PC Leisure was the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

's first magazine dedicated exclusively to IBM PC compatible

IBM PC compatible

IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...

 (PC) entertainment and was published by EMAP

EMAP

Emap Limited is a British media company, specialising in the production of business-to-business magazines, and the organisation of business events and conferences...

 between spring 1990 and September 1991. A total of nine issues were published in its lifetime, the first four being quarterly with the remaining five bimonthly. The magazine was eventually incorporated into PC Review, a new monthly publication launched on October 15, 1991.

History

Within the UK prior to PC Leisure's release, PC entertainment news was supplied via general computing and multi-format magazines such as The One

The One (magazine)

The One was a video game magazine in the United Kingdom which covered 16-bit home gaming during the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was first published by EMAP in October 1988 and initially covered computer games aimed at the Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, and IBM PC markets.Like many similar magazines,...

and New Computer Express

New Computer Express

New Computer Express was a weekly magazine published by Future Publishing in the UK from the late 1980s to the early 1990s.During this time 8-bit micros were still prevalent, and 16-bit micros were growing their share of the market. The PC had yet to cement its hold on the home market and as a...

, but by 1990 the PC entertainment market had sufficiently developed to warrant the introduction of a dedicated magazine.

In November 1989, EMAP tested the waters by including a free PC Leisure preview copy along with What Personal Computer, and the feedback from this venture filled the letters section of the launch issue the following spring.

In May 1991, PC Leisure became the recipient of the PC coverage originally published within the pages of the 16-bit multi-format magazine The One, as EMAP decided to split it into The One for Amiga Games and The One for ST Games.

The final issue #9 Sep/Oct 1991 included a two-page special across pages 28 and 29 stating that the magazine was going to be renamed PC Review and released monthly from October 15, 1991.

Editors

• Ciarán Brennan
  Ciarán Brennan (journalist)
  Ciarán Brennan is an Irish computer games journalist who was editor of the British computer games magazines Zzap!64 The One and PC Leisure in the late '80s and early '90s. He contributed to Computer and Video Games.-External links:...
  
  , Spring 1990 to Jan/Feb 1991
• Steve Cooke, Mar/Apr 1991 only
• Garth Sumpter, May/Jun 1991 to Jul/Aug 1991
• Christina Erskine, Sep/Oct 1991 only

Designers

Jenny Abrook, Andy Beswick, Gregory Brown, Allister Cordice, Pete Hawkes, Nick Howells, Gareth Jones, Yvette Nicholls, Simon Poulter, Richard Slater, Andrea Walker and Jim Willis.

Contributors

Rob Beattie, Kelly Beswick, Neil Blaber, Matt Bloomfield, Paul Boughton, Clive Bremner, Robert Browning, John Cook, Steve Cooke, Tony Dillon, Jim Douglas, Alan Dykes, Christina Erskine, David Fitzgerald, Rik Haynes, Ed Henning, Gordon Houghton, Fiona Keating, Steve Keen, Eugene Lacey, Gary Liddon, Chris Long, Declan McColgan, Steve Merritt, John Minson, Tony Naqvi, Matt Nicholson, Frank O'Hara, Lee Paddon, Russell Patient, Mike Pattenden

Mike Pattenden

Mike Pattenden is a freelance journalist and writer. He began his career in the entertainment games industry before moving into music journalism. He was formerly Reviews Editor at VOX magazine then music correspondent at The Daily Express. He now writes about topics ranging from music to sport,...

, Mark Patterson, Gary Penn, Paul Presley, Matt Regan

Matt Regan

Matt Regan was one of the original team that launched UK multiformat videogame magazine Mean Machines. He and Julian Rignall started off as the two main reviewers....

, Gail Robinson, Laurence Scotford, Garth Sumpter, Alastair Swinnerton, Jimmy Taylor, David Upchurch, Austin Walsh and Gary Whitta

Gary Whitta

Gary Whitta is an English screenwriter, author, game designer, and video games journalist. He is known as the former editor-in-chief of both the UK and US editions of PC Gamer magazine and contributor to gaming magazine, ACE....

.

See also

• Historical EMAP Magazines
• PC Review
• The One
  The One (magazine)
  The One was a video game magazine in the United Kingdom which covered 16-bit home gaming during the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was first published by EMAP in October 1988 and initially covered computer games aimed at the Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, and IBM PC markets.Like many similar magazines,...
  
  

External links

• A selection of scanned issues of the magazine accessible via Thunor's website.