Die Hard Video game store from early 90's

[DragonmasterDan]

In the early 90s as GameFan magazine (at that time called Die Hard Game Fan) took off a DieHard Game Club opened here in the Chicago area. Due to a lawsuit with Sears over the trademarked name "Die Hard" which Sears used on a number of products (such as batteries). This particcular store was a franchise from the main Die Hard's in California. Most of those closed around 1996 or so (and in their place opened "Game Cave" but that's another story entirely) however the Chicagoland based Die Hard Franchise simply removed the "Die Hard" from their name and continued to operate as "Game Club" (I believe most if not all of the other franchises in the Die Hard chain closed once they became Game Cave) until 2003 or so when the slowing import market finally forced them to close their doors. They were the last store that was part of the Die Hard chain.

[esteban]

thought you folks might dig this fabulous article:

http://bible.morningmayo.com/index.php/GameFan

I had another link (criticizing GameFan for exhibiting sega fanboyism), but I can't find it now.

[TR0N]

In the early 90s as GameFan magazine (at that time called Die Hard Game Fan) took off a DieHard Game Club opened here in the Chicago area. Due to a lawsuit with Sears over the trademarked name "Die Hard" which Sears used on a number of products (such as batteries). This particcular store was a franchise from the main Die Hard's in California. Most of those closed around 1996 or so (and in their place opened "Game Cave" but that's another story entirely) however the Chicagoland based Die Hard Franchise simply removed the "Die Hard" from their name and continued to operate as "Game Club" (I believe most if not all of the other franchises in the Die Hard chain closed once they became Game Cave) until 2003 or so when the slowing import market finally forced them to close their doors. They were the last store that was part of the Die Hard chain.

Interesting read there, DieHardGameFan was one of my favorite importer during the early 90's.

Btw i remember when they miss printed ,Shubibinman 3 as a, SCD game when it wasn't in the frist place.

I remember wanting it back then... and i saw it listed as a, SCD game not a regular one.

[Jammaniaclord]

Interesting enough....the guys from Game Fan have a new magazine out that looks almost like GameFan magazine, and i am trying to look up the name on the internet. My brother bought an issue and as soon as i opened it up, my mouth uttered "Looks ALOT like gameFan!", and i looked at the editors names and sure enough at least 3 of them were indeed from GF. Greg Off is one of them, and he is probably the nicest guy that ever worked for gameFan when it was an importer shop, and as a magazine. Now he is back with some alumni from the said GF days.

http://www.hardcoregamermag.com


Hardcore Gamer magazine is what is called!

[Keranu]

Awesome and they even let you download issues!

[PC Gaijin]

I know Die Hard sold bootleg video game music CDs for you would normally pay for a legitimate release. They didn't bother advertising the fact that they were selling Taiwanese boots either. Gamefan was utterly atrocious, possibly the worst video game magazine I ever had the displeasure of reading. Horrible writing and editing combined with terrible layouts early on. The layouts got somewhat better later on, but the writing really didn't.

[esteban]

I know Die Hard sold bootleg video game music CDs for you would normally pay for a legitimate release. They didn't bother advertising the fact that they were selling Taiwanese boots either. Gamefan was utterly atrocious, possibly the worst video game magazine I ever had the displeasure of reading. Horrible writing and editing combined with terrible layouts early on. The layouts got somewhat better later on, but the writing really didn't.

No, the writing wasn't that good -- but that's not saying much, since pretty much all video game "journalism" is atrocious. Especially game reviews.... man, they have always been 90% filler + a few lines of critique (sometimes relevant, sometimes misplaced critique).

I think the best aspect of GameFan was the breadth of coverage (they really did try to cover a lot of platforms, including import-only games) and tons of nice, big screenshots (to give you a better idea of what gameplay was like). For this alone, GameFan deserves some credit!

Edge, on the other hand, is the only game magazine that has respectable (and well-researched) articles. Plus, the layout is pretty classy (usually). Too expensive, though, for poor boys like myself.

TANGENT: You know what I want to see in magazines today? I want retrospectives and well-researched histories on different aspects of the gaming industry. I enjoyed Retro Gamer, but I don't think the articles were well-researched. Still, it was an enjoyable read -- too bad the mag was cancelled. I doubt I'll ever get a refund on my subscription.

[Michael Helgeson]

Yup,for what its worth Game Fan was the best at the time,at least to me,with great import coverage,and I liked the Graveyard bit they would do,as I would not have known to get Magician Lord if not for that. The screen shots they did were really good,I actually liked the review section,how they rated the games,and the fact that the reviews were at the begining of the mag.
All in all I felt like I was reading a mag by gamers instead of just guys who did it for a living and played NBA Jam on a lunch break or golf on pc.
I used to like EGM back in the day too,untill around 94,and after that the mag went way down hill,as the mag got smaller and smaller,with more and more ads for Akklaim crap.

[SNKNostalgia]

Yeah I liked the add section in Gamefan magazine from Game Cave back in the day. Of course I thought Game Cave was kind of a rip-off price wise most of the time for common imports. They would charge like $80-$89 for a current import PS1 game when you could get that same game from National Console Support www.ncsx.com for like $65. Also the shipping from NCS was cheaper as well. Plus there was this one guy on the phone that was a total a$$hole that they should have fired. Maybe thats why they went out of business, he was just a smart ass and even lied about a release date. He might have been the head phone guy. I even gave a complaint about him to tommy one of the cooler guys that worked there. I think the biggest problem with that place was becuase it was in California, way too overpriced for everything in that state thanks to the greedy state government. They tax every damn thing. Even the Post office taxes you.

Also I have dealed with Game Express and Japan Video games from those ads. They were ok but not as bad as Game Cave but not as good as NCS. I still do business with NCS.

[TR0N]

Yeah I liked the add section in Gamefan magazine from Game Cave back in the day. Of course I thought Game Cave was kind of a rip-off price wise most of the time for common imports. They would charge like $80-$89 for a current import PS1 game when you could get that same game from National Console Support www.ncsx.com for like $65. Also the shipping from NCS was cheaper as well. Plus there was this one guy on the phone that was a total a$$hole that they should have fired. Maybe thats why they went out of business, he was just a smart ass and even lied about a release date. He might have been the head phone guy. I even gave a complaint about him to tommy one of the cooler guys that worked there. I think the biggest problem with that place was becuase it was in California, way too overpriced for everything in that state thanks to the greedy state government. They tax every damn thing. Even the Post office taxes you.

Also I have dealed with Game Express and Japan Video games from those ads. They were ok but not as bad as Game Cave but not as good as NCS. I still do business with NCS.

Game Express was cooler when it was DieHardGamefan.

Then it change and over priced on imports, i can agree with you there on that.

[DragonmasterDan]

A few GameFan staffers also started GameGlow magazine which closed fairly promptly, a lot of people jumped around mag to mag back before print mags started going belly up one by one (this is why I no longer work in the industry).

I haven't seen or heard of hardcore gamer yet but I'll check it out. I liked gamefan a lot in terms of their import coverage (their reviews are another question entirely).