Features
Mean Yob's ramblings - Issues 17 to 20
22 Jul, 2010 - Back in May 2010, The Mean Machines Archive began to chronicle the frantic rants and sage like replies of the enigmatic Mean Machines mascot, Mean Yob. We continue this journey backwards through Mean Machines' back issues, to record his answers ... Read More
Hardware Review: Everdrive
18 Jul, 2010 - Emulation has been with us now for quite some time and for budding retro enthusiasts represents the ideal way of getting in touch the wide and varied history of the video game industry. However, there's simply no substitute for experience games on ... Read More
Interview: Console Passion
30 Jun, 2010 - One of the video game industry's most annoying practices is region lock-outs. We may live in a global village but as far as most console manufacturers are concerned we should be segregated and entirely separate. It's an annoying occurrence, ... Read More
Jaz has caught the Twitter bug
25 May, 2010 - One of the reasons that Mean Machines is so fondly remembered by retro gamers, is because at its heart it had a staff base who did not shy away from expressing their personal viewpoints. They voiced their gripes honestly and clearly articulated ... Read More
Mean Yob's ramblings - Issues 21 to 24
24 May, 2010 - Mean Yob's letter page became a regular feature in later issues of Mean Machines. It was the place where adolescent 13 year olds (such as myself) could write in to the magazine with questions with as much integrity as the average YouTube comment ... Read More
Out of Print Archive Scans Mean Machines
26 Apr, 2010 - Those of you who happen to frequent our brilliant forum will be aware of Meppi and his commendable efforts to preserve the history of video game magazines. He's been scanning in copies of Official Sega Saturn Magazine and Maximum for ages, and has ... Read More
Twitter Tomfoolery
05 Apr, 2010 - If you're a savvy net user then chances are you'll already be aware of the social networking site Twitter, which allows people to bore each other with the tiniest details of their empty and soulless lives - and in 140 characters or less! Proving ... Read More
Genki Video Games Interview - The Return!
26 Mar, 2010 - We catch up with our good friends at Genki Video Games to find out what the company has been up to in '09 and what its plans are for 2010... Read More
Nintendo Magazine System Scanned
19 Mar, 2010 - Our good friends over at the Out of Print Archive have gotten in touch to inform us that issue 4 of Nintendo Magazine System - which is one of the magazines which the original Mean Machines split into (the other being Mean Machines Sega, of course) ... Read More
Maverick Magazines Vault is Opened
12 Mar, 2010 - Long-time fans of the site who happen to visit our forums on a regular basis will already know Meppi. He's the guy who scans in old magazines - mainly stuff like EMAP's Maximum and Sega Saturn Magazine (both of which were edited by Mean Machines' ... Read More
The Genki Video Games Interview
25 Sep, 2009 - As long-term fans of the site will be aware, we\'ve got a pretty close relationship going on with the excellent Genki Video Games online store. These chaps provide us with everything we need to feed our worrying retro gaming addiction and after ... Read More
Angus Swan Leaves EMAP
15 Sep, 2009 - September 11th may be remembered for being a day of sorrow thanks to the terrible attacks on the Twin Towers, but this year it was given an additional layer of sadness as it marked the end of an era for Mean Machines. Angus Swan - who joined the Read More
Rich Gets To Grips With Natal
26 Aug, 2009 - As you may already be aware, former EMAP legend Richard Leadbetter (also known as the Phonebox fiend during his time with Mean Machines magazine) now runs Digital Foundry, a company that specialises in HD video capture for the video game industry. Read More
Sega Gives Us More Retro Love
19 May, 2009 - As well as throwing its considerable weight behind retail-based retro collections, Sega has also been giving fans of downloadable games a treat recently. Not only has the company announced that it will be bringing more Mega Drive-related games to ... Read More
Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection Review
02 Mar, 2009 - In case you hadn't noticed, retro gaming is big business these days. Companies are quite literally falling over themselves to repackage titles from their back catalogue and shove them onto the marketplace in order to make a little bit of easy money Read More
Meet Genki Video Games!
30 Sep, 2008 - Tell us a little bit about the company. What can our readers find if they visit your store? GenkiVideoGames.com was founded to bring more exposure to the delightful Japanese exclusive titles that don't make it to the West. In a global world influ Read More
Retro Playtest - Dynamite Duke
01 May, 2008 - In the first of what will hopefully become a regular feature, we sample the delights of one of the most underrated Operation Wolf clones ever produced - Dynamite Duke for the Megadrive. Read More
Gary Harrod's Videogame Tees!
