2018 in silly back page jokes

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Thirteen attempts to be funny at deadline.

October 2018: Hypnospace Outlaw

Phil: Pip made this and it is good, although I never did find out why "butthole" was in her in-game search history.

Samuel: Great work by John. I always like fun design-y ones. I don't know anything about Hypnospace Outlaw, but I know what shit old internet looks like. 

Pip: GREAT WORK BY JOHN??? *I* built this highly competent web page with the sweat of my brow and the clicking of my fingers! My web design skills peaked in the nineties and I will not be giving up credit for them easily! Also the real PCG website needs more trophies and blood spatters. You should get on that, STAT.

Samuel: Sorry Pip. I should've read Phil's part first. You did fine work and I am shamed. In fairness, I'd already read one million words today because these All Overs have so many.

Phil: I'm not apologising for putting words in a magazine. That's how the influencers win.

November 2018: Anno 1800

Samuel: Nice work. The Friends font alone makes this a highlight for me. I'm sure the many words are good, too. 

Phil: You don't get to shoehorn a reference to The Lightning Seeds into your All Over by being economical with words, Sam. In a staggering display of self-indulgence, I wrote my end-of-year director's cut commentary into the joke itself, in the 'About Ubisoft' paragraph.

Pip: While the best Friends parody will always be CHUMS from the UK Saturday magazine show SMTV Live, this is a solid reference via typefaces. Is this a good time to confess that I would play this game?

December 2018: Forza Horizon 4

Phil: I love the Forza Horizon series, but tonally, they're all a mess. The upside to this is I can always channel that mess into a series of jokes. 

Samuel: Crikey, so many words. When is 'ARSEHOLE!' ever not funny to see in big type, though?

Phil: It annoys me that the bottom-left letter crops around the date. Why would an in-joke newspaper leave space for a page element that only exists outside of the fiction of the joke!? Although clearly it doesn't annoy me enough to actually have done anything about it.

Pip: You should write in and complain. That would sort out next month’s All Over. 

Samuel Roberts
Samuel Roberts
Former PC Gamer EIC Samuel has been writing about games since he was 18. He's a generalist, because life is surely about playing as many games as possible before you're put in the cold ground.