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| OYashiroForever 489th Post
 
Gold Customer
    
    
|  "Re(1):Are magazines obsolete?"
, posted Mon 15 Sep 16:05:
quote:
Hey All,
So what do you all think. Are video game magazines a dinosaur about to go extinct? I started to think about this after I bought my FFTA bundle pack from nintendo.com. The pack came with FFTA plus other goodies plus a subscription to Nintendo Power. After thinking about it, I realized that this was just a promo offer for Nintendo Power. Basically Nintendo was using FFTA to push NPower subscriptions. So I'm thinking, the last time I had a video game magazine subscription was when Next Generation still existed (around 4 years ago I think). I really liked that magazine. I loved their website even more. So my point is, do you think video game magazines are worthwhile anymore? What about other news and entertainment magazines like Wizard? With the internet- a lot of information became free. I'll give you my 'contraversial' thoughts on all of this later in the thread.
Magazines have been dead for a while now IMHO (well, for the savvy game player, anyway). I try to read Play whenever I can because I'm a longtime fan of Dave Halverson (and company) and I think they deserve people's money (beautiful layouts, honest, well-written, and often brave reviews/previews, and some of the most poignant editorials ever written). Other than that, gaming rags have been a wasteland for years. Back when I worked at EB for years, I got all the mags for free so I actually did read them all.. and most of them weren't even worthy of being glossy toilet paper.
- There are too many: between console-specific rags, cheat-rags, and "official"-rags, the number of magazines on the shelves has skyrocketed... and it's dramatically affected the quality of each individual magazine.
- No more exclusives: yes, occasionally a magazine will reveal a real juicy tidbit or have a new set of pics on a hot game, but the internet has essentially killed exclusivity.
- WAY too much advertising. People whine and complain about pop-up ads? Try an average of 30-40 pgs. of advertisements per 120 pg. issue. <yawn> I understand that these folks need to pay the bills, but it's simply assanine when they start adding half-page and little corner ads in the middle of articles. Totally ruins layouts. Also immediately calls in to question any review given to a game that's advertised on the next page (hey... they have to pay the bills, right?).
- Terrible editors/reviews/etc.: seriously, does ANYONE know how to speak/write English anymore? I can think of a handful of unpaid, amateur game critics who are twice as eloquent as the hacks these mags employ. Apart from the abominable grammar/spelling, half of the time these reviews look like they're being read directly from a PR sheet. They're boring, uninformative, and don't give you any idea whether game X is the type of game you'd be interested in playing.
Okay, I went on and on about this far too long. People are, of course, free to argue any of these points... personally, I think the relevance of paper rags is a very interesting and important issue we face in the "digital age".
"Only two things are infinite the universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the former."
"Your denial is beneath you and thanks to the use of hallucinogenic drugs I see through you."
[this message was edited by OYashiroForever on Mon 15 Sep 16:08] |
| CrazyMax 302th Post
Bronze Customer
| "Re(1):Are magazines obsolete?" , posted Mon 15 Sep 17:44
quote:
Hey All,
So what do you all think. Are video game magazines a dinosaur about to go extinct? I started to think about this after I bought my FFTA bundle pack from nintendo.com. The pack came with FFTA plus other goodies plus a subscription to Nintendo Power. After thinking about it, I realized that this was just a promo offer for Nintendo Power. Basically Nintendo was using FFTA to push NPower subscriptions. So I'm thinking, the last time I had a video game magazine subscription was when Next Generation still existed (around 4 years ago I think). I really liked that magazine. I loved their website even more. So my point is, do you think video game magazines are worthwhile anymore? What about other news and entertainment magazines like Wizard? With the internet- a lot of information became free. I'll give you my 'contraversial' thoughts on all of this later in the thread.
I for one hope mags never go away. As a would be artist, I like having physical copies of screen shots and character drawings. I don't want to have to print out stuff on my comp all the time.
So for me, mags rule. With that, mags like Play are the best, that and UK mags. On the flip side, I got bored with Play's whole attitude. "This game is great cause we say so, if you or the other mags don't like it's probably because you are not the hard core gamers we are" and blah and blah...
Eventually it just got on my nerves, and the idea they aren't hip on the idea that you may not agree with their opinions just got old. I also hate mags that plastic bag. I know it keeps people from reading the mag in the store, but it also keeps me from deciding if there is anything of worth in the mag. I eventually made it a policy that any mag that plastic bags ALL the time, isn't worth getting. Thus explaining one more reason why I pass on Gamepro.
I have found myself getting copies of Game Informer and XBN lately more and more, and I enjoy them. Of course for up to date news, I rely on the internet ( of sorts ).
