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I've recently realised that just over a month ago I had my second anniversary and I'd like to share it with you all, although I'm not sure exactly when it was. I've nothing to do with birthdays, weddings or how long I've been seeing someone. No. Sometime in late April/early May 2 years ago was the last date I bought a video games related magazine.
Why is this important? Well it isn't but I'll tell you what's on my mind.
The last games magazine I bought was issue 28 of N64 Magazine, which I still own, tucked away in a drawer where I left it where it has just been unearthed as a part my 'should I buy a cheap second hand N64' debate. Why did I buy no more copies? It's not that the magazine had gone down hill or anything, I just felt that it wasn't worth the money anymore because of something I was discovering the videogames journalistic powers of: your friend and mine, the Internet.
There are loads of sites (admittedly some are really bad, but some really are good - IGN.com and videogames.com spring to mind at first but there are other notable ones) which are just like online magazines, with the added advantage of potentially providing news almost the moment it happens (or at least the day after), particularly at big shows like E3, and reviews that are always available before release dates and not just in the first issue they are ready by. Screenshots are available in vast quantities as well as movies of the games in action. PC game demos can be freely downloaded at will, rather than wait hoping that the game you want is on next months demo disc. Even SR provide a selection of up to date news items and they're, technically speaking, just an online shop.
Whereas you'd have to buy several magazines to get different opinions, with the Internet you can just jump to a different bookmark and read one of you other favourite sites.
Which brings me to my point. Is it still worth buying games magazines when the online equivalent offers all the same and so much more and all for free (excluding the minimal cost of the phone call)? Surely, with the steady decline in many publications sales there are an increasing number of people who agree with me.
Lets take the members of this site as a sample of the population (oh God help us if that were true ;) ). How many of us have stopped (or at least almost stopped) buying games magazine because of the Internet?
Why is this important? Well it isn't but I'll tell you what's on my mind.
The last games magazine I bought was issue 28 of N64 Magazine, which I still own, tucked away in a drawer where I left it where it has just been unearthed as a part my 'should I buy a cheap second hand N64' debate. Why did I buy no more copies? It's not that the magazine had gone down hill or anything, I just felt that it wasn't worth the money anymore because of something I was discovering the videogames journalistic powers of: your friend and mine, the Internet.
There are loads of sites (admittedly some are really bad, but some really are good - IGN.com and videogames.com spring to mind at first but there are other notable ones) which are just like online magazines, with the added advantage of potentially providing news almost the moment it happens (or at least the day after), particularly at big shows like E3, and reviews that are always available before release dates and not just in the first issue they are ready by. Screenshots are available in vast quantities as well as movies of the games in action. PC game demos can be freely downloaded at will, rather than wait hoping that the game you want is on next months demo disc. Even SR provide a selection of up to date news items and they're, technically speaking, just an online shop.
Whereas you'd have to buy several magazines to get different opinions, with the Internet you can just jump to a different bookmark and read one of you other favourite sites.
Which brings me to my point. Is it still worth buying games magazines when the online equivalent offers all the same and so much more and all for free (excluding the minimal cost of the phone call)? Surely, with the steady decline in many publications sales there are an increasing number of people who agree with me.
Lets take the members of this site as a sample of the population (oh God help us if that were true ;) ). How many of us have stopped (or at least almost stopped) buying games magazine because of the Internet?
SmokedKipper wrote:
Lets take the members of this site as a sample of the
> population (oh God help us if that were true ;) ). How many of us
> have stopped (or at least almost stopped) buying games magazine
> because of the Internet?
Thinking about it, I have stopped buying a few mags because of the net. The only advantage of a mag to the net is you can flick a page within 1.278956 seconds, with the internet you have to wait for the page to load up. The day when the net lets you play a few of the latest games out for free (like the demo of the Official PS2 Mag) will be the day I never by a mag again. I doubt if it wil come to that though, not for a couple of years at least. The issue with the net stopping some people from buying mags doesn't stop there. If you think about it, people can easily download games from the net, and even computer consoles. The internet is evil! :-O
Lets take the members of this site as a sample of the
> population (oh God help us if that were true ;) ). How many of us
> have stopped (or at least almost stopped) buying games magazine
> because of the Internet?
