Editing Games Unplugged

{{InfoBoxProduct
| image               = 
| name                = Games Unplugged
| type                = Magazine
| author              = 
| development         = Dynasty Presentations<br />Tony Lee (Editor-in-Chief)
| primarywriting      = 
| pages               = ca. 64
| cover               = 
| interiorart         = 
| illustrations       = 
| publisher           = Timothy Brown<br />[[Fast Forward Entertainment Inc.]]
| productioncode      = 
| year                = 2000-2004
| ISBN10              = 
| ISBN13              = 
| MSRP                = $2.99 - $4.99
| content             = 
| era                 = 
| timeline            = 
| series              = 
| precededby          = 
| followedby          = 
}}

'''Games Unplugged''' was a bimonthly magazine published in the [[w:USA|USA]] dedicated to the tabletop gaming industry. Produced by [[Fast Forward Entertainment Inc.]] (FFE), it featured news along with upcoming releases of a variety of role-playing games, card games, board games, and miniature wargames. The original price per copy was $2.99 in 2000 and rose to $4.99 by 2003. The company also had a website, GamesUnplugged.com, which is now defunct.

In later issues the magazine featured an official regular [[Classic Battletech]] slot with a foreword by [[Randall N. Bills]] along with short stories, sneak peeks at new releases and artwork including a series showing all variants of a single 'Mech. This article focuses on the magazine's BattleTech-related content.

Sources differ on how many issues of Games Unplugged exist. FFE sold the magazine to comic retailer Ross Rojek at some point; Rojek in turn was imprisoned on fraud charges in early 2004, just when the 29th issue of Games Unplugged was ready and about to be shipped. His arrest, conviction and subsequent sentence to jail put the magazine in limbo and ultimately led to its termination ca. May 2004.<ref>ICv2: [http://icv2.com/articles/games/view/4784/rojeks-arrest-short-circuits-games-unplugged ROJEK'S ARREST SHORT CIRCUITS 'GAMES UNPLUGGED' - Magazine in Limbo]</ref> It remains unclear if any issues after #28 were ever actually printed and shipped. The magazine's [[w:Games Unplugged|wikipedia entry]] claims that 34 issues were produced.

==Canonicity==
According to author Randall Bills, then the [[BattleTech Line Developer]], in his first BattleTech article in the Games Unplugged magazine, the articles are fully [[canonical]] for the BattleTech setting. This was confirmed in an official thread on the [[BattleTech forum]] on 06 January 2014<ref>In [http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php/topic,36229.0.html this thread] on the [[BattleTech forum]], also archived on [[Talk:Games Unplugged|this article's talk page]].</ref> and marks a notable exception from the current definition of Canon (which expressly excludes magazines by default).

Fast Forward Entertainment Inc. was the distributor for [[FanPro US]] when they held the BattleTech license, which arguably makes the Games Unplugged magazine a "house magazine" tied to the BattleTech licensee at the time.

==BattleTech content==
{{sectionstub}}
[[File:Games Unplugged 23 cover.jpg|right|thumb|125px|Cover of Issue 23]]
===Issue 23===
* You Bet Your Life
* Preview of [[TRO: Project Phoenix]]
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[[File:Games Unplugged 26 cover.jpg|right|thumb|125px|Cover of Issue 26]]
===Issue 26===
* A Corporate Primer
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[[File:Games Unplugged 27 cover.jpg|right|thumb|125px|Cover of Issue 27]]
===Issue 27===
* Product Release schedule
* Preview of ''[[Technical Readout: 3026, Revised Edition]]''
* Artwork for the ''[[Hunchback]]'' BattleMech variants.
{{-}}
[[File:Games Unplugged 28 cover.jpg|right|thumb|125px|Cover of Issue 28]]
===Issue 28===
* ''[[The Ties That Bind (short story)|The Ties That Bind]]''.
* Sneak peek at the ''[[Colossus (DropShip class)|Colossus]]''-class DropShip.
* Artwork for the ''[[Hatamoto-Chi]]'' BattleMech variants.
{{-}}
===Issue 29===
:''Note: It is unclear whether or not Issue #29 was ever actually published.''
* ''[[Tale of the Green Ghosts]]''.
* Artwork for the ''[[Awesome]]'' BattleMech variants.

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Magazines]]