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| DarkZero 305th Post
Bronze Customer
| "Re(2):Are magazines obsolete?" , posted Tue 16 Sep 01:22
quote:
I read EGM still since they tend to have good exclusives, reputable reviews and their rumor section is very accurate and usually isn't beaten by the Internet. Generally magazines have a higher standard of writing (although obviously that isn't the rule). Plus Seanbaby!
This is exactly what I was going to post. It took most sites at least a week to post all of the exclusive information that EGM has gotten for Enter the Matrix, Lament of Innocence, and Rebel Strike, and they lacked the jaw-droppingly beautiful full size Ayami Kojima character art, as well as the various extras, such as the interview with Ayami Kojima and the insane Castlevania game ideas that Ken Igarashi has rejected in the past, like virtual reality Simon Belmont vs. Cyber Dracula.
Their reviews are also almost always dead-on. I find most game amateur game reviews (Gameforms, Games Are Fun, etc.) to be lacking and most magazines to be aimed at the lowest common denominator (OPM shaved two points out of five off Shinobi's score because it was "ridiculously, stupidly hard"), but EGM's are well-written and aimed at my age group and skill level. When I see sites like Games Are Fun, Phuck-IGN, Penny Arcade, 8-Bit Theater, and the members of this board raving about a game, EGM is usually the only one to explain WHY the game is so wonderful, instead of just "It fucking rocks, dude".
I think that as the dust begins to settle and these magazines enjoy more and more diminished sales, only three magazines will survive: EGM, Play, and the Officials. EGM will survive because it is well-written and realizes that thanks to the wonders of the internet, you do not need cheat codes and walthroughs, but rather intelligently written reviews and serious exclusives. Play is a wonderful magazine if you ignore everything written in it. It's like a monthly multi-game artbook and there's something to be said for that. And the Official magazines, like OPM and OXM really, really suck, but they have game demos.
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| Luisinan 446th Post
Gold Customer
| "Re(1):Are magazines obsolete?" , posted Tue 16 Sep 02:33
I pretty much agree with what you have all posted. I personally don't think that print mags will go away-- unless the quality of the magazine continues to decline. I haven't read EGM in years but I'm happy to hear that they are an 'honest' and high quality magazine.
Exclusives are certainly one way to stay ahead of the internet but exclusives don't go a long way for me. One of the reasons I loved Next Generation the magazine and website was because it was very thoughtful about the future of video games. Next Gen was more about the current state of the industry and where the industry was going. The magazine studied the new, the old, the successful, the failure and the possible future of the industry. Very thoughtful and my kind of magazine. Unfortunately, it went out of print.
I guess the other reason I posted this question was because another reason I'd buy printed information on a video game was because I bought the FFTA guide. The last time I bought an English language guide was when Zelda Link to the Past came out for the SNES (I didn't even have an SNES!) I got a Japanese CVS2 guide a year or two ago. Anyway, I really like my FFTA guide- it has a ton of info, nicely layed out, with great artwork- everything nicely put together. My point is that I know I could get this info for free at gamefaqs, but I'm more then willing to buy a guide if it's just as informational as any good faq and nicely designed. I wouldn't want my monthly video game mag to be full of game guides cause I buy very few games-- but I want my ideal game mag to be just as informative and neatly designed as the best game guides out there.
So in conclusion- yeah, I think I'd like American magazines to emulate the Japanese more. I love the Arcadia scans that we get on the new fighters. It seems to me that Arcadia molds itself around the newest fighter/game and reshapes its magazine to suit the hottest new release-- whereas a lot of American mags just seem to use the games as filler for their magazine.
Like DarkZero said, EGM tells you "why" the game is good. Its that kind of thoughtfulness that will help magazines continue to sell. Who cares for a magazine full of opinions. But a magazine that tells you "why" and "how" Silent Hill manages to be so damn scary is a magazine that is worth the time to read.
Yeah, so end rambler-- there are a lot of bad magazines and they deserve to go away.
Bored? "160"
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| shindekudasai
4th Post
New Customer
| "Re(2):Are magazines obsolete?" , posted Tue 16 Sep 12:01
quote:
Game magazines died when Gamefan folded
Sad but true. : (
quote:
... I find most game amateur game reviews (Gameforms, Games Are Fun, etc.) to be lacking ... When I see sites like Games Are Fun, Phuck-IGN, Penny Arcade, 8-Bit Theater, and the members of this board raving about a game, EGM is usually the only one to explain WHY the game is so wonderful, instead of just "It fucking rocks, dude".
