Games Unplugged

Games Unplugged
Product information
Type Magazine
Development Dynasty Presentations
Tony Lee (Editor-in-Chief)
Pages ca. 64
Publication information
Publisher Timothy Brown
Fast Forward Entertainment Inc.
First published 2000-2004
MSRP $2.99 - $4.99
Content


Games Unplugged was a bimonthly magazine published in the USA dedicated to the tabletop gaming industry. Produced by Fast Forward Entertainment Inc. (FFE), it featured news along with upcoming releases of a variety of role-playing games, card games, board games, and miniature wargames. The original price per copy was $2.99 in 2000 and rose to $4.99 by 2003. The company also had a website, GamesUnplugged.com, which is now defunct.

In later issues the magazine featured an official regular Classic BattleTech slot with a foreword by Randall N. Bills along with short stories, sneak peeks at new releases and artwork including a series showing all variants of a single 'Mech. This article focuses on the magazine's BattleTech-related content.

Sources differ on how many issues of Games Unplugged exist. FFE sold the magazine to comic retailer Ross Rojek at some point; Rojek in turn was imprisoned on fraud charges in early 2004, just when the 29th issue of Games Unplugged was ready and about to be shipped. His arrest, conviction and subsequent sentence to jail put the magazine in limbo and ultimately led to its termination ca. May 2004.[1] It remains unclear if any issues after #28 were ever actually printed and shipped. The magazine's wikipedia entry claims that 34 issues were produced.

Canonicity[edit]

According to author Randall Bills, then the BattleTech Line Developer, in his first BattleTech article in the Games Unplugged magazine, the articles are fully canonical for the BattleTech setting. This was confirmed in an official thread on the BattleTech forum on 06 January 2014[2] and marks a notable exception from the current definition of Canon (which expressly excludes magazines by default).

Fast Forward Entertainment Inc. was the distributor for FanPro US when they held the BattleTech license, which arguably makes the Games Unplugged magazine a "house magazine" tied to the BattleTech licensee at the time.

BattleTech content[edit]

Cover of Issue 23

Issue 23[edit]

Cover of Issue 26

Issue 26[edit]

  • A Corporate Primer
Cover of Issue 27

Issue 27[edit]

Cover of Issue 28

Issue 28[edit]

Issue 29[edit]

Note: It is unclear whether or not Issue #29 was ever actually published.

References[edit]