PC Zone

PC Zone, founded in 1993, was the first magazine dedicated to games for IBM-compatible personal computers to be published in the United Kingdom. Earlier PC magazines such as PC Leisure, PC Format and PC Plus had covered games but only as part of a wider remit. The precursor to PC Zone was the award-winning multiformat title Zero.

The magazine was published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. until 2004, when it was acquired by Future plc along with Computer And Video Games for £2.5m.

In July 2010 it was announced by Future plc that PC Zone was to close. The last issue of PC Zone went on sale 2 September 2010.

First issue

PC Zone was first published in April 1993 and cost £3.95. Billed as the first UK magazine dedicated exclusively to PC games, it was sold with two accompanying floppy disks carrying game demonstrations. The first editor was Paul Lakin.

The magazine was split into four sections: Reviews, Blueprints, Features and Regulars. Among the first titles to be reviewed were Dune 2, Lemmings 2 and Stunt Island. The Blueprints section involved previews of new games and Features consisted of an article written about a specific area of gaming interest, such as gaming audio.

Zone

Zone or The Zone or In the Zone may refer to:

Geography

Place names

Zones

Zone (play)

Zone is a French-language three-act play written by French-Canadian author Marcel Dubé. Written when Dubé was 21 and based on memories of his childhood,Zone revolves around a gang of teenaged Québécois criminals who sell contraband cigarettes, and the internal conflicts that ultimately tear the group apart. The title "Zone" refers to the fact that each of the smugglers are stuck in a zone of society from which it is almost impossible to escape.

Cast

The original production of Zone was directed by Robert Rivard.

Characters

Zone (band)

Zone was an all-female pop rock band started in Sapporo, Japan in 1999. Although it initially started as a dance group, they turned to an all-female band. Zone has been categorized in a new genre called "bandol" (a portmanteau of the words band and idol). The band was started and managed by Studio RunTime and released their first single, "Good Days", under the major record label Sony Records, on February 7, 2001. The group has officially ended on March 2, 2013.

Their most famous song is "Secret Base (Kimi ga Kureta Mono)", released on August 8, 2001. The single sold about 744,000 copies on Japanese Oricon charts.

History

Zone started off with eight members in 1997, then reduced to six and finally to four – Miyu Nagase, Mizuho Saito, Maiko Sakae, and Takayo Ookoshi – by the time they released their first indie disc in 1999.

Tadayuki Ominami, a representative of Sony Records, noticed that the crowd reaction to the group's debut concert was particularly enthusiastic. Initially, Zone was solely focused on singing and dancing. Ominami watched a live video of the band playing with instruments at the KomeKome Klub and felt that, due to the overabundance of dance groups, Zone had the makings of a breakthrough act, provided they could play their instruments as well as sing and dance.