Gameforms' predecessor, The G.I.A., was a great site that always had tons of content, be it reviews, previews, pics, spoilers, whatnot. They were also affiliated with J.Parish, who is one of my favorite game reviewers. Anybody who has been to the old Toasty Frog website knows what I'm talking about. His article on videogames and religion alone had me in stitches for days, and the web's only Shrine to Lucky Dan certainly was full of wit and humor. Sadly, since he's decided to scrap and reformat his website (again), this content has been lost to the sands of time. Which is a shame, since www.toastyfrog.com was to videogames just as www.badassmofo.com is to, well, non-game ... stuff. Aside from the pie, of course.
Wither Blister Burn + Peel
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| irish angst
0th Post
New Customer
| "Re(3):Are magazines obsolete?" , posted Tue 16 Sep 12:50
quote:
Gameforms' predecessor, The G.I.A., was a great site that always had tons of content, be it reviews, previews, pics, spoilers, whatnot. They were also affiliated with J.Parish, who is one of my favorite game reviewers. Anybody who has been to the old Toasty Frog website knows what I'm talking about. His article on videogames and religion alone had me in stitches for days, and the web's only Shrine to Lucky Dan certainly was full of wit and humor. Sadly, since he's decided to scrap and reformat his website (again), this content has been lost to the sands of time. Which is a shame, since www.toastyfrog.com was to videogames just as www.badassmofo.com is to, well, non-game ... stuff. Aside from the pie, of course.
Gameforms isn't a bad site. I worked there for a brief stretch of time and discovered that it was exactly the same as working on other sites like GamesAreFun. It works against the writer as an individual more often than not. Instead of huge sites with various writers, I believe that more should be producing their own sites, rather than just grouping together with a collective of writers.
What I've noticed is that sometimes the whole issue of site standards can sometime adversely affect the writing skills of those involved. The writers need to write in the way that feels most natural for them in order to tap into the innate abilities, which otherwise might remain dormant.
On the issue of magazines: I like them. Just having the ability to touch something and read it away from the computer screen is a wonderful experience that can't be duplicated. I might just be old-fashioned that way, though.
what the world needs now is more postmodern videogame articles
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| Hungrywolf 2336th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
    
    
    
| "Re(4):Are magazines obsolete?" , posted Tue 16 Sep 13:46
quote:
Gameforms' predecessor, The G.I.A., was a great site that always had tons of content, be it reviews, previews, pics, spoilers, whatnot. They were also affiliated with J.Parish, who is one of my favorite game reviewers. Anybody who has been to the old Toasty Frog website knows what I'm talking about. His article on videogames and religion alone had me in stitches for days, and the web's only Shrine to Lucky Dan certainly was full of wit and humor. Sadly, since he's decided to scrap and reformat his website (again), this content has been lost to the sands of time. Which is a shame, since www.toastyfrog.com was to videogames just as www.badassmofo.com is to, well, non-game ... stuff. Aside from the pie, of course.
Gameforms isn't a bad site. I worked there for a brief stretch of time and discovered that it was exactly the same as working on other sites like GamesAreFun. It works against the writer as an individual more often than not. Instead of huge sites with various writers, I believe that more should be producing their own sites, rather than just grouping together with a collective of writers.
What I've noticed is that sometimes the whole issue of site standards can sometime adversely affect the writing skills of those involved. The writers need to write in the way that feels most natural for them in order to tap into the innate abilities, which otherwise might remain dormant.
On the issue of magazines: I like them. Just having the ability to touch something and read it away from the computer screen is a wonderful experience that can't be duplicated. I might just be old-fashioned that way, though.
I like Nintendo Power.
Welcome to the cafe, Irish Angst.
 MESSATSU
"You're good baby I'll give you that.....but me? I'm magic!"
-Bullseye Daredevil movie
Hungry Like the Wolf
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| irish angst
2th Post
New Customer
| "Re(5):Are magazines obsolete?" , posted Tue 16 Sep 14:55
quote:
Gameforms' predecessor, The G.I.A., was a great site that always had tons of content, be it reviews, previews, pics, spoilers, whatnot. They were also affiliated with J.Parish, who is one of my favorite game reviewers. Anybody who has been to the old Toasty Frog website knows what I'm talking about. His article on videogames and religion alone had me in stitches for days, and the web's only Shrine to Lucky Dan certainly was full of wit and humor. Sadly, since he's decided to scrap and reformat his website (again), this content has been lost to the sands of time. Which is a shame, since www.toastyfrog.com was to videogames just as www.badassmofo.com is to, well, non-game ... stuff. Aside from the pie, of course.
Gameforms isn't a bad site. I worked there for a brief stretch of time and discovered that it was exactly the same as working on other sites like GamesAreFun. It works against the writer as an individual more often than not. Instead of huge sites with various writers, I believe that more should be producing their own sites, rather than just grouping together with a collective of writers.
