Don't get me wrong, I used to buy gaming magazines as a kid, every month devotedly... but now that I get gaming news updates daily, I have no desire to buy them anymore. I really don't see how they're going to make a successful comeback, but good luck to them.
So did I, but at some point I realized how bad of an investment gaming magazines had become.
-One problem I've found with gaming magazines is the space they take up. I used to subscribe to Nintendo Power a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away and I could never bring myself to throw a magazine away. This lead to a bookshelf full of old magazines, as well as a closet floor stacked full of them.
-Again, the whole internet thing.
-Most gaming magazines have lost their integrity. Nintendo Power was great back in the day, with the strategy guides and whatnot. At some point they turned into EGM, with ads all over the place and a logo change that looked very similar to EGM's. It seems like stuffing a magazine full of ads is the only way magazines can make money nowadays.
-The only reason I ever subscribed to EGM was because of a free offer from Gamefly. The only way that magazines ever get my business is through free deals or if they happen to come with something at Gamestop (the EB used game card comes with a Game Informer sub when you get one). Your business can't be terribly viable if you're relying on giving free subscriptions out left and right.
Omeks on
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I really liked EGM's art direction and layout in their last few issues. Since I can find any new game information online for free, the magazine's aesthetic properties were the main reason I bought them. Once EGM floundered I stopped buying game magazines.
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spookymuffin( ° ʖ ° )Puyallup WA Registered Userregular
I liked EGM, but I cannot fathom anyone making any money off print media these days. Who in their right mind would start a magazine base in an industry that runs on up-to-the-second news? This will fail miserably, even if it is awesome.
The old Nintendo Power is the perfect model of what a game magazine should be.
One of the things I liked best was, up until 1998 or so, Nintendo forbid copious amounts of advertising in it. Unfortunately, now that it's published by someone other than Nintendo, this isn't so much the case.
Omeks on
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I liked old EGM, CDs were cool, graphics card info was cool, they were the only people to review RPG's properly, instead of getting the EA shill to be a faggot in it's general direction, during the beginning of the end they admitted to not even playing the games they gave F's and A's to, so gay.
Anyhoo, can't get too excited about this. I was a huge reader of gaming mags and had a subscription to EGM for years and years, but those days (read: the 90's) are over. Even as far back as 2002-3 the mag was a shell of its former self, and it was only downhill from there.
At any rate, I can't imagine any current gaming mag being half as good as Edge, which is fantastic and worth every penny.
Unless the new EGM is a website or is full of amazing feature-length essays with the same level of quality as a Newsweek or Time, I'm going to predict a total failure.
One thing Games for Windows Magazines tried was giving their editors a page or two to play around with. They usually had two guys playing a popular game and giving funny commentaries about their strategies. A female editor wrote about fashion in MMOs. The EIC wrote down his thoughts on the last page, whining about how this or that was changing in the industry.
It wasn't top quality writing but it wasn't something you'd find on the internet, either.
Maybe they could just try to entice sells but including extras? We've all seen the plastic wrapped magazines that came with crappy CD's like Free AOL or beta game trials and shit. What about if the magazine came with stickers (I think Radiohead did this with their CD), posters or X-Box Live Gold monthly accounts? Something like that. I used to love those old gaming posters that were folded four-ways.
The old Nintendo Power is the perfect model of what a game magazine should be.
I remember buying the Nintendo Power with the Dragon Warrior guide just because the art and layout looked awesome. I didn't even own Dragon Warrior and when I tried it at my cousins house, I didn't understand wtf was going on (being so young). Still didn't stop me from buying that mag though.
Maybe they could just try to entice sells but including extras? We've all seen the plastic wrapped magazines that came with crappy CD's like Free AOL or beta game trials and shit. What about if the magazine came with stickers (I think Radiohead did this with their CD), posters or X-Box Live Gold monthly accounts? Something like that. I used to love those old gaming posters that were folded four-ways.
PSM used to do this all the time, and iirc, EGM did a few times as well.
Needless to say, when you knew that every month, there'd be a new PSX lid sticker for the flavor of the month game or a page of memory card stickers, that magazine got subscribed to immediately. I have a couple old style PSXes with Thrill Kill and the PSM logo lid stickers on them.
As for the posters, my childhood room was decked out in the Nintendo Power posters that were in each magazine (and the opposite side always had maps!). Nintendo Power used to give out stickers too, and I especially remember the brick Gameboy ones.
Replacing those goodies with 6 pages of ads stickied onto the front cover of the magazine didn't seem to have the same effect.
I'd be happy if EGM was full of the things I thought that made it a good magazine: fluff articles.
Seanbaby's articles on crappy games, 4-8 pages dedicated to classic games, old systems, and industry events (10 years ago in EGM...), Hsu and Chan, what's going on in other countries, game company profiles, and even Quartermann, who was in EGM since the beginning. Give Quartermann a full page again, dammit!
Those were the articles I'd read. I never really even read the reviews (they were all screwy across the board).
And finally, whoever wanted to bring back Ultra Game Players, I agree completely. I loved all of those guys, especially Bill Donohue. That magazine, at one period of time, used to make me laugh out loud due to the fantastically well-written humor.
