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What is it good for? Hurrgh!
Sorry, I've got the Frankie Goes To Hollywood version playing at the moment, but it seems an appropriate comment.
Back in the early 80s, there were a lot of new computer magazines like Sinclair User coming out. These were usually run by small, independant enthusiasts, they were full of interesting articles about programming, they including code listings, they talked about games and hardware in an excited and independantly enthusiastic way.
If they told you that Frogger for the Spectrum 48k was the bee's knees you went out and bought it, (or most often ordered it via mail), and so it was.
Jump forward 20 years to the present day and what have we got? Well, we've got two major publishers who have quite a monopoly over the Gaming Journalism magazine market, namely Future Publishing (Bath) and Paragon Publishing (Bournemouth).
But with both of them, going through the majority of their titles, I get the impression that it's not really 'news' that they're giving us anymore. Most of the magazines have maybe one or two pages devoted to Jap News/Rumours/Gossip and the rest is a mix of glossy advertisements selling games, or previews and reviews that seem to be 'slightly' influenced by how big a lunch the respective publisher put the impoverished journalist's way.
One outstanding title is Edge Magazine (Future Publishing). Despite its love of the GBA they do tend to focus more on what the developers are up to, how they are doing it, and what possible ramifications some of the results may have on gaming in the future, and they frequently include articles written by major contributers to the industry, giving you a ground zero opinion rather than a third party view.
This, to me, is 'news'. One recent article, for example, opened my eyes to how the major game retailers really pummel the game publisher when it comes to stocking their product, and how the independants were trying to combat them. In some cases (Infogrames was the publisher in question I think), the publisher was actually LOSING money by getting a particular chain to sell its game.
I think that in short, we need more investigative jouralists in the gaming sector rather than the ones that are just trying to sell copy with a snazzy review of a game that I've known about for months already.
Or maybe I'm in a minority and things will carry on as they are.
Sorry, I've got the Frankie Goes To Hollywood version playing at the moment, but it seems an appropriate comment.
Back in the early 80s, there were a lot of new computer magazines like Sinclair User coming out. These were usually run by small, independant enthusiasts, they were full of interesting articles about programming, they including code listings, they talked about games and hardware in an excited and independantly enthusiastic way.
If they told you that Frogger for the Spectrum 48k was the bee's knees you went out and bought it, (or most often ordered it via mail), and so it was.
Jump forward 20 years to the present day and what have we got? Well, we've got two major publishers who have quite a monopoly over the Gaming Journalism magazine market, namely Future Publishing (Bath) and Paragon Publishing (Bournemouth).
But with both of them, going through the majority of their titles, I get the impression that it's not really 'news' that they're giving us anymore. Most of the magazines have maybe one or two pages devoted to Jap News/Rumours/Gossip and the rest is a mix of glossy advertisements selling games, or previews and reviews that seem to be 'slightly' influenced by how big a lunch the respective publisher put the impoverished journalist's way.
One outstanding title is Edge Magazine (Future Publishing). Despite its love of the GBA they do tend to focus more on what the developers are up to, how they are doing it, and what possible ramifications some of the results may have on gaming in the future, and they frequently include articles written by major contributers to the industry, giving you a ground zero opinion rather than a third party view.
This, to me, is 'news'. One recent article, for example, opened my eyes to how the major game retailers really pummel the game publisher when it comes to stocking their product, and how the independants were trying to combat them. In some cases (Infogrames was the publisher in question I think), the publisher was actually LOSING money by getting a particular chain to sell its game.
I think that in short, we need more investigative jouralists in the gaming sector rather than the ones that are just trying to sell copy with a snazzy review of a game that I've known about for months already.
Or maybe I'm in a minority and things will carry on as they are.
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Near monthly...
well, a mag every 4 weeks... that's 13 a year... errrr... so where's the extra month?!
sonic
well, a mag every 4 weeks... that's 13 a year... errrr... so where's the extra month?!
sonic
Time:
Free, yet priceless.
Free, yet priceless.
Time is the world's greatest teacher. Unfortunately, it kills all its pupils.
What makes a good magazine is exclusive reports, NGC magazine being good friends with acclaim had hands on report of Turok Evolution... no one else did they had to copy from the magazine...
ahhhh exclusive...
ahhhh exclusive...
Your Honour wrote:
> "Gaming opinions should be kept to the proffesionals, not some newspaper
> reporter who knows little or nothing about the subject."
Excuse
> me?!?!