What I've noticed is that sometimes the whole issue of site standards can sometime adversely affect the writing skills of those involved. The writers need to write in the way that feels most natural for them in order to tap into the innate abilities, which otherwise might remain dormant.
On the issue of magazines: I like them. Just having the ability to touch something and read it away from the computer screen is a wonderful experience that can't be duplicated. I might just be old-fashioned that way, though.
I like Nintendo Power.
Welcome to the cafe, Irish Angst.
MESSATSU
Thanks much, now where is the tea I ordered two hours ago!? I like tea about as much as I like games, and I'm a man who likes his tea.
what the world needs now is more postmodern videogame articles
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| DarkZero 309th Post
Bronze Customer
| "Re(6):Are magazines obsolete?" , posted Tue 16 Sep 16:29
I really shouldn't have mentioned Gameforms. Gameforms is a great site... provided that you like your news and reviews a day late and a dollar short. The sites that I read frequently, namely Magic Box, Phuck-IGN, and Games Are Fun, are usually two to three days ahead of Gameforms in terms of news, and more complete to boot. And Gameforms' reviews, well... they're alright, but GameSpot and Game Are Fun blow them out of the water, even thouh I don't think that GAF's reviews are all that great.
Then again, maybe they would be a good site if I didn't have the memory of the GIA fresh in my head. The GIA was actually AHEAD of most other sites in its time and they somehow managed to dig up piles and piles of FFIX spoilers and concept art roughly a year and a half before its release, before the game had even been announced by Squaresoft. They had it so early that they actually thought it might be FFT2 instead of FFIX. No one, to my memory, has ever pulled anything like that off. Ever.
quote:
I think I was the only one that brought up IGN on this thread. I was under the impression that they were related to EGM somehow (same owner maybe?) but thats about it. But that got cleared up already.
Yes, yes. The moment of stupidity has passed. Sorry about that. I saw Radish's response and... I don't know. I went senile.
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| irish angst
4th Post
New Customer
| "Re(7):Are magazines obsolete?" , posted Tue 16 Sep 17:56
quote:
I really shouldn't have mentioned Gameforms. Gameforms is a great site... provided that you like your news and reviews a day late and a dollar short. The sites that I read frequently, namely Magic Box, Phuck-IGN, and Games Are Fun, are usually two to three days ahead of Gameforms in terms of news, and more complete to boot. And Gameforms' reviews, well... they're alright, but GameSpot and Game Are Fun blow them out of the water, even thouh I don't think that GAF's reviews are all that great.
Then again, maybe they would be a good site if I didn't have the memory of the GIA fresh in my head. The GIA was actually AHEAD of most other sites in its time and they somehow managed to dig up piles and piles of FFIX spoilers and concept art roughly a year and a half before its release, before the game had even been announced by Squaresoft. They had it so early that they actually thought it might be FFT2 instead of FFIX. No one, to my memory, has ever pulled anything like that off. Ever.
I think I was the only one that brought up IGN on this thread. I was under the impression that they were related to EGM somehow (same owner maybe?) but thats about it. But that got cleared up already.
Yes, yes. The moment of stupidity has passed. Sorry about that. I saw Radish's response and... I don't know. I went senile.
I swore to abstain from IGN for the rest of my life after loading the main page to see McDonald's excrements splattered over the page like a bargin-bin hooker.
what the world needs now is more postmodern videogame articles
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| Ammadeau 445th Post
Gold Customer
| "Re(6):Are magazines obsolete?" , posted Wed 17 Sep 03:46
quote:
He was obviously referring to the facts that A) EGM's reviewers don't think to themselves "Wow, this game really sucks, but we put it on our cover two months ago, so we have to inflate its review score", and B) EGM's reviews don't say "This game fucking rocks" or "This game sucks" the way most online game reviews do, but rather tend to give it a score that's more toward the middle of the range while pointing out its good and bad portions. If you're saying that all of the writers of the world are incapable of analyzing a game in any more mature way than "It fucking rocks" or "It sucks", then I think that's pretty ignorant. That's a level of cynicism that even I find insipid.
Nein, nein, nein.
I'd say EGM is easily the best of the print / big internet reviewers, but even they sometimes have reviews of games I have played which I completely disagree with, finding the review either didn't fully understand the game (for the ones scored too low) or was ignoring some obvious flaws (scored too high). But that only shows that I too am biased and likely ignoring flaws and misunderstanding games. So it's all relative, but I find my opinions just don't jive with the general bias of the mags.
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"Re(6):Are magazines obsolete?" 
"Re(7):Are magazines obsolete?" 
