_{Cover of the September 1999 issue of the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine}

If I had to name the top three video game consoles in terms of their importance and influence on the video game industry, it would be the Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and the PlayStation. The Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine of course covered the latest one of those and 1999 may well have been the peak year for that system. They hype was already starting to swing towards its successor, the PS2 which would be released the following year. The September 1999 issue includes:

Features

Final Fantasy VIII - Follow-up to Square's enormously successful and outstanding Final Fantasy VII. While I played VII I never played VIII but it can be hard to live up to expectations.

Battle of the Brutes - A look at two of the biggest football games on the PlayStation, Madden NFL 2000 and NFL GameDay 2000 as well as a talk with the teams behind each.

WipeOut 3 - A preview of the third game in this futuristic racing game for the PlayStation. Think F-Zero but with more realism and weapons.

_{Table of Contents from the September 1999 issue of the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine}

Departments

Letters - Topics from readers this month include Ape Escape, violence in games, the Resident Evil movie, two lasers vs. one in DVD drives, and more.

News - An interview with Phil Harrison, vice president of third-party relations and research and development for Sony Computer Entertainment America, EA pursues Michael Jordan license, Bleem makes it to retail, an update on the PlayStation 2, three Southpark games coming to the PlayStation, and much more.

Previews - Previews this month include Metal Gear Solid: VR Missions, WipeOut 3, Wu Tang: Shaolin Style, Jet Moto 3, Mag 3, Xena: Warrior Princess, Vigilante 8: Second Offense, Thousand Arms, Bass Landing, Hot Wheels Turbo Racing, Tomb Raider: Last Revelation, Knockout Kings 2000, NBA ShootOut 2000, Dune 2000, You Don't Know Jack, Gekido, Army Men: Air Attack, Dan O'Brien Decathalon, Die Hard Trilogy 2, Fox NHL Championship 2000, Rady 2 Rumble, South Park, Quake II, Fear Factor, and Fox NBA Basketball 2000.

International - A look at games recently released or coming soon in Japan. These include Chrono Cross, Geppy-X, Goo! Goo! Soundy, Vagrant Story, Pepsiman, and Space Invaders 2000.

Reviews

Driver - An action adventure game centered around driving.
NFL Blitz 2000 - A pretty good football game from Midway.
NFL Xtreme 2 - A not so great football game from 989 Sports.
Rising Zan - A 3rd person 3D action game featuring a samurai gunman.
Sled Storm - A snowmobile racing game.
Soul of the Samurai - A pretty terrible 3D adventure game.
Tarzan - A 3rd person 3D action game featuring Tarzan.

Tricks - Tricks, strategies and codes for tons of games including 3Xtreme, Rushdown, Fisherman's Bait, Invasion From Beyond, MLB 2000, Syphon Filter, Ape Escape, Big Air, Moto Racer, Need For Speed: High Stakes, Rally Cross 2, Army Men 3-D, T'ai Fu: Wrath of the Tiger, Driver, WCS/nWo Thunder, Lunar: Silver Star Complete, R-type Delta, Destrega, Croc 2, and more.

_{Back cover of the September 1999 issue of the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine}

Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine (September 1999)

Features

Departments