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Print Gaming Magazines Doomed?
Joystiq has a pair of interesting posts up looking at the future of print gaming publications. Besides positing on the future of the print media, they discuss subscription and reach rates for some of the major U.S. magazines. From that piece: "Game Informer really is several times larger than their nearest competitor. How did they manage that? And why the heck is the Official U.S. Playstation Magazine passed around so much than all the other publications?" I wonder what the differences are between here and abroad? In the UK, for example, there are a large number of publications, all of which seem to have avid readerships. (Though, with magazines like Edge and PC Gamer UK, it's hard not to see why.)
...go away forever, unlikely.
I'll be the first to say "you cant take it to the bathroom". But, as a subscriber to PC Gamer, I like the magazine. I have a job. I own a house. I do not have time to troll the internet looking at every review site under the sun. Boom, once a month I get a magazine, full of pretty pictures and (to me) well written articles that are both humorous and honest.
I also get Rolling Stone, yet I don't see articles talking about how that is going out of print anytime soon. (and it better not, I shelled out $50 bucks a few years ago to become a subscriber for life!)
I picked up Gamepro from the very first issue it ever printed and have been a subscriber ever since. Nowadays it is simply more out of habit and my family wanting to continue the tradition my grandmother started than my strong desire to read it. The problem with that magazine in particular was that the very strong minds in the writing and editorial staff were promoted or poached away to places that offered higher salaries/position. I can understand the lure of more money and escaping more of the "hectic deadline" kind of life, but it really hurt the magazine. The combination of newer people and an increased level of "make money with adds" rather than "provide substance to readers" culture brought the quality of the magazine down. They seemed much more interested in competing with other rags that wanted to play off the pop culture fads of the day,(I really REALLY don't care what games the tards in Linkin Park or from some sports team play), than providing me with a source of new info on the games/developments I was interested in. It is so bad today that any source of real news, like a new GTA or the Revolution controller, get full layouts as if it was written by that company's marketing dept, and maybe it is. Much of the genuine critiquing has gone by the wayside. Something has to be a HUGE pile of shit to get negative press.
I want to note one exception very quickly. The Buyers Beware section was an enourmously wonderful addition and incredibly inciteful into gaming bugs. it even does follow up for patches/fixes!
I am not saying that the kind of magazine I used to read does not exist. I am only stating that the general trend towards serving the industry instead of the consumer has plagued many of the major ones.
I am and always will be a stereotype, because who in their right mind prefers mono?
I may be one of the select few left in the world, but I prefer reading a good magazine over a good online article. Printed mediums are much lighter on the eyes, and the pages are not attacking the reader. Sure there are many ads in magazines, but rarely do printed ads flash incessantly or jump from corner to corner or scroll down until you hit the x in the corner.
However, I have completely stopped reading gaming magazines. It's not that they've stopped being useful. Oh wait, that's exactly it. Gaming magazines completely suck now, not because a physical form is more annoying than a flock of bits. I rather enjoy having a physical copy. No, it's the fact that nobody can write good articles, nobody can format pages well, and nobody can give me my $30 worth per year.
Take PCGamer. At one point (back in 1999), each issue was 200+ pages long (sometimes up to 300). The main articles generally featured some new information. Many of the writers shared a similar viewpoint for games, on which rule and which suck. Each issue had about 15 reviews, each receiving at least a page describing many areas of the game in great depth. Though usually serious, some excruciatingly bad games (Extreme Paintbrawl for example) had incredibly humorous reviews. And though the columns were relatively stale, the rest of the magazine provided much information and entertainment. I thoroughly looked forward to every issue.
After two years, the writing got pretty stale. Part of the reason was that the original team left and a former competitor "PC Accelerator" merged in, bringing some of the most audacious people. Many new policies were enacted, such as reviewing expansion packs (understandable), shrinking some reviews to half page (getting annoying), and reducing pages by every issue (what the hell?). Though the lack of money is the biggest reason why I did not renew again, I am rather glad now that I look back.
Lately, I've tried picking up another copy of PCGamer. Some poor (metaphorically... he's quite rich) friend actually thinks it's rather good so I flipped through. Complete crap. Well, it has some good stuff. 30 reviews! Oh wait, about 20 of them are on 5 pages. There's only about 50 pages of ads... in the 100 page magazine.
It's not just PCGamer though. I've had Computer Gaming World temporarily, and it was a crock of shit. Game Informer... well, let's just say that my friend and I made fun of every issue for about two hours at this other guy's house.
There was a time I trusted magazines. Now, I find myself detesting every one. Now I'm not saying that I find online columns fun to read (most of them are just stupid... take a look at the Sin and Punishment award, but do I really have to spend $30 a year just to have an incessant swearing spree per month?