He who controls the Spice, controls the universe! Sadly, the only spice that Richie Shoemaker has any influence over are the chilli flakes that make it onto his Lidl pizza. Not enough to control much of anything really, but just enough to be able to summon Rhianna Pratchett, Mark Hill, Martin Korda and Keith Pullin (PC Zone’s one time staff writer, news editor, section editor and Dear Keith respectively) to talk about their contributions to PC Zone circa June 2001. As well as cover game...

A more traditional podcast format for the sixth episode of PC Zone Lives, where instead of trying – and often failing – to get a virtual room full of people to remember a very specific time in PC Zone history, your amiable host goes through one person’s entire Zone-infused CV. For this first audio Oi!, Richie chats with Vici MacDonald, a freelance designer who worked on the very first issues of PC Zone and who later oversaw the extensive 1998 redesign that saw PC Zone reclaim its rightful...

PC Zone was the UK’s first games-only PC magazine. You know this because, (a) we don’t shut up about it, and, (b) it was plastered above the masthead when the first issue was delivered way back in March 1993 (so it must be true). But, did you also know that PC Zone was conceived as early as 1991? You’ll know this because Your Sinclair and Zero legend Teresa Maughan talks about the difficult gestation and much more besides in this episode of PC Zone Lives.Also joining Richie Shoemaker to...

Doom, Quake, Half-Life... PC Zone has championed some of the greatest FPS games ever released. It has also championed the most successful, such as the Far Cry series, which has outsold all Doom, Quake and Half-Life games combined. Revealing the story of how Far Cry became a signature PC Zone game are Far Cry advocate and one-time PC Zone editor Will Porter, Far Cry 2 reviewer Jon “Log” Blyth, Far Cry 4 champion Ed Zitron and the person responsible for Issue 195’s Far Cry 2 cover preview,...

When PC Zone revealed Half-Life 2 to the world in its June 2003 issue, it was as much a surprise to its provincial rival as it was to the magazine's readers. Securing the exclusive and keeping it a secret was, of course, a delicate operation, never before told - until now! Masterminding the scoop of the century were PC Zone's then-editor Dave Woods, his “associate” and successor Jamie Sefton, and senior reviews editor Martin Korda (who became the first journalist in the world to play the...

PC Zone may have been resting during the second coming of virtual reality in 2016, but the magazine was awash with youth and vigour when the first VR headsets were previewed in the October 1994 issue. Your Sinclair veteran Phil South and CD-ROM Magazine’s Warren Chrismas were among those granted early access to the first consumer head-mounted displays, and remember what it was like to experience Doom in headache-inducing 3-D for the very first time. As well as PC Zone's earliest VR...

The reprobates of PC gaming™ are back, reliving their time on the UK's first and best PC games mag! For this introductory episode, eight former editors have been revived to tell their side of the PC Zone story - from before the days of Doom to when the magazine was being left for dead. Joining host Richie Shoemaker are Paul Lakin, Laurence Scotford, John Davison, Jeremy Wells, Chris Anderson, Dave Woods, Jamie Sefton and Will Porter, who between them edited more than 200 issues of PC Zone...