Post by boogieknight on Jul 27, 2009 17:21:33 GMT -5
Recently, Electronic Gaming Monthly went capoot, I figured this out when I got the notice explaining why I had a copy of Maxim magazine in my mailbox (I really aught to read the editor remarks in magazines I subscribe to). I know some years back, EGM2 was undergoing a series of identity changes and I think for a while they settled on Expert Gamer. When I think about it, I don't know if I had even seen it recently on the magazine racks. I don't recall when OPM collapsed, but its rival PSM seemed to fill the void and even became the new official magazine of the Playstation.
Ziff Davis is the owner of the magazines that vanished, and I have no doubt that the company has been in dire straights. I still wonder if there have been other print media game publications that have gone under and why this is so. Print media in general has been struggling because of the internet and some who think the papers are out of touch. Videogames for the most part strike me as an nonpolitical topic, so I have to wonder if anything other than the internet taking readers from them.
I have a few copies of old, old magazines and when I scan the pages I see very indepth hints and tips on games. Whole levels are shown on the pages of the magazines. These days, strategies and tricks are almost nonexistant, with only a few scraps that anybody could find anywhere else or figure out on their own. For the most part, the magazines are mostly publishing reviews that can be informative depending on how well you understand the tastes of the reviewers. The rest of the magazines tend to be some form of advertisement or promotions vieled as news. There is pretty much nothing the magazines offer that a potential reader can't find on the net for free.
Yet, in spite of these deficiencies, I can't help but feel like we're losing something important. Maybe it's the sense of tradition that I miss most: net sources are pratically not much different from the print, but the feeling of reading something that's had a continuity that I can hold in my hands.
Ziff Davis is the owner of the magazines that vanished, and I have no doubt that the company has been in dire straights. I still wonder if there have been other print media game publications that have gone under and why this is so. Print media in general has been struggling because of the internet and some who think the papers are out of touch. Videogames for the most part strike me as an nonpolitical topic, so I have to wonder if anything other than the internet taking readers from them.
I have a few copies of old, old magazines and when I scan the pages I see very indepth hints and tips on games. Whole levels are shown on the pages of the magazines. These days, strategies and tricks are almost nonexistant, with only a few scraps that anybody could find anywhere else or figure out on their own. For the most part, the magazines are mostly publishing reviews that can be informative depending on how well you understand the tastes of the reviewers. The rest of the magazines tend to be some form of advertisement or promotions vieled as news. There is pretty much nothing the magazines offer that a potential reader can't find on the net for free.
Yet, in spite of these deficiencies, I can't help but feel like we're losing something important. Maybe it's the sense of tradition that I miss most: net sources are pratically not much different from the print, but the feeling of reading something that's had a continuity that I can hold in my hands.
they have the added incentive of getting a discount at EB/gamestop.
well, console demos... my computer probably won't be able to handle anything on PCGamer's demo disks...