Computer Entertainer, Magazine from the 80s, Goes Fully Digital and Free

The Video Game History Foundation has officially released the full archive of Computer Entertainer, one of the first video game magazines in the US, and it’s now available for anyone to read, search, and download. The magazine ran from 1982 to 1990, surviving the 1983–84 industry crash and offering rare American reviews and release info for iconic games like The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and Super Mario Bros.. After securing publishing rights and scanning the best-quality copies, the Foundation has added the entire collection to its digital library, where it joins other preserved game-related media.

Computer Entertainer might not ring a bell for most modern gamers, but it played a key role in early game journalism. It began as The Video Game Update, a mailer for a US retailer called Video Take-Out, and slowly evolved into a full-on magazine. What made it stand out? For starters, it was run by Marylou Badeaux and Celeste Dolan, making it the earliest known console magazine led by women. And while most magazines collapsed during the crash, this one kept printing, giving us some of the only US-based reviews and data from a time when gaming coverage nearly disappeared.

The Foundation explains the magazine’s importance clearly:

“Most console game magazines in the US went out of business during the 1983–84 industry crash, except this one. As a result, Computer Entertainer is one of the only sources for American reviews of classic games like The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and Super Mario Bros. And because it was run by a game retailer, this magazine is one of the only reliable sources of American game release dates during this period.”

That’s a huge gap in coverage now filled. The journey to archive Computer Entertainer took more than just good intentions. The Foundation first got a full set of bound issues from Marylou Badeaux, but the scans came out rough. Then, after the death of co-editor Celeste Dolan, her own copies were donated, and the Foundation made the tough call to take one full set apart for high-quality scanning. Missing issues were sourced from historian Leonard Herman to complete the run, and the team also locked down the rights so they could release it all for free.

The full magazine is now live in the Video Game History Foundation's digital archive, which launched earlier in 2025. It’s searchable, downloadable, and released under a Creative Commons Attribution license, so anyone can reuse or share the material as long as proper credit is given. The archive already includes other media like art books and promotional material, but Computer Entertainer stands out as a true piece of early console history.

The Foundation has been active since 2017 and focuses on preserving, celebrating, and teaching the history of video games. It has worked on both physical and legal preservation, including pushing for copyright exceptions that would allow libraries and institutions to share older digital games remotely. Unfortunately, those proposals were rejected last year after the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) refused to support them.

Still, other preservation efforts are moving forward. In 2024, GOG launched its own Preservation Program aimed at keeping older games compatible with modern systems. That effort joined the broader European network of museums and archives working on game preservation.

Meanwhile, the public debate around preservation is heating up. The Stop Killing Games campaign continues to gain traction, calling out publishers that shut down games permanently. A recent petition tied to that campaign got over one million signatures in the EU and could move on to a formal hearing or debate in the European Parliament. So while the legal side still faces resistance from publishers, momentum is building across communities and institutions to protect game history for the long haul.

Releasing Computer Entertainer is a big step in that direction. It fills in a lost chapter of console history and gives researchers, fans, and journalists a rare look into what gaming coverage looked like in the 80s, especially during a time when the industry was on the ropes. The fact that it was co-edited by women, ran independently through a crash, and now lives on in high-quality scans for free use makes it more than just nostalgia. It’s proof that game history still has a lot of stories left to tell.