What is up with PC Gamer...?

[allthatisman]

I just got my Feb 2010 issue yesterday, and noticed that they have yet again replaced the editor in chief with Logan Decker, the newest tech editor... I have been a subscriber for almost 10 years, and it seems like in the last 2 they have gone through have a dozen editors... mostly for the worst. I think the mag has gone progressively downhill, in both the design and the content, but I still enjoy it. On top of it all, they included a top 100 PC Games of all time, and although I haven't read the whole of it, StarCraft was like #28 and Dues Ex was #1?! Dues Ex was a great game, but #1....?

Anyone else with me on this?

 

[Vonkhan]

yeah noticed that too

 

[mb]

I don't think I've looked at a gaming mag ever since I got online.

 

[Via]

PC Gamer is all but unrecognizable from when I first subscribed (around 1999).

It's always been somewhat of a sales rag (remember Rob Smith's enthusiastic editor's choice for the OC of NWN?), but it's gotten really bad lately.

This really burned me up:

DA is probably a very good game (haven't played it), but in the same issue they award Risen 65% on some extremly shaky criteria (characters move their arms too much when they talk? old lady has too nice of a figure?). I have played Risen, and even with it's problems it's worthy of way higher than that if you like RPGs.

It's almost as if they are using the issue to purposely shepard the RPG crowd towards DA and away from Risen. And that, to me, is ethically fraudulent.

Let's face it - PC Gamer has become nothing more than a shill pamphlet. I miss the mag I loved for so long (and the website too).

 

[Mike Gayner]

LOL people still buy gaming magazines? Why? Demo discs? LOL.

 

[mb]

LOL people still buy gaming magazines? Why? Demo discs? LOL.

I guess some people still enjoy untimely news, reviews without videos, low quality and a limited number of pictures, etc etc

 

[Via]

LOL people still buy gaming magazines? Why? Demo discs? LOL.

What do you take a shit with? Cosmo?

Besides - I like to go back and re-read old reviews, previews, articles, tech reports for fun sometimes.

 

[mb]

What do you take a shit with? Cosmo?

Besides - I like to go back and re-read old reviews, previews, articles, tech reports for fun sometimes.

I use toilet paper.

Besides, you can read old reviews, etc with online game sites too. They generally don't just disappear. And you don't need piles of magazines to do so either.
And if you really enjoy the old old old reviews, well, more power to ya.

 

[Beev]

I stopped reading PC Gamer back when they gave Doom 3 whatever insanely too high score they gave that pile of trash. Up until that point I nearly always agreed with their reviews.

 

[JoshGuru7]

I subscribed to PC Gamer in the mid 90's and thought it was pretty good back then. The demo discs were great and the articles were interesting. I stopped subscribing later on when the articles and demos became freely available over the internet but I do think the quality had started to go downhill a little bit at that time (1999?).

 

[RyanPaulShaffer]

I thought PC Gamer folded long ago?

Or was that Computer Gaming World?

 

[dfuze]

Computer Gaming World became Games for Windows before it bit the dust about a year or so ago.

I've only gotten PCG for a couple years but have not liked the direction it's headed either. It is also kind of odd that they don't even really have a website anymore, now sharing it with daily radar I think.

 

[StinkyPinky]

PC Gamer was the best gaming mag of the 90s. I remember reading huge previews on Baldur's Gate etc circa 1998. Those were the days. I haven't even read an issue for at least five years.

By the way, Deus Ex was awesome. I'd rate it in my top five games I've played.

 

[allthatisman]

I subscribe because USUALLY there is always something in there that I didn't find on the internet forums etc... I also like a more balanced and in-depth approach to reviews of games I had either never heard of, or would have never intended to buy. I USED to 99.9% agree with their assessment of games, especially after I played and then re-read their review. Now on the other hand... I would say that it is 50-50. I do like Dan Stapleton's reviews though, and when Norman Chan was on board as the FPS guy I pretty much agreed with him as well. The "tech" side of the mag is woefully out of date. This month there is quite a bit of content, including Crysis 2, which I am really excited for... barring the need to upgrade my system to play it, that is. They slammed MW2 properly this month... but only after everyone and their brother bought it almost 2 months ago...

 

[Sureshot324]

PCG, now that brings back memories. I used to love reading that, but after a while I started realizing that good review scores from them could be bought. Too many high scores for shitty but big budget games, especially exclusive early reviews.

 

[Elcs]

PC Gamer UK I believe gave Freespace 2 and Homeworld scores of below 90%.

I think that dented their credibility

 

[shortylickens]

I stopped reading PC Gamer back when they gave Doom 3 whatever insanely too high score they gave that pile of trash. Up until that point I nearly always agreed with their reviews.

Thats when I stopped too, or around that time. Also, their magazine format changed a lot, becoming like other magazines. Before it had been layed out nicely and was easy to read and browse. Eventually it became a giant mess and wasnt an enjoyable experience at all. Right around the time it seemed like you could buy a good review for your game, and they lost all the good writers and the one good editor, and the format changed, thats when I stopped. And it all happened in a relatively short time period too.

Am amazed people are just complaining about it now. Its been crap for so long.

 

[aclim]

whats a game magazine? Oh yea I remember seeing one in middle school I think

 

[rivan]

What do you take a shit with? Cosmo?

Besides - I like to go back and re-read old reviews, previews, articles, tech reports for fun sometimes.

I'm not a toilet reader. Going to the bathroom is a high speed tactical mission for me; get in, get the job done, get out.

I had a roommate who'd disappear for an hour at a time, reading (literally) novels on the pot. Never understood it.

 

[Mike Gayner]

What do you take a shit with? Cosmo?

My phone, from which I browse the web. I don't expect someone who pays for paper magazines to understand this type of technology.

 

[MStele]

I havent liked gaming mags since PC Accelerator. Best one ever.

 

[ivan2]

so who wants to bet their editor went to play console?

i kid!!

 

[Oakenfold]

My phone, from which I browse the web. I don't expect someone who pays for paper magazines to understand this type of technology.

Some of us refuse to use phones to "browse the web" and pay extortion fees that are called "data plans". Although the HTC Touch Pro 2 may change that for me... Call me old school, I generally pay $6.00 for a three year sub so I'm not really worried about the cost.

Honestly I don't even visit gaming websites, I depend on forums like this one and the mags that I read. That has done a good job for me and continues to do so.

 

[Mike Gayner]

Some of us refuse to use phones to "browse the web" and pay extortion fees that are called "data plans". Although the HTC Touch Pro 2 may change that for me... Call me old school, I generally pay $6.00 for a three year sub so I'm not really worried about the cost.

Honestly I don't even visit gaming websites, I depend on forums like this one and the mags that I read. That has done a good job for me and continues to do so.

Data plans are cheap these days, and who doesn't have Wifi in the bathroom anyway?

 

[astrosfan315]

I only read it b/c I got in on some free offer for it. However, I do listen to their podcast...which is pretty bland, but a gaming podcast nonetheless.