The first regularly published web based magazine was either Game Zero Magazine ( went online in November 1994 ) or Intelligent Gamer Online ( individual issues were downloadable in 1993 but the site was not online until April 1995 ) . Intelligent Gamer had been publishing online for years prior to the popularization of the web , originally having been based upon a downloadable `` Intelligent Gamer '' publication developed by Joe Barlow and Jeremy Horwitz in 1993 . This evolved further under Horwitz and Usenet-based publisher Anthony Shubert into `` Intelligent Gamer Online '' interactive online mini-sites for America Online ( AOL ) and the Los Angeles Times ' TimesLink\/Prodigy online services in late 1994 and early 1995 .