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I've come to realise something. Magazines. More specifcly gaming ones. Er. Why? Every month, I used to spend about £10-15 on games magazines, such as NGC and PCZone, and maybe even Edge. Now the fact is, is that I never needed them. They also clutter up my otherwise clean (er..yes.....) bedroom.
Lets think about this. Every time I bought NGC, I was buying information that I already knew. I knew what Nintendo were up to, I knew what games were being released, I knew half a dozen opinions about games already. All from the internet, which I don't pay for (hehe!) and as such, a magazine becomes valuable only for its input from the people who make it - the opinions (i.e reviews), letters and the actual physical mag. Now, is it just me, or is that just really pointless? Sure, NGC may be the best Nintendo mag around, and have some amusing stuff, along with up to date info, but what is the point of spending £3+ to read about what I already knew?
Lets take a look at the net first. It gives me every single piece of gaming information I need, costs nothing, and also provides you with an almost infinite amount of opinions. Confusing perhaps, but not if you know what you're after, which I presume we all do; Good games. The net may lack the humour, but do you really buy a gaming mag to find humour?
A magazine on the other hand, is written several weeks before you buy a it, does not have such up to date information. And it costs £3-5 a pop (especialy the PC mags). Now why? The simple fact is, is that in 2 months, on my situation, I could have bought one of the games the mags ranted about, rather than reading about them. That annoys me. The only real strong argument for a games mag is demos (which you can get off the net, but only if you are lucky). OXM, PC Zone/Gamer, and OPS2 all have demo discs. But they all cost £5+. Oh joy. And the fact you have a 'physical object'. Print off an internet page. Done. The other strong point of a mag is the 'institution' it creates. The challenges, the letters etc. But that, my friends, does not get you one step closer to finding things about games. Just look on the net for any challenges you want.......and letters......and message boards.....and chat rooms.......etc.
Magazines have to contend with publishers, dates, games developers and costs. A website has to contend with how much info it can put up. Usualy a lot more than a 100 page magazine. Multiply that by...oo...6 for every good games website. And its free-ish. More so than a mag. And that money you save could go buy you a nice new shiny game, courtesy of that fantastic review you found off IGN......
Lets think about this. Every time I bought NGC, I was buying information that I already knew. I knew what Nintendo were up to, I knew what games were being released, I knew half a dozen opinions about games already. All from the internet, which I don't pay for (hehe!) and as such, a magazine becomes valuable only for its input from the people who make it - the opinions (i.e reviews), letters and the actual physical mag. Now, is it just me, or is that just really pointless? Sure, NGC may be the best Nintendo mag around, and have some amusing stuff, along with up to date info, but what is the point of spending £3+ to read about what I already knew?
Lets take a look at the net first. It gives me every single piece of gaming information I need, costs nothing, and also provides you with an almost infinite amount of opinions. Confusing perhaps, but not if you know what you're after, which I presume we all do; Good games. The net may lack the humour, but do you really buy a gaming mag to find humour?
A magazine on the other hand, is written several weeks before you buy a it, does not have such up to date information. And it costs £3-5 a pop (especialy the PC mags). Now why? The simple fact is, is that in 2 months, on my situation, I could have bought one of the games the mags ranted about, rather than reading about them. That annoys me. The only real strong argument for a games mag is demos (which you can get off the net, but only if you are lucky). OXM, PC Zone/Gamer, and OPS2 all have demo discs. But they all cost £5+. Oh joy. And the fact you have a 'physical object'. Print off an internet page. Done. The other strong point of a mag is the 'institution' it creates. The challenges, the letters etc. But that, my friends, does not get you one step closer to finding things about games. Just look on the net for any challenges you want.......and letters......and message boards.....and chat rooms.......etc.
Magazines have to contend with publishers, dates, games developers and costs. A website has to contend with how much info it can put up. Usualy a lot more than a 100 page magazine. Multiply that by...oo...6 for every good games website. And its free-ish. More so than a mag. And that money you save could go buy you a nice new shiny game, courtesy of that fantastic review you found off IGN......
OXM and XBM
(and Special Reserve, obviously)
(and Special Reserve, obviously)
I recently read - not sure where, might have been OPS2M - that the UK has a much bigger magazine buying culture than other countries such as the states. Strange.
