# *Final Fantasy VIII* is the Best and the Magazine that Taunted a Hater [The game magazine that spent two years taunting a Final Fantasy VIII hater](https://ff8isthe.best/2024/02/the-game-magazine-that-spent-two-years-taunting-a-final-fantasy-viii-hater/) by Phil Salvador > I’m unsure how popular GameNOW magazine was, but over the course of two years, they pulled off one of the weirdest running gags I’ve seen in a game magazine, just to have fun at the expense of an irate reader who didn’t like *Final Fantasy VIII*. > > They wasted no time establishing the new tone for the magazine. In the first issue, the editors of GameNOW answered a bit of fanmail addressed to Expert Gamer from a reader who did not care for *Final Fantasy VIII*... This is how you run a gag; both the magazine and the website [ff8isthe.best](https://ff8isthe.best/). You see, I came across this article a few months ago now and always meant to share it for this legendary bit from a magazine I had never heard of before. Then, as I dug back to find the article so I could *finally* share it, I realized the site is an immaculate gag in and of itself. Phil Salvador is the man behind ff8isthe.best and it just so happens I was familiar with Phil from his job as the Library Director at the [Video Game History Foundation](https://gamehistory.org/). Late last year, the VGHF [revealed](https://gamehistory.org/introducing-the-vghf-digital-library/) a sneak peek at their digital library, which seems [impossibly cool](https://youtube.com/watch?v=WUaUXAE1nTM).[^1][^2] As for this over-the-top *FFVIII* fan-site, Phil made it for a few reasons. In Phil's [own words](https://ff8isthe.best/but-really/), > This whole thing is a little tongue-in-cheek, but I do genuinely love *Final Fantasy VIII* and am annoyed by the knee-jerk dismal of it. I love bristling against the consensus on this, and I am thrilled to play the heel here... > > I was inspired to start this website mainly because I thought the domain name was funny. But there is more than just making a funny joke.[^3] *Final Fantasy VIII is the Best* also serves Phil's creativity and as a statement for a weird internet. From [a post on Phil's main blog](https://obscuritory.com/blog/dispatches-from-california/), > For fun, I’ve also been running a new sideblog called Final Fantasy VIII is the Best, which is about, well, you can imagine. That has been a fun experiment that’s helping me break through my writer’s block, because it gives me an excuse to write with zero self-editing or standards. The goal is that eventually this will get my writing chops back in shape so I’ll start posting here again. And back to the "[about](https://ff8isthe.best/but-really/)" page for FFVIII is the Best, > The fun part about this blog is that I have absolutely no standards for it. It’ll probably be confusing and riddled with typos and overloaded with emotions that are way too intense. I don’t care about SEO. Honestly I don’t care if anyone reads this at all! Writing here is FUN because I get to have no inhibitions. That’s what I want to recapture for myself, to remind myself why I love doing it. This hits home because that is why I [[Welcome|started]] Max Frequency four years ago. > I like what I came up with—Max Frequency. It communicates the identity of the blog quite well, I think. It’s me at my frequency. No pressures for deadlines, no list of required news. Only articles that I want to write or share. I think it is important, even vital, for folks to make their own website. To carve out their own space online. Over my lifetime, we turned from individual blogs to posts and tweets that belong to some silicon valley tech companies that use our thoughts, ideas, jokes, and more to make their billions. They can change, delete, sell, and train computers to make even more money. We've given up our individuality in the name of convenience. The internet needs you and your idea. Not Facebook. Not Instagram. Certainly not TikTok. Own your works, creations, and ideas. The internet is open and inviting you to share. Make the web weird again. Just like GameNOW did throughout the aughts and like Phil is today. Man, what an incredible run of a gag. Seriously. Bravo. [^1]: I meant to link to that [announcement](https://gamehistory.org/introducing-the-vghf-digital-library/) and video too, but never got around to it. Better late than never though, right?! [^2]: Back in October 2020, I emailed VGHF Founder and Director Frank Cifaldi about using their library to see if I could tap into their resources to research older Naughty Dog history. Due to (obvious) COVID reasons, there was no way to go to California and be *in* the library. Almost 4 years later, the library is coming to all of us, it seems. [^3]: There are actually tons of jokes. Click around the site. [It's a gold mine](https://ff8isthe.best/2024/02/i-made-a-final-fantasy-viii-car-in-forza-horizon-5-and-drove-it-off-a-cliff/). Even better, there's a ton of [history](https://ff8isthe.best/2024/03/the-ff8-tech-demo-well-never-see-again/) too.