Is there really a need for gaming magazines anymore?

[NoNameMcgee]

My brother got a gaming magazine today and it made me think and ask him, whats the point?

I don't see a need these days, we live in a time where all the information you can possibly need about games can be easily found over the internet. I can understand wanting the demo disk that might come with a magazine, but its hardly worth going out and paying $15AUS for a bunch of demos that can each be downloaded free over a decent internet connection in 30 minutes.

So, do you think they have a place anymore? Do you buy them? And if you do, why?

 

[oliveira8]

Playboy is still around and one thing the internet doesnt run out is naked women...

 

[Mockingjay]

Playboy is still around and one thing the internet doesnt run out is naked women...

Best point made today. Have a paper hat and a gold star.

 

[oliveira8]

Playboy is still around and one thing the internet doesnt run out is naked women...

Best point made today. Have a paper hat and a gold star.

No pie or cake?

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

I buy PCGamer UK because it has interetsing articles and things that would take bloody ages to find on the internet myself. That's probably the main reason we get magazines. £5 or 5 hours which may or may not produce something of interest, I know what I'd go for.

 

[NoNameMcgee]

Playboy is still around and one thing the internet doesnt run out is naked women...

Good point.

*gives pie AND cake*

 

[Ago Iterum]

If that's the case, then all magazines are redundant, and if I had wheels, I'd be a wagon.

 

[JokerGrin]

Playboy is still around and one thing the internet doesnt run out is naked women...

Hehe I like it.

I stopped subscribing to PC Gamer when all they seemed to bang on about was MMORPGs and competitive gaming, I care for neither. That said, I'm always hunting around on eBay for all of the Amiga Power magazines, purely for the sense of humour. They hardly ever actually spoke about the Amiga. Was just such a fun magazine. PC Gamer had the odd decent joke, but you couldn't shake the elitist feel sometimes.

 

[BonsaiK]

I hate gaming magazines because of the biased reviews where everything gets at least 8 out of 10 to appease the magazine's sponsors so they don't pull their ads and cost the mag money. And the cover discs are definitely redundant because everything on them is almost always available on the net and by the time the magazine reaches me the version of the program on the CD-Rom isn't the latest version anyway.

Having said that when I used to have a boring call-centre job I would buy them and read them during downtime. Better than reading work-related crap I guess. And I did buy a mag once to get some pet thingy for Guild Wars, back when I used to play that game a bit.

 

[NoNameMcgee]

I buy PCGamer UK because it has interetsing articles and things that would take bloody ages to find on the internet myself. That's probably the main reason we get magazines. £5 or 5 hours which may or may not produce something of interest, I know what I'd go for.

I find it pretty easy to find good articles on the internet, and the quantity of stuff you can read greatly outweighs anything found in a magazine.

The Escapist is kind of like an online magazine, and theres loads of stuff here, for one thing.

 

[oliveira8]

Playboy is still around and one thing the internet doesnt run out is naked women...

Good point.

*gives pie AND cake*

Oh oh!! Afternoon snack!

 

[The_Rev]

I enjoy PC Gamer for advance info on games, and they don't appear to kowtow to adverts; the two divisions are seperate for all intents and purposes. Saw proof of this in one issue where they panned some 3D glasses (35% IIRC) on the left page, and on the right page was a big ad for the same glasses!

 

[SenseOfTumour]

I think the same reason I, while all for MP3 players and downloadable movies, can't see book reader gadgets like the Amazon Kindle taking off hugely.

There's a simple tactile pleasure to sitting and turning pages, and you can't replicate that with a screen.

I also don't want to take a laptop into the toilet for a long relaxing sit down.

I would prefer most magazines to drop the cover mounted discs and be a couple of pounds cheaper instead, although Total PC Gaming is doing something right that I've not seen since the days of the ZX Spectrum.

They're giving a full game away on the cover, instead of just a bunch of demos, trial apps and drivers. Fun old stuff such as the first Red Alert!

I've found Total PC Gaming to be the perfect UK mag for me, its not as puerile as some, while not being so far up it's own bum that it couldn't find its way out with a Res Evil flashlight, and yes, I'm looking at you Edge.

I LIKE Edge, but I think it tries a bit too hard to be all intellectual sometimes. There no harm in liking a big dumb action game sometimes.

 

[October Country]

Well, the Internet has everything you could ask for, it's not just gaming news. But still, I pick up a gaming magazine every month (albeit for free) because it's nice to have the most important news without having to search for every game that I care about.

 

[SmilingKitsune]

I still read EDGE because I think it's fantasticly written, their articles are always interesting and I hope they stick around for a long time to come.

 

[randommaster]

Most gaming magazines, that I've read, anyway, have a sense of professionalism that is matched by few game review sites. This is one of the reasons why I come to the escapist instead of other places.

Nintendo Power has become more focused on featuring newsand interviews, istead of game walkthroughs, since their overhaul. (last year?) While there is only news about Nintendo products, they have news and interviews that can't be easily found by people not already in the industry. (Did you know the artist for Watchmen is doing the art for the rerelease of The Broken Sword?) The reviews are also in line with how others rate the game, so the bias a lot of people talk about with game magazines doesn't seem to be there. Also, every now and then you get free stuff, which is cool.

I think the issue of only coming out once a month is balance by having access to news before the general public.

 

[Rock Beefchest]

I don't know about you all but I don't find sitting in front of a computer relaxing but reading a game magazine can be. Its also a good way to find about about games you may not have known about. If you didn't know they existed how would you think to research them online. The magazine is a good gateway into new areas of interest.

 

[Inverse Skies]

If people still buy them they'll still be around.

Online news has been around for ages and I still love the newspaper. It's something physical to work with.

 

[randommaster]

Most people can't take their computer to the bathroom, either.

 

[Cathosach]

I still read EDGE because I think it's fantasticly written, their articles are always interesting and I hope they stick around for a long time to come.

Same here.