Forgot your password?

Close
typodupeerror

The State Of U.S. Videogame Magazines 97

Posted by Zonk
from the games-on-dead-trees dept.
simoniker writes "Wonder how video game magazines are still alive and kicking, in the age of the Interweb? Here's 'a quick tour of all the game magazines you can find in U.S. bookshelves right now', with plenty of commentary and cover scans, from Nintendo Power to EGM: 'The output isn't quite what it was ten or even five years ago, but there's still a remarkable amount of print getting churned out each month -- and what's more, nearly all of it these days is written for 'core' gamers like you and me.'" I enjoy most of Ziff's magazines (EGM, CGW). I also happily pay through the nose for the British Mag Edge, which is the finest gaming magazine in the world.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

The State Of U.S. Videogame Magazines More

The State Of U.S. Videogame Magazines

Comments Filter:

  • The real state of Videogame magazines.... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Mister Whirly (964219) on Monday June 05, 2006 @11:04AM (#15472372) Homepage
    The magazines now are more than 50% advertising.. It's like reading a bloody infomercial...

  • Too commercial (Score:5, Insightful)

    by truthsearch (249536) on Monday June 05, 2006 @11:04AM (#15472374) Homepage Journal
    The reason I don't bother with any of them is because they mostly look like game publisher advertising. Just like I wouldn't bother reading an opinion piece about Microsoft in a Microsoft-published magazine, I don't want to read about the PS3 in a magazine that appears to be published by a Sony subsidiary. Almost always, if I flip through one of these gaming magazines, they rate every game 3, 4, or 5 out of 5. As if no games suck. These rags appear to be flooded more with commercial interests, not real gamer interests.

  • The Brits! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Jonny_eh (765306) on Monday June 05, 2006 @11:11AM (#15472430)
    Why is it that the British magazines are so superior to the American ones?

    This goes for just about any type of magazine, be it Maxim, Linux Format, or Edge. The British magazines are of such a higher calibre, it's scary.

    There must be a simple answer out there.

  • Re:The real state of Videogame magazines.... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by 91degrees (207121) on Monday June 05, 2006 @11:26AM (#15472560) Journal
    But would a magazine with 100 pages of editorial and 5 pages of advertising be better than a magazine with 200 pages of editorial and 200 pages of advertising? Would a magazine with 4 pages of editorial and no advertising at all be even better?

  • I personally miss Next Generation (Score:3, Insightful)

    by DoctaWatson (38667) on Monday June 05, 2006 @06:26PM (#15476028)
    Next Generation magazine was the first publication to make me see our dinky little hobby as a legitimate medium for expression. Until that point, magazines were the same as they are now, focusing on pimping the latest and greatest and also giving hints and cheat codes.

    Then Next Generation hit the scene, not just talking about games, but about the ideas behind games. And the people who had those ideas.

    The Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo Power was a cartoon character who's name happened to get associated with Zelda and Mario. The Shigeru Miyamoto of Next Generation was a brilliant gamesmith, a master of the art and craft of games. Richard Garriot wasn't just some nerd making D&D clones, he was a philosopher exploring ethics in this wonderful new and interactive medium.

    The topic of graphics in other magazines had some base instinctive appeal (OMGz polyg0nz!). Graphics in Next Generation were high art at the bleeding edge of technology.

    In short, Next Generation magazine made me the gamer I am today. Or rather, it didn't make me a gamer, it helped me understand *why* I'm a gamer. And it did so with top-notch production values and a high quality presentation.

    I'll never forgive IGN for watering it down and then turning it into NextGen->DailyRadar->kaput.

"Contrary to popular belief, penguins are not the salvation of modern technology. Neither do they throw parties for the urban proletariat."

Close