20 Dec, 2007 - Those of you with sharp memories will recall that former Mean Machines Art Editor Gary Harrod dabbled in the production of some rather cool videogame related T Shirts not so long ago. Well, he's now back with some more news designs and most ... Read More
Mean Machines Sega - Saturn Sampler
10 Nov, 2007 - One of our faithful readers known as Jon came across a nice suprise in a box in his loft recently! A Mean Machines Sega "Saturn Sampler" Audio CD. It was free with Issue 39 of MMS. In true geek fashion he promised to rip the audio CD to MP3 format Read More
Rad's 31st - Two Years Late
09 Oct, 2007 - We like to think we do our research here at the Mean Machines Archive. Whilst chatting aimlessly about rubbish on Googlechat the other day, me and Daz hit upon the current fate of everyone's favourite 'jammy bastard' Radion Automatic. What is he ... Read More
Gary Harrod's Blog Now Online
31 Aug, 2007 - Mean Machines designer Gary Harrod has recently started his own blog - called Gary's Gossip - in which the MMA gets a mention! Gary says he'll be putting information online relating to the time he spent spent at EMAP over the next few months, so Read More
Rad reviews Spiderman 3!
11 May, 2007 - After months of inactivity the Mean Machines Archive Forum is now packed to the rafters with ex-EMAP staffers from all parts of the globe (including Australia). We posted about Tom's side-splitting contribution yesterday, and today we bring you yet ... Read More
Mean Machines Forum Staff Love-In
10 May, 2007 - We love bringing people together here at The Mean Machines Archive. It makes us feel good about ourselves. But when those people happen to be ex-EMAP employees that haven't seen each other in many a year, it's even more special. Tom Guise - forme Read More
Gary Harrod T-Shirts for Sale!
13 Feb, 2007 - Mean Machines designer Sir Gary of Harrod has contributed a range of retro gaming designs to Teefly.com. Here's what the great man has to say: "I did the Berzerk, Cherry, Pow, Robotron and Special Knob images. Got stuff for Elevator Action, Gorf, ... Read More
Retro Gamer Feature - 'The Leftovers'
13 Oct, 2006 - Readers of the quite frankly excellent Retro Gamer magazine will no doubt be aware that issue 31 is carrying a rather spiffing Mean Machines feature written by my good self. The feature contains new and exclusive comments from such fine upstanding Read More
Jazza's Secret Code
18 Jul, 2006 - Everyone who considers themselves a fan of Mean Machines would most likely say that they've read every issue from cover to cover. But how many of you have really done that? I'm sure every 'fan' in the true, fanatical definition of the word has ... Read More
Medlantic Hi-Tech, Market Bosworth
26 Apr, 2006 - In these days of identikit air-conditioned GAME stores, it's hard to believe that the traditional independent games retailers ever existed. With the overpowering smell of body odor and the rather haphazard approach to stock control Read More
Double Dragon Megadrive Blooper
20 Feb, 2006 - The mean machines Q&A section could at times be quite brutal (that's leaving Mean Yob's comments aside for now!) This feature is dedicated to a classic response from good old Jazza Rignall. In Issue 7 of our beloved gaming magazine my best mate a Read More
Contempary Magazines
13 Feb, 2006 - Mean Machines started the ball rolling for a rush of console-related publications. Here's a brief selection of some of the better ones, and some of the more recent magazines that Mean Machines staff members went on to produce. Read More
T-Shirts for Sale!
06 Feb, 2006 - Flicking through some old issues of MM and CVG, I've noticed that Julian Rignall seems to have an addiction to promoting cheap crap t-shirts. For example, check the first photo on the right - a Megatech offering (no doubt to help his old mate ... Read More
KC's Consoles, Loughborough
31 Jan, 2006 - Now, this won't mean anything to those of you based outside the midlands, but in the early 90's there was a console store in Loughborough, Leicestershire that was my Mecca. It was called KC's Consoles and Computer Magic and to this day it ... Read More
The GamesMaster Connection
24 Jan, 2006 - GamesMaster, eh? Remember that? Shit, wasn't it? But then it was the only videogames programme on TV worth watching, so you ended up tuning in anyway, didn't you? Of course you did. The only other option at the time was Bad Influence, and that ... Read More
The Sega Mastermix 90
17 Jan, 2006 - On the front of issue 2 of Mean Machines there was a free tape. Not just any old tape, but the Sega Mastermix 90! What is this amazing thing I hear you cry? Well, it was a promotion run by Sega Europe's distributors, Virgin. They decided to run a ... Read More
Mean Machines Memories
10 Jan, 2006 - Before the wasteland of Ebay's sniper filled gaming arena and back when every local chippy had a Street Fighter machine with at least 2 buttons pummelled into the fascia, Saturday afternoon wrestling was the norm, Read More