And finally, whoever wanted to bring back Ultra Game Players, I agree completely. I loved all of those guys, especially Bill Donohue. That magazine, at one period of time, used to make me laugh out loud due to the fantastically well-written humor.
..."Ultra" was the beginning of the end for Game Players.
As for EGM, can't see a "monthly" website, as it were, working out so well. With a name like that, I think it would have to be a magazine.
But clearly, it can't put an emphasis on news, unless it has an exclusive. They'd really need to work on unique, quality content... articles and such.
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Was there ever any news at E3 about this? It was said they would have something there to announce or something. It is starting to sound like a hoax to me.
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So did I, but at some point I realized how bad of an investment gaming magazines had become.
-One problem I've found with gaming magazines is the space they take up. I used to subscribe to Nintendo Power a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away and I could never bring myself to throw a magazine away. This lead to a bookshelf full of old magazines, as well as a closet floor stacked full of them.
-Again, the whole internet thing.
-Most gaming magazines have lost their integrity. Nintendo Power was great back in the day, with the strategy guides and whatnot. At some point they turned into EGM, with ads all over the place and a logo change that looked very similar to EGM's. It seems like stuffing a magazine full of ads is the only way magazines can make money nowadays.
-The only reason I ever subscribed to EGM was because of a free offer from Gamefly. The only way that magazines ever get my business is through free deals or if they happen to come with something at Gamestop (the EB used game card comes with a Game Informer sub when you get one). Your business can't be terribly viable if you're relying on giving free subscriptions out left and right.
|Xbox Live Tag: Omeks
|PSN Tag: Omeks_R7
|Rock Band: Profile|DLC Collection
The old Nintendo Power is the perfect model of what a game magazine should be.
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One of the things I liked best was, up until 1998 or so, Nintendo forbid copious amounts of advertising in it. Unfortunately, now that it's published by someone other than Nintendo, this isn't so much the case.
|Xbox Live Tag: Omeks
|PSN Tag: Omeks_R7
|Rock Band: Profile|DLC Collection
Slave Labor Graphics will soon be offering a Johnny the Homicidal Maniac + any other comic deal.
Hsu and Chan is quite good.
I mean, just look at vinyl.
Fuck, I loved that magazine.
Anyhoo, can't get too excited about this. I was a huge reader of gaming mags and had a subscription to EGM for years and years, but those days (read: the 90's) are over. Even as far back as 2002-3 the mag was a shell of its former self, and it was only downhill from there.
At any rate, I can't imagine any current gaming mag being half as good as Edge, which is fantastic and worth every penny.
Do not insult vinyl.
It wasn't top quality writing but it wasn't something you'd find on the internet, either.
I still have a ton of them.
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I remember buying the Nintendo Power with the Dragon Warrior guide just because the art and layout looked awesome. I didn't even own Dragon Warrior and when I tried it at my cousins house, I didn't understand wtf was going on (being so young). Still didn't stop me from buying that mag though.
PSM used to do this all the time, and iirc, EGM did a few times as well.
Needless to say, when you knew that every month, there'd be a new PSX lid sticker for the flavor of the month game or a page of memory card stickers, that magazine got subscribed to immediately. I have a couple old style PSXes with Thrill Kill and the PSM logo lid stickers on them.
As for the posters, my childhood room was decked out in the Nintendo Power posters that were in each magazine (and the opposite side always had maps!). Nintendo Power used to give out stickers too, and I especially remember the brick Gameboy ones.
Replacing those goodies with 6 pages of ads stickied onto the front cover of the magazine didn't seem to have the same effect.
I'd be happy if EGM was full of the things I thought that made it a good magazine: fluff articles.
Seanbaby's articles on crappy games, 4-8 pages dedicated to classic games, old systems, and industry events (10 years ago in EGM...), Hsu and Chan, what's going on in other countries, game company profiles, and even Quartermann, who was in EGM since the beginning. Give Quartermann a full page again, dammit!
Those were the articles I'd read. I never really even read the reviews (they were all screwy across the board).
And finally, whoever wanted to bring back Ultra Game Players, I agree completely. I loved all of those guys, especially Bill Donohue. That magazine, at one period of time, used to make me laugh out loud due to the fantastically well-written humor.
The new Nintendo Power's really not bad, either. There was kind of an in-between time when it wasn't so hot, though.
..."Ultra" was the beginning of the end for Game Players.
As for EGM, can't see a "monthly" website, as it were, working out so well. With a name like that, I think it would have to be a magazine.
But clearly, it can't put an emphasis on news, unless it has an exclusive. They'd really need to work on unique, quality content... articles and such.
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
Tumblr | Twitter | Twitch | Pinny Arcade Lanyard
[3DS] 3394-3901-4002 | [Xbox/Steam] Redfield85
It's not like they were revered objects... but I don't like throwing things out.
It is odd to open it up and see a cover story on how totally fucking awesome this "Gamecube" is going to be.
"The buttons look like candy!"
HG: 5285 4128 5154
Look back through some of those old issues and see how well their previews match up.