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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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Edge said 3DO was the future of gaming...
Boy do they look stupid!
Boy do they look stupid!
I like PCZone. I liked the way it was written, the style of the reviewers, the humour etc. It all appealed to me.
I din't really bother with PC magazines now, as I don't play games on my PC anymore.
I've got UT, Q3A, Max Payne, B&W all sitting there, less than a couple of levels done on most of them, and I just don't play them. Don't know why.
If anyone wants to buy Max Payne off me, email me and we can sort something out.
I din't really bother with PC magazines now, as I don't play games on my PC anymore.
I've got UT, Q3A, Max Payne, B&W all sitting there, less than a couple of levels done on most of them, and I just don't play them. Don't know why.
If anyone wants to buy Max Payne off me, email me and we can sort something out.
I like Edge, but I think they make really bad blunders with reviewing. SSB:M 6/10? Youv'e got to be joking! Its a great game!
DrDragon wrote:
I like Edge, but I think they make really bad blunders with reviewing. SSB:M 6/10? Youv'e got to be joking! Its a great game!
Just out of interest, have you played it?
I like Edge, but I think they make really bad blunders with reviewing. SSB:M 6/10? Youv'e got to be joking! Its a great game!
Just out of interest, have you played it?
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