EVERYONE has an opinion, and EVERYONE's opinions are vaild!
Yes but when the reviewer starts talking about things not in the game, such as Perfect Darks bad graphics... erm hello? and Conker being too childish??? what!!!!! and when i read the Gamecube comes out over here on December 28th i nearly fell out of my chair.
> "Gaming opinions should be kept to the proffesionals, not some newspaper
> reporter who knows little or nothing about the subject."
Excuse
> me?!?!
EVERYONE has an opinion, and EVERYONE's opinions are vaild!
Yes but when the reviewer starts talking about things not in the game, such as Perfect Darks bad graphics... erm hello? and Conker being too childish??? what!!!!! and when i read the Gamecube comes out over here on December 28th i nearly fell out of my chair.
How can you be so sure that it genuinely was an exclusive? I know Edge reported on Turok Evolution this month, too.
Almost all magazines claim every big story they get is exclusive... yet pick up a couple of other mags and you'll see the same story there, too.
What makes a good magazine in my opinion, isn't the exclusive reports, but the opinions of the writers and the way those opinions are formed and justified. In short, it's about how well they communicate what they know.
Almost all magazines claim every big story they get is exclusive... yet pick up a couple of other mags and you'll see the same story there, too.
What makes a good magazine in my opinion, isn't the exclusive reports, but the opinions of the writers and the way those opinions are formed and justified. In short, it's about how well they communicate what they know.
I normally buy about three different mags a month, normaly one multi-format mag (edge/Gamesmaster, depends on whats inside) and two one format mags, usually of the same format. I then read all the news, previews, reviews etc to compile my opinions on games from and then maybe have a little browse on SR's upwire and a few other sites for more info.
The best way to find out about a game is to well, PLAY IT!
The best way to find out about a game is to well, PLAY IT!
VenomByte wrote:
What makes a good magazine in my opinion, isn't the exclusive reports, but the opinions of the writers and the way those opinions are formed and justified. In short, it's about how well they communicate what they know.
Exactly!
It's all very well a game getting 8/10 or whatever, but I want to know *why* it gets that score. What made the reviewer give it that score?
That's what I want to see in my magazines.
I'll be honest, I was a bit sceptical well I first bought OPSM2, I thought it might be slightly biased, but from what I've seen and read, it doesn't seem to be so.
I'm glad that they are sensible with their scoring. ONly 1 game has got 10/10, that was MGS2. They score sensibly with an average game getting 5/10, good games 7 etc.
What makes a good magazine in my opinion, isn't the exclusive reports, but the opinions of the writers and the way those opinions are formed and justified. In short, it's about how well they communicate what they know.
Exactly!
It's all very well a game getting 8/10 or whatever, but I want to know *why* it gets that score. What made the reviewer give it that score?
That's what I want to see in my magazines.
I'll be honest, I was a bit sceptical well I first bought OPSM2, I thought it might be slightly biased, but from what I've seen and read, it doesn't seem to be so.
I'm glad that they are sensible with their scoring. ONly 1 game has got 10/10, that was MGS2. They score sensibly with an average game getting 5/10, good games 7 etc.
To be fair, it doesn't matter what score MGS2 gets now, everyone's going to buy it anyway...
...Well, perhaps if it started to get 4%'s or something, then the sales might drop a bit... but you know what I mean. Same with Episode One, everyone's going to see it, but it really was pap.
Edge is a good magazine, which I wish I bought more. The only other mag I liked was PC Gamer, and that was basically because the reviews were along my line of thinking... if they thought a game was great, so would I...
People say PC Zone was great, but they DID give Carmageddon about 95%. It was fun, but not that fun. I think they weighed out all the sequels the same as well... "better graphics = better game".
PC Gamer also had this kinda connection between their writers. It wasn't a mag, it was just one big family, like here, in a way.
Still, Edge rules.
...Well, perhaps if it started to get 4%'s or something, then the sales might drop a bit... but you know what I mean. Same with Episode One, everyone's going to see it, but it really was pap.
Edge is a good magazine, which I wish I bought more. The only other mag I liked was PC Gamer, and that was basically because the reviews were along my line of thinking... if they thought a game was great, so would I...
People say PC Zone was great, but they DID give Carmageddon about 95%. It was fun, but not that fun. I think they weighed out all the sequels the same as well... "better graphics = better game".
PC Gamer also had this kinda connection between their writers. It wasn't a mag, it was just one big family, like here, in a way.
Still, Edge rules.
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