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BACK: A998689
While only one gin-soaked guy had to write most of Digitiser, it was populated by all manner of characters – some that you’d recognise (Batman, residents of Albert Square, Mr T) and some that were particular to the magazine (The Rapping Shoe, The Man (With A Long Chin), The Snakes and many more). ‘Insincere Dave’ would comment on uninteresting news snippets (“well done to all three parties!!!”) while Fat Sow, the angry pig, would get so angry about the videogames industry that she’d quite literally foam at a variety of orifices. Perhaps the best characters were those that remained hidden on the letters pages, only visible once the reader had pressed ‘reveal’ on their remote (and woe betide anyone whose controller lacked that button). During the Hot Topics at weekends, these characters would often appear repeatedly and thus form short comic strips, the most popular (probably) being The Snakes, innit. Digitiser readers will also be familiar with words, phrases and terms used regularly in the magazine, the whole terminology now being so firmly ingrained in my psyche after years of daily exposure that it has directly influenced the way I speak and write. Which is really quite scary if you think about it. Which you shouldn’t. It seems rather ungrateful to have devoted all this space to the comedic side of Digitiser without mentioning the point – or rather excuse – for its existence. Digitiser was a games magazine, and a damn fine one. It provided me with up-to-date videogames-related news long before I had the Internet, although as I grow ‘increasingly’ older I do begin to wonder quite why this should be important to me. Largely due to its unique format, but also due to (I like to think) Paul Rose’s stubborn determination, Digitiser was arguably the least-biased videogames publication available. And I do mean ARGUABLY. Not a month seemed to go by without Digitiser being accused of bias, often due to simply printing dire sales figures or innocently bad-mouthing idiotic Amiga owners who just WOULDN’T LET GO of their long-deceased format. Its unashamedly hard-hitting reviews were often the sorcerers of controversy, casting opinion-splitting scores directly into the laps of zealot letter-writers – and upsetting PR representatives of major games publishers along the way. Its annual predictions for the gaming year ahead were sometimes impressively accurate, and the editorial advantage of Paul Rose’s long-term experience as a professional videogames journalist was clear to those who could see beyond the humorous introductions and asides. I could say more about the videogame side of things, but it’s likely to be stuff you already know about if you’ve read a decent games publication – and also I can’t really be bothered. NEXT: A998706
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