We've been spoilt for choice when it comes to long-form video game discussion recently. We've got Lost in Cult's Lock-On and The Console Chronicles (the latter of which was a collaboration with this very site), as well as APWOT, a long-running periodical which takes deep dives into video game culture. Then there are the likes of Bitmap Books and ROM, both of which produce lavish coffee table tomes packed with information and artwork.
Adding yet another voice to this mix might seem like a daunting prospect, but when you look at the crack team assembled by Hybrid Publications for the debut volume of ON, then you realise that it's a venture that is almost assured of success.
"I wanted to take all my experience of working on videogame magazines and books, combine all the best elements and create the ultimate hybrid publication," comments creative director Andrew P Hind. "A truly beautiful object featuring the very best editorial and design that gives other people the kinds of opportunities that I had at the start of my career; giving a fair deal to writers and designers, and safeguarding the future of videogame publishing."
Alongside Hind (a DC-UK, PC Gamer and EDGE veteran) and editor-in-chief Nathan Brown (EDGE, Hit Points), you have some of the most important voices in the world of British games journalism: Keith Stuart (The Guardian, EDGE), Keza MacDonald (IGN, Kotaku, The Guardian), Christian Donlan (Eurogamer, EDGE), Margaret Robertson (EDGE) and Jen Simpkins (EDGE). When you consider that, alongside Brown, there are three ex-EDGE editors in that list, it gives you some indication of the level of quality writing you're getting here.
"With ON, we wanted to celebrate all the things we love about print, the sense of a direct relationship between writer and reader, the feeling that you’re making, or holding, something tangible and permanent," says editor-in-chief Nathan Brown. "We give our writers full creative freedom and generous deadlines, and ensure their talents are properly compensated. We are excited to put this thing in people’s hands, and to hear what they think of it.”
However, the raw materials are only one part of the story; ON's mission is to give its writers creative freedom to talk about anything that interests them without the pressure of a tight deadline to stymie the flow of thought. To that end, we get lengthy features on Sega's Model 1 arcade board, ruminations on life and death in Cyberpunk 2077 and a piece looking at how puzzle games were, for a time, the killer app for new handheld hardware.
These pieces are married with some understated yet classy design work (Simpkins' piece investigating the world of 'dress up' video games practically bursts off the page thanks to some incredible art), making this feel more like a book and less like a throwaway magazine – a trait it shares with the aforementioned Lock-On and APWOT.
The end result is a product which drips class yet feels weighty and authoritative; the writers involved are quite simply some of the best in the business, and ON gives them the freedom to let their creative talents truly shine.
As you'll no doubt be aware if you're a long-time reader of the site, Time Extension is very much in favour of long-form content about video games (an anathema on the modern internet, which is all about short, clickable content, not stuff that takes 20 minutes to read), so ON is very much "up our street". We think you'll feel the same way.
Volume One of ON is available now to order from on.games and costs £24.99 plus delivery.