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Though of the Day: Gaming Mags


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I only use the internet for message boards, guides and reviews for PC games I might be interested in. The rest of my crap comes from EGM. The internet is great and all but I like having a magazine that has information on the stuff I want and I don't have to scroll through a few articles on say Playboy: The Mansion to find one on Katamari Damacy. EGM also offers my three opinons on games, so I can find the one I most relate to instead of say IGN which only gives one opinon.

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Has anyone picked up a copy of Nintendo Power lately? I got a subscription to it for the first time in years (it was free when I bought Mario Sunshine) and it's almost as bad as Gamepro.

Now I subscribe to EGM and just signed up for Game Informer again. EGM is okay, but their reviews are generally garbage anymore and they really should just changed their name to HGM: Halo Gaming Monthly. Game Informer has always been spectacular though.

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It's kinda sad to see the state of gaming mags. Especially for me.

I've been buying Gaming Mags since I was 10 (I'm 23 now, offically an EWB Geriatric) when I used to buy CVG. The mags were about 6 months behind what you English guys got but I didn't care. I still have a whole heap of them, about 5 years worth in a box in my room somewhere.

From there it was to Gamepro. I didn't really like the feel of it and thus only bought a couple of issues. And then I thought that'd be the last of my buying escapades.

99/2000 came and I finally joined the ranks of Playstation owners. I bought a mag called Playstation Gamer, which prided itself on being unofficial and the true voice of the Playstation owners. The mag only lasted a year before Sony sued the pants off them but I enjoyed every issue of it.

From there it was Hyper>>. I stumbled onto it quite by accident. I was at a trash and treasure market and idly flicking through the rows of crap books they had when I stumbled across these gaming mags in a box. I flicked through and loved it. I think I spent something like 20 or thirty bucks and got a years worth of issues. I loved them and started buying the mag religiously for about 3 years from 2001 to mid last year when they had an alarming dropoff.

Nowadays I generally only buy mags if they have a cheat disc with them. Most of the demo discs I've seen are rank bullshit and not worth the CD they were pressed on. I'd still like to buy mags but most of the stuff is accessable through the net. If something caught my eye I'll still buy it. But I generally stay away from gaming mags nowadays.

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However, the gaming audience has matured. Those of us who were in our early teens back then are now in our twenties, and quite rightly demand more. While the internet has largely satisfied that desire, plenty of magazines have cropped up to fill that need. Case in point is PC Gamer: the magazine is intelligently written, has excellent, trustworthy product reviews, and caters directly to their target audience. Despite plenty of gaming websites, I still trust PC Gamer more than anything. Their experience, dedication, and contacts far outclass even the best game review websites. Sure, I have to pay for it, but I've found out about some great games I would have otherwise not known existed, been warned away from games I was interested in that ended up being awful, and have access to news well before it hits anywhere else. That kind of exclusivity is worth it to me, and judging from their circulation numbers, I'm not the only one. In short, magazines like PC Gamer will do just fine.

Funny thing, PC Gamer reviews tend to be some of the worst reviews out there. There is a blatent fanboism in their rankings and it's been oft-suggested they are just flat-out bought out in cases. Some of the reviewers are also really amatuerish at hiding prejudices... take a look if someone goes on vacation the people who fill in for them often slant and skew ratings and reviews if they aren't huge on the genre.

But the writing, for previews and articles, is usually top notch.

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However, the gaming audience has matured. Those of us who were in our early teens back then are now in our twenties, and quite rightly demand more. While the internet has largely satisfied that desire, plenty of magazines have cropped up to fill that need. Case in point is PC Gamer: the magazine is intelligently written, has excellent, trustworthy product reviews, and caters directly to their target audience. Despite plenty of gaming websites, I still trust PC Gamer more than anything. Their experience, dedication, and contacts far outclass even the best game review websites. Sure, I have to pay for it, but I've found out about some great games I would have otherwise not known existed, been warned away from games I was interested in that ended up being awful, and have access to news well before it hits anywhere else. That kind of exclusivity is worth it to me, and judging from their circulation numbers, I'm not the only one. In short, magazines like PC Gamer will do just fine.

Funny thing, PC Gamer reviews tend to be some of the worst reviews out there. There is a blatent fanboism in their rankings and it's been oft-suggested they are just flat-out bought out in cases. Some of the reviewers are also really amatuerish at hiding prejudices... take a look if someone goes on vacation the people who fill in for them often slant and skew ratings and reviews if they aren't huge on the genre.

But the writing, for previews and articles, is usually top notch.

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Has anyone picked up a copy of Nintendo Power lately?  I got a subscription to it for the first time in years (it was free when I bought Mario Sunshine) and it's almost as bad as Gamepro.

I think the last issue of Nintendo Power I actually looked reviewed Goldeneye when it came out for the Game Boy. It was just a different magazine...

I have a few issue of GMR lying around, but that's just because of EB Games.

I realy only play my ROMS, my 5 N64 Games, and the GTA games. I really don't need that much as far as NextGen gaming goes.

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GMR just went out of business, according to their last issue.

I'm only subscribing to EGM (I signed up for that free year's subscription thing...wow, a while ago, back on EWB III there was a topic on it) and I've been getting it ever since. I never was a fan of GamePro, and EGM always entertained me. Even moreso now thanks to Seanbaby's reviews of crappy games at the end, the gaming crossword puzzle to occupy me, and their articles intrigue me. There aren't many copies of EGM that I have that I haven't read all the way through, something I can't say for any other magazine I've ever subscribed to.

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