What is up with PC Gamer...?

[StrangerGuy]

They are one of reasons why shit games get 9/10, heavily marketed ones gets 9.9999/10 and obscure but awesome ones gets 5/10.

 

[allthatisman]

I too get the mag for next to nothing for three years at a time, and yes it only gets read on airplanes or the toilet... there really isn't anything ever groundbreaking in it, but I do like to read interviews with game designers and get an insight into what the hell they are thinking sometimes... C&C4 is one shining example of that... but who knows, it may end up being just what that franchise needs.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

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

for what its worth, this particular issue represents the high-water mark for video game-based periodicals, possibly for all of electronics-related print.

 

[TehMac]

The only magazines I buy now are either history or muscle car mags.

Mostly muscle car mags.

 

[Skott]

They (Editors) keep jumping ship don't they? LOL
Its not a good sign. I figure this year we will hear PCGamer goes the way of the other now defunct pc mags. I'm surprised they lasted this long.

 

[allthatisman]

They (Editors) keep jumping ship don't they? LOL
Its not a good sign. I figure this year we will hear PCGamer goes the way of the other now defunct pc mags. I'm surprised they lasted this long.

I mean, I guess it's evolutionary... PCGamer is a magazine dedicated to tech savvy people, and with the advent of the internet and forums such as these, are direct competition for a magazine like that. Lol, I remember when the GTX 2xx series came out, they didn't announce it for a smooth 2 months after it happened. It's too bad though, I do enjoy the magazine, even if it is at it's low point.

 

[Pepsei]

i love pc gamer before internet became mainstream.

remember they had an article on Stevie Case? ( She is noted for being one of the first well-known female gamers. Case has had several roles in the industry, from the first female professional gamer at the Cyberathlete Professional League to level designer to vice president of development.) boy, she really let herself go.

hell, i used to read it cover to cover back then ... hmmm star control 2 days.

 

[allthatisman]

I bought a little microsoft title called freelancer because of them. It as such an awesome game that hardly anyone played...

 

[shortylickens]

for what its worth, this particular issue represents the high-water mark for video game-based periodicals, possibly for all of electronics-related print.

Agreed. Old Nintendo Power was THE best game magazine ever. It had everything you wanted and nothing you didnt want.
I had the first 50 issues plus a few after that. Then I got bored with Nintendo. But I still love those mags.
Wish my mom hadnt thrown them out when I left for boot camp. They'd be worth a pretty penny to a collector on ebay.

 

[Zenoth]

I really liked EGM back in the days, the last one I bought was the September 2005 issue which included a 10-days trial DVD + Code for World of WarCraft that came with it, which I still have and never even tried to use once, but for me that magazine was really great, along with Nintendo Power and their (Nintendo's) various Official Guides for some games such as Killer Instinct (which I still own to this day, but isn't in good condition).

Good memories indeed, but things move on, and even though I loved to read those back then I wouldn't buy another one today, I have the Internet for gaming news and information as well as media, and I already pay per-month for it, so I won't just buy magazines on top of that "just for fun", now the only books I buy (when I do, and it's rare) are novels and written documentaries and encyclopedias, the only magazine I like to buy once in a while is Science.

EDIT: My mistake, the September 2005 issue I was referring to isn't that of EGM's, it was the Sept. 2005 issue from PC Gamer instead, I just found it again, oh well, and I can't find my last EGM issue, but anyway, point is I really liked EGM, and to some extent PC Gamer, but I was interested by what Internet had to offer when I got my PC way before any PC gaming-related magazines did, EGM was much more focused on console gaming, at least back in the days when I read it almost religiously.

 

[Schadenfroh]

What do you take a shit with?

NetBooks FTW, the perfect public restroom PC.

 

[Joemonkey]

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

OMG! another PCXL fan! they were sarcastic bastards and gave half life an 11/10 score and even reviewed barbie and bullriding shit games... I miss PCXL *sniff*

 

[sandorski]

I bought a little microsoft title called freelancer because of them. It as such an awesome game that hardly anyone played...

Ya, that was a great game.

 

[Craig234]

I used to subscribe to about 4 PC gaming magazines together. All but one are gone.

I just added a year to PC Gamer. I like getting it.

Why? Partly, to 'support the PC Gaming industry'. Having a magazine helps. Partly for the variety of content, none of it great but it's fun. Tidbits - developers, reviews, tech info.

I have hundrds of the old gaming magazines saved, going back further than some here were born.

Seems like a bargain and a way to help PC gaming to me.

There's also the fact you can read it anywhere. If you are in front of a screen all day whats wrong with a paper you can look at, or take to the restaurant (alone, kinda bugs guests to read).

 

[pontifex]

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).

I played a demo of Risen and I'm currently playing through DA and DA is like 1000 x better than Risen could ever hope to be.

 

[Maximilian]

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

WLAN > wifi

 

[Via]

I played a demo of Risen and I'm currently playing through DA and DA is like 1000 x better than Risen could ever hope to be.

Dragon Age must be some kind of game....

 

[Mike Gayner]

WLAN > wifi

Same thing, Einstein.

 

[Deinonych]

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.

This.

 

[EvilComputer92]

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).

It's not only PC gamer, every review website does this also. It's just the growing trend of reviewers getting paid indirectly by giving hyped games high scores.

In general, the more marketing money you put in a game, the higher it's going to get reviewed. That's the sorry state of game websites today.

I mean seriously. GTA IV got a 10 on gamespot. Dragon Age gets a 9.5. Modern Warfare 2 gets a 9.5. What a joke. I remember back when getting a 9.0 was considered to be rare.

Speaking of story, DA had one of the most cliched stories I've ever seen. It's dialogue was good, but Bioware's innovation is absolutely zero. I've only played this generic fantasy storyline of saving the world from an ancient threat a hundred times.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Double post

 

[StrangerGuy]

It's not only PC gamer, every review website does this also. It's just the growing trend of reviewers getting paid indirectly by giving hyped games high scores.

In general, the more marketing money you put in a game, the higher it's going to get reviewed. That's the sorry state of game websites today.

I mean seriously. GTA IV got a 10 on gamespot. Dragon Age gets a 9.5. Modern Warfare 2 gets a 9.5. What a joke. I remember back when getting a 9.0 was considered to be rare.

Speaking of story, DA had one of the most cliched stories I've ever seen. It's dialogue was good, but Bioware's innovation is absolutely zero. I've only played this generic fantasy storyline of saving the world from an ancient threat a hundred times.

Personally I won't give DA a score more than 8/10. The plot was uninteresting, predictable and a few instances with significant plot holes. In many parts of the game, especially Deep Roads there is simply too much mind-numbling micromanage-fest (thanks to dumb AI on my side, can't trust em to cast a spell at the correct time or flank targets, or how about just circle dance around enemies to mock me in the face?) fighting just to advance a small part of the story to keep me barely interested, it was like "Gosh, when will it end?"...So much so I switched to easy mode just so to cruise through the combat ASAP only to find a completely soulless and anticlimactic endboss. Sure it may have been a 80 hour game but the experience was just too unsatisfying.

 

[dfuze]

I don't think I'll ever give up a paper based magazine completely. As much as the net sites are good for up to date info, I really would miss having a magazine that can be read anywhere. Doesn't hurt that you can usually find great deals for the subscriptions in the hot deals forums for just a few bucks as long as you don't want the CD to come w/ your subscription. Not a big deal since you can always download those demos anyway...

 

[blurredvision]

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

Is it really that big of a deal if somebody likes to read a magazine? How old are you, 12? Magazines have a certain appeal that, to my surprise, some people don't understand.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I haven't read PCG since I got internet access.