with Stuart Clarke as editors. Clarke had previously edited Megazone; a then multi-platform magazine published by Sega Ozisoft, before being taken over by Mason Stewart publishing in September 1993 and being made Sega only.[1] Clarke left Megazone at the time of the Mason Stewart takeover, when he was asked by Next Media publisher, Phil Keir, to start a new multi-platform gaming magazine. Clarke recounted the events in Hyper's 100th issue:

"Just as I was starting to relax, Phil Keir, owner of Next Media and publisher of Rolling Stone, rang me at home one night to ask a few questions. Before I knew it he had asked me to set up a brand new games magazine – one that I created and controlled completely! So after a few nano-seconds of thought I said, 'Um, okay then'. One of the first decisions was to make it a true multi-format title, covering the best games on all platforms." - Stuart Clarke, February 2002 issue 100 of Hyper

On 28 April 2010, Hyper Magazine released its 200th issue. Daniel Wilks was then editor until the 200th issue. He was succeeded by deputy editor Darren Wells.

"I started on the magazine about six years ago, and during that time we had competition come and go, as well as all the horror stories and nay-saying that print was dead," says Wilks. "I'll admit there were a few times that I thought the end days may have been coming – especially during the peak of the GFC when every publishing company seemed to be shedding staff and magazines like it was going out of style, but I've always believed that the magazine could weather anything thrown at it. All of us who have worked on Hyper feel the same way. 200 is a pretty huge milestone for a magazine."[2]

The launch issue of the magazine was created in two months with Clarke as editor, Andrew Humphreys as deputy editor, and Aaron Rogers as art director.

Competitors included ACP's Gamestar, Australian GamePro, and Megazone.

Next Media announced in late 2014 that Hyper would become a quarterly publication from 2015 onwards.[3] In 2018, nextmedia computing assets, including Hyper, were sold to Future.[4][5])

In 2018, only two of the quarterly issues were in February 7[6] and August 8[7] respectively.

On August 11, 2019, issue 271 was published by Future Australia.[8] The editor for this issue remained David Hollingworth.[9] No further issues were published by Future Australia, and subscriptions to the magazine (both physical and digital) are no longer available.[10]
Hyper had a sister magazine, the PC gaming oriented PC PowerPlay, also published by Future Australia.

Features

In addition to coverage of all current major video game systems and game releases, Hyper also covered anime, DVD movies, arcade and classic games, and featured interviews with industry professionals and articles on game-related content such as game classifications, computer hardware and video game music.

Former Editors
  • Stuart Clarke (1993–1996)
  • Dan Toose (1996–1999)
  • Eliot Fish (1999–2004)
  • Cam Shea (2005–2007)
  • Daniel Wilks (2007–2010, 2013–2018)
  • Anthony Fordham (2010)
  • Dylan Burns (2010)
  • David Wildgoose (2011–2013)

Former Deputy Editors
  • Andrew Humphreys
  • Ben Mansill
  • Maurice Branscombe
  • Darren Wells

See also

References
  1. "Megazone – Australian Gaming Database". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  2. Hill, Jason. "Screen Play: Digital Life". Still Hyper after 200 issues. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  3. "Hyper Magazine to go quarterly". MCV Pacific. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  4. "Did something just happen?". Atomic πi. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  5. "Future acquires nextmedia brands including PC PowerPlay | Media Mergers". Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  6. view-source:https://www.zinio.com/au/hyper/issue-269-i397830
  7. view-source:https://www.zinio.com/au/hyper/issue-270-i397831
  8. view-source:https://www.zinio.com/au/hyper/issue-271-i397832
  9. https://www.zinio.com/au/hyper/issue-271-i397832
  10. https://www.zinio.com/au/hyper-m7117

Digitized Hyper magazines on Retro CDN

Archived Hyper magazines on the Internet Archive

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.