Gaming mags

[crazyjoedavola]

I was recentlly thumbing through some newer Gamepro magazines at the library and, not to take anything away from Gamepro, I started to lament the fact that my two favorite gaming magazines are gone. Gamefan and Next Generation were the two publications that I bought religously. I loved Gamefan for their import coverage and Next Gen because it had great, in depth articles and was slanted more towards an adult audience.

I was just curious as to what other gaming magazines everyone else out there were, or still are, high on.

[Vicman]

I was extremely high on Gamer's Republic. Their sudden end was quite dissapointing as they replaced my subscription to them with Gamepro.

Dave Halverson's current mag "Play" has great art and the best quality paper around, but his extremely fanboyish/biased writing towards platformers has only worsened with time, his fellow writers can be quite stale, the reviews are VERY unbalanced, and there's just WAY too much focus on Anime/Manga/Tech/Film/Music for what's supposed to primarily be a gaming mag (usually 25-30 pages). There's also an increased focus on PC gaming now in the mag. and I'm just not that interested in PC gaming.

Also for a gaming mag that's usually 90-100 pages they don't have enough in-depth reviews, usually less than 5 games seriously covered with a bunch of single short paragraph reviews for the rest, while writing gigantic previews overhyping what usually ends up being a mediocre game. It's like they intentionally try to seekout under the radar games as if they're appealing to the hardcore but often get it wrong IMO. It's a VERY hit or miss magainze that has some outstanding positives and some VERY glaring negatives. I'm dissapointed in my subscription so far.

To get a gist of just how fanboyish Dave Halverson get's with platformers, which is disgusting seeing as how he's supposed to be a professional afterall, checkout Play's score of these games versus the rest of the gaming world:

Death Jr. - Play 9.0 Ave 6.8
http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages4/920140.asp

Sonic Heroes (Xbox) - Play 9.5 Ave 7.5
http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages4/914713.asp

Tork - Play 87.5 Ave 6.3
http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages4/561516.asp

Voodoo Vince - Play 9.5 Ave 7.7
http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages4/914770.asp

Legend of Kay - Play 9.0 Ave 7.6
http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages4/917925.asp

Crash Twinsanity - Play 8.5 Ave 6.7
http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages4/920120.asp

I could go on and on. It's lame that Dave's overt bias towards platformers taints his magazine so heavily.

Lastly, I 'd never seen fanboyism towards video game magazine editors until I went over to Play's forums. It was the most bizarre/cultish thing I had seen in a while. I understand platform fanboyism, but game mag editor fan-worship? Good god!

[Dartagnan1083]

Here's a better knock on Halverson
http://www.segabastard.com/features/playnight.html
Actually quite hillarious

On a side note I really don't miss Next-Gen.
Their coverage style was ok, but their reviewing system seemed a bit skewed. I can't put my finger on it directly, but it really wasn't something I enjoyed.

I miss the EGM of old. . .back when Davidson was in charge.
Dan Hsu has turned the magazine into a shadow of its former self.
I also miss GMR, which had consistant quality between all their issues.

[Vicman]

That's an awesome link and gets alot of my feelings across quite hilariously. I've often found myself saying, WTF, to some of the extravagant BS spouted by not only Dave but his fellow editors of Play. It's like every game brought something totally new and breathed life into the sagging "XYZ" genre.

The latest offender was that horrendous Ashley Esqueda spouting off that Makai Kingdom, of all games, breathed new life into the, supposedly stale, S-RPG genre; even though she rated the game a 7! You mean to tell me a mediocre S-RPG, that doesn't even come close to licking the boots of Disgaea, has breathed new life into the "stale" S-RPG genre?! :rolleyes:

[Vicman]

That SegaBastard site it hilarious! I was laughing so hard tears came out over this "Stereotyping of the 16-bit war" article.
http://www.segabastard.com/features/stereotypes.html

Here's a snippet:

"You can't talk to anyone who loved his SNES without him telling you about being tortured by Sega fans. They'll spend hours whining in a trembly, fearful tone about the Genesis fans rolling them for lunch money or grabbing their moms' asses. Genesis fans were known as crude and unrefined. They caused SNES fans to walk on the other side of the street; it was only a matter of eye contact before the Genesis man would break out some noogies or Indian burns."

[crazyjoedavola]

[quote="Dartagnan1083"]Here's a better knock on Halverson
http://www.segabastard.com/features/playnight.html
Actually quite hillarious



That was a great write up. I should start picking up that magazine just for the entertainment value.

[Vicman]

Here's another stab at Play from SegaBastard:
http://www.segabastard.com/etc/play.html

"The meat of the matter

There's not hope to be found here. Dave Halverson and his projects get sadder with every issue of every endeavor. I wish I'd kept the pathetic Gamer's Republic's PS2 launch issue, which was the butt herpes of print media. But I didn't, so I'm left with what they've become: a sad lot of imitators, wannabes and spineless shills who fail spectacularly at being the hardcore voice they doubtlessly think they are."

[Melf]

You guys need to read Hardcore Gamer Magazine. It's an up-and-coming mag with some of the old GF staff on board (Wolfinger art!), and lots of dedicated new blood, including yours truly.

You can DL each issue as a PDF for free, but the mag itself is well worth buying. We're getting better with every issue, and I wholeheartedly recommend giving it a try.

*Edit- Sending this thread to Insert Coin, since it's game-related.

[Vicman]

Shameless plug! :P Plus I didn't like what I read in Bahn's blog about the mag. I might DL the latest issue but I want to see how it does for a few months before plunking down for a 3rd gaming mag sub, 4th in total mag subs.

[dementia]

Gamers Republic was rather decent.

I loved Gamefan above all though.

[Drixxel]

For some reason I used to really enjoy reading Game Players.. in fact my first gaming mag was an issue of Game Players featuring Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors 2 on the cover.

Then I came to my senses and started reading Gamefan. I have a bunch of old GamePro's from the early '90s that I thumb through every now and again, but Gamefan is undeniably the best mag up until the late '90s.

I may have to check out this Hardcore Gamer Magazine.. how well is it distributed, Melf?

[j_factor]

Play was awesome when it first appeared. It has since declined.

Video Game Collector (quarterly) is a pretty decent mag, but I have a personal objection to its editor-in-chief, Zach Meston. He's quite a nincompoop. While freelancing for Gamespot, he was charged with reviewing NiGHTS. He gave it a 6.3, saying, "How come I spend as much time on the ground as do I in the air - I thought this was supposed to be fast-action flying?" How does this guy get any work? Even his new reviews are still stupid -- "[Growlanser] Generations suffers from a nacho-cheesy localization and a cast of metrosexual male characters, but the gameplay is rock solid" -- he actually gets paid to write such drivel?

Anyway, I'd also give the nod to HGM, it's pretty nice.

I'd really like to check out Gamers Quarter. Most of its staff are people from the Insert Credit forums (but not the actual IC writers). Which should make for some very interesting reading.

[David J.]

I quit reading game mags.

I only read them for news. But now that the internet has become widespread, there's no need for me too.

[Melf]

I may have to check out this Hardcore Gamer Magazine.. how well is it distributed, Melf?

It's national, and already available in EB, Game Crazy, and Game Stop. Issue #4 will be available in major book stores like Barnes & Noble and Borders, so we've gotten off to a pretty good start.

[Fang]

I used to get EGM every month back in the 90's to check out what new genesis games were coming out. I don't buy videogame mags though I will read them at the library.