Thinking about it, I have stopped buying a few mags because of the net. The only advantage of a mag to the net is you can flick a page within 1.278956 seconds, with the internet you have to wait for the page to load up. The day when the net lets you play a few of the latest games out for free (like the demo of the Official PS2 Mag) will be the day I never by a mag again. I doubt if it wil come to that though, not for a couple of years at least. The issue with the net stopping some people from buying mags doesn't stop there. If you think about it, people can easily download games from the net, and even computer consoles. The internet is evil! :-O
I've recently realised that just over a month ago I had my second anniversary and I'd like to share it with you all, although I'm not sure exactly when it was. I've nothing to do with birthdays, weddings or how long I've been seeing someone. No. Sometime in late April/early May 2 years ago was the last date I bought a video games related magazine.
Why is this important? Well it isn't but I'll tell you what's on my mind.
The last games magazine I bought was issue 28 of N64 Magazine, which I still own, tucked away in a drawer where I left it where it has just been unearthed as a part my 'should I buy a cheap second hand N64' debate. Why did I buy no more copies? It's not that the magazine had gone down hill or anything, I just felt that it wasn't worth the money anymore because of something I was discovering the videogames journalistic powers of: your friend and mine, the Internet.
There are loads of sites (admittedly some are really bad, but some really are good - IGN.com and videogames.com spring to mind at first but there are other notable ones) which are just like online magazines, with the added advantage of potentially providing news almost the moment it happens (or at least the day after), particularly at big shows like E3, and reviews that are always available before release dates and not just in the first issue they are ready by. Screenshots are available in vast quantities as well as movies of the games in action. PC game demos can be freely downloaded at will, rather than wait hoping that the game you want is on next months demo disc. Even SR provide a selection of up to date news items and they're, technically speaking, just an online shop.
Whereas you'd have to buy several magazines to get different opinions, with the Internet you can just jump to a different bookmark and read one of you other favourite sites.
Which brings me to my point. Is it still worth buying games magazines when the online equivalent offers all the same and so much more and all for free (excluding the minimal cost of the phone call)? Surely, with the steady decline in many publications sales there are an increasing number of people who agree with me.
Lets take the members of this site as a sample of the population (oh God help us if that were true ;) ). How many of us have stopped (or at least almost stopped) buying games magazine because of the Internet?
Why is this important? Well it isn't but I'll tell you what's on my mind.
The last games magazine I bought was issue 28 of N64 Magazine, which I still own, tucked away in a drawer where I left it where it has just been unearthed as a part my 'should I buy a cheap second hand N64' debate. Why did I buy no more copies? It's not that the magazine had gone down hill or anything, I just felt that it wasn't worth the money anymore because of something I was discovering the videogames journalistic powers of: your friend and mine, the Internet.
There are loads of sites (admittedly some are really bad, but some really are good - IGN.com and videogames.com spring to mind at first but there are other notable ones) which are just like online magazines, with the added advantage of potentially providing news almost the moment it happens (or at least the day after), particularly at big shows like E3, and reviews that are always available before release dates and not just in the first issue they are ready by. Screenshots are available in vast quantities as well as movies of the games in action. PC game demos can be freely downloaded at will, rather than wait hoping that the game you want is on next months demo disc. Even SR provide a selection of up to date news items and they're, technically speaking, just an online shop.
Whereas you'd have to buy several magazines to get different opinions, with the Internet you can just jump to a different bookmark and read one of you other favourite sites.
Which brings me to my point. Is it still worth buying games magazines when the online equivalent offers all the same and so much more and all for free (excluding the minimal cost of the phone call)? Surely, with the steady decline in many publications sales there are an increasing number of people who agree with me.
Lets take the members of this site as a sample of the population (oh God help us if that were true ;) ). How many of us have stopped (or at least almost stopped) buying games magazine because of the Internet?