I've been buying Play magazine since the very first issue. I guess it's just force of habit that I still buy it now, because I don't really need it. It was handy in the days when I didn't have internet access, but those days are long gone. Probably a waste of my money now, but knwoing me I'll keep buying it anyway!
I've come to realise something. Magazines. More specifcly gaming ones. Er. Why? Every month, I used to spend about £10-15 on games magazines, such as NGC and PCZone, and maybe even Edge. Now the fact is, is that I never needed them. They also clutter up my otherwise clean (er..yes.....) bedroom.
Lets think about this. Every time I bought NGC, I was buying information that I already knew. I knew what Nintendo were up to, I knew what games were being released, I knew half a dozen opinions about games already. All from the internet, which I don't pay for (hehe!) and as such, a magazine becomes valuable only for its input from the people who make it - the opinions (i.e reviews), letters and the actual physical mag. Now, is it just me, or is that just really pointless? Sure, NGC may be the best Nintendo mag around, and have some amusing stuff, along with up to date info, but what is the point of spending £3+ to read about what I already knew?
Lets take a look at the net first. It gives me every single piece of gaming information I need, costs nothing, and also provides you with an almost infinite amount of opinions. Confusing perhaps, but not if you know what you're after, which I presume we all do; Good games. The net may lack the humour, but do you really buy a gaming mag to find humour?
A magazine on the other hand, is written several weeks before you buy a it, does not have such up to date information. And it costs £3-5 a pop (especialy the PC mags). Now why? The simple fact is, is that in 2 months, on my situation, I could have bought one of the games the mags ranted about, rather than reading about them. That annoys me. The only real strong argument for a games mag is demos (which you can get off the net, but only if you are lucky). OXM, PC Zone/Gamer, and OPS2 all have demo discs. But they all cost £5+. Oh joy. And the fact you have a 'physical object'. Print off an internet page. Done. The other strong point of a mag is the 'institution' it creates. The challenges, the letters etc. But that, my friends, does not get you one step closer to finding things about games. Just look on the net for any challenges you want.......and letters......and message boards.....and chat rooms.......etc.
Magazines have to contend with publishers, dates, games developers and costs. A website has to contend with how much info it can put up. Usualy a lot more than a 100 page magazine. Multiply that by...oo...6 for every good games website. And its free-ish. More so than a mag. And that money you save could go buy you a nice new shiny game, courtesy of that fantastic review you found off IGN......
Lets think about this. Every time I bought NGC, I was buying information that I already knew. I knew what Nintendo were up to, I knew what games were being released, I knew half a dozen opinions about games already. All from the internet, which I don't pay for (hehe!) and as such, a magazine becomes valuable only for its input from the people who make it - the opinions (i.e reviews), letters and the actual physical mag. Now, is it just me, or is that just really pointless? Sure, NGC may be the best Nintendo mag around, and have some amusing stuff, along with up to date info, but what is the point of spending £3+ to read about what I already knew?
Lets take a look at the net first. It gives me every single piece of gaming information I need, costs nothing, and also provides you with an almost infinite amount of opinions. Confusing perhaps, but not if you know what you're after, which I presume we all do; Good games. The net may lack the humour, but do you really buy a gaming mag to find humour?
A magazine on the other hand, is written several weeks before you buy a it, does not have such up to date information. And it costs £3-5 a pop (especialy the PC mags). Now why? The simple fact is, is that in 2 months, on my situation, I could have bought one of the games the mags ranted about, rather than reading about them. That annoys me. The only real strong argument for a games mag is demos (which you can get off the net, but only if you are lucky). OXM, PC Zone/Gamer, and OPS2 all have demo discs. But they all cost £5+. Oh joy. And the fact you have a 'physical object'. Print off an internet page. Done. The other strong point of a mag is the 'institution' it creates. The challenges, the letters etc. But that, my friends, does not get you one step closer to finding things about games. Just look on the net for any challenges you want.......and letters......and message boards.....and chat rooms.......etc.
Magazines have to contend with publishers, dates, games developers and costs. A website has to contend with how much info it can put up. Usualy a lot more than a 100 page magazine. Multiply that by...oo...6 for every good games website. And its free-ish. More so than a mag. And that money you save could go buy you a nice new shiny game, courtesy of that fantastic review you found off IGN......