Pelit
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Pelit (meaning "games") is a Finnish video games magazine published 11 times a year by Sanoma Magazines. Being by far the largest of its kind in Finland and covering both PCs and consoles, it has for a long time lacked serious competition and is thought by many to be the magazine of its kind, especially on the side of computer games. Recently some newcomers, mainly Pelaaja and Tilt have started to challenge its position as the sole choice for a serious Finnish gaming magazine.
Pelit is an old-timer, originally dating back to 1987, as an annual extra games-only issue of MikroBITTI. Another annual issue was published in 1988, and in 1989 it became semi-annual (two times per year).
In 1992, the staff of the semi-annual computer game book found themselves fed up with the limitations of their format, and thus the proper Pelit magazine was started. Its layout and contents have occasionally been revised over the years. Game solutions were dropped as the adventure and old-fashioned role-playing games, the primary subjects, dwindled. A comic, KyöPelit, was started in 1993 and has since successfully avoided making sense. While the magazine started with four computer platforms, coverage for the Amiga, Commodore 64 and Atari ST vanished along with the computers. The most notable changes were the 1998 founding of its sister magazine, the PlayStation-based Peliasema, and the later merging of the two as a practical necessity with the growth of the console market and the weakening of the PC games market.
Pelit's editor-in-chief is Tuija Lindén. Its staff includes the accidental gaming icon Niko Nirvi and the cartoonist Wallu. Jyrki Kasvi has spent several years as a game reviewer, as well as a columnist under the pseudonym of Wexteen the Wizard.
The magazine's characteristic feature is its somewhat idealistic outlook, which can seem self-righteous to some. It prides itself on providing quality content for its readers and intends to keep things that way. Game reviews are by far the most important part. Recently the quality has decreased in some respect, as for example the magazine has started to extensively use screenshots from official press kits as opposed to their own screenshots of actual gameplay situations. Pelit also have had to face the reality however, and multiple previews and reviews of pre-final versions of games are numerous today. Pelit have always frowned upon hype but have themselves succumbed to it in last few years. Any and all deals that would restrict the staff's freedom to write what they wish are steadfastly refused, often as bribery. Or so the readers are told. So, this can be seen as just a way to back up their image as "independent" and "above the rest of gaming magazines".
Original and less mass-marketed games, such as adventures, turn-based strategies and independently published ones, are much respected. The influence of the magazine appears to have boosted the local popularity of such games as the X-COM and Jagged Alliance series, and Finnish sales of little-known classics like King of Dragon Pass can be disproportionate.