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[Andres]

So when I was a kid, I new what kinds of games were gonna come out. What I DIDN'T have then was the ability to find out about them using the Internet, nor did video game ads come up on TV. Can anyone remember how we found out about games that were gonna come out consider we didn't have Internet?

[Mech#4]

I would check the retail stores whenever I went out shopping. Glancing over the shelves for anything that looked interesting. The other way was by reading a magazine I bought monthly. The demos on the CD/DVD would give a good indication of games I could look out for.

Bought "Dawn of War" by playing the game then going out and buying the full version the next day. Because the magazine was monthly the demo games were likely to be released by the time I played the demo.

[i2amroy]

Nintendo Power, plus I'd usually hang out in the video-game isle while my Mom was shopping (if nothing else I could read the guides while I waited). I also picked up the occasional one through word of mouth, but those were the two main methods.

[Sergarr]

Lots of games had demos of other games on them. Also, video game journals.

[Frumple]

... didn't have... what the hell? What the hell?

Are you sure you aren't thinking something like '85? In '05 I was definitely finding out about video games via the 'net more than just about anything. Gaming and the net started its relationship in full swing something like the mid 90s -- '95, '96, somewhere in that range. Did you know the first fully playable fan translation on romhacking came out in '97?

If you're just talking about as a kid in general, before consistent and personal internet access, yeah, back then it was nintendo power/other video game journals (which were generally kinda' awesome back in the 90s -- bloody huge things, pretty often. By '05 they were basically well past the point of starting to decline, iirc) and word of mouth more than anything. Browsing rental shops/video-game isles and grabbing whatever had the most interesting cover was pretty standard practice, too.

[scriver]

My family got internet somewhere around 97-99, so yeah.

As for how I learnt of games. Magazines, friends and word-if-mouth, stores (whether physical or web-based). Playing the demo collections that came with the magazines. Borrowing games from friends to try them out. I'm not sure what you were expecting?

[Caz]

The internet definitely existed in 2005. O_o

I do remember fondly the demo CDs (or floppies - the horror) you'd get with gamer magazines, but that was more mid-90's.

[scriver]

I'm saddened whenever a game doesn't have a demo these days. There should be more demos.

...I also miss magazines.

[Tawa]

nor did video game ads come up on TV

Wrong!

[Yoink]

Obviously in his experience the internet and/or television ads weren't a viable way to find games. Have we cleared that up?

Myself, I mostly used to read an assortment of gaming magazines to keep tabs on what was happening.
Hyper mag was one of my favourites for a while- until they gave Canis Canem Edit, one of the greatest videogames of all time, a bad rating- as well as platform-specific ones like the Offical Playstation mag. Despite spending a fair bit of time on the computer I never really used the internet to find new games. Hell, I still don't... I generally don't pay much attention to new games these days. There aren't really any upcoming releases that I like the look of as far as I'm aware*, and besides I don't own a PS4 or XBone. Or an expensive-as-fuck powerful gaming PC.

I fondly remember the demo discs of the magazines from my childhood... all those weird-ass psone games crammed into each issue.
I still have all those discs somewhere. Always a nostalgia trip looking back at them... PS magazine sure pulled out all the stops with those.


^{*Apart from the new Metal Gear Online, which I have repeatedly shat my pants over.}

[Urist McScoopbeard]

in 2005? Magazines.

Official Xbox Magazine, GamePro, PC Gamer.

[Sirus]

Nintendo Powerrrrrrrrr

I found out about so many good games thanks to that magazine.

[wierd]

I was a kid in the early 80s.

Television commercials were useful. (SHOCK!)
Various gaming magazines (Like Nintendo Power, but also many others.)
Generic computer magazines would advertize game software. (Computer shopper, et al.)
Friends would discuss games they were making and or had played on BBS systems, and share files.
Hear about one from a friend that had played one.

The world was a bigger place back then, because the internet did not exist (technically it did if you were a college student, but average citizens did not have easy access without paying lots of moolah)-- one's scope was more limited to what was locally available, or could be ordered reliably from a catalog.

Pen and Paper games were still wildly popular, due to the outrageous expense of game systems and computers at the time.

Things like that.

[Graknorke]

Things my friends said were good. I don't think I ever bought anything for any other reason.

[i2amroy]

My family was really lateen getting internet due to us living in the middle of the forest. Don't think we had home internet until at least the late 2000's (though we did have access to the horrible school internet for most of the time instead since my parents were teachers).