i like egm

sweener2001 · Post by **sweener2001** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:07 am

when the 360 launch was a suck-fest, they didn't hold back at all when they interviewed peter moore.

they did the same thing with sony in this month's issue. and next month, they get to talk to peter again about the last year.

it's been awhile since i've tried out other gaming publications, but egm seems to be the most honest. i remember an issue of play that i read because of splinter cell news, but the article was probably written by a ubisoft intern and they payed the magazine to run it. that was the impression i get.

gamepro seems to cater more to children, at least that's the impression i got the last time it tried it out. i don't read console-specific magazines, but i may pick one up for the demo disc.

what gaming mags, if any, do you guys read? or what sites do you visit? do you rent before buying? how do you determine what games are worth your money?

i read egm and gamespot.com before thinking about a purchase, usually. i'll rent if i think i may disagree with the reviews, or the scores were not what i expected. i've been let down by these places very few times.

Nightcrawler · Post by **Nightcrawler** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 2:20 pm

I still read GamePro because they keep letting me have two years for $24. I mean one dollar an issue is hardly anything.

GamePro has certainly decreased in quality over the years and so had EGM. Neither of them are really worth much to me anymore. They are so thin these days with so little substance. Definitley NOT like the EGM and GamePro of say 10 years ago. I don't know what happened to them.

If the price of GamePro goes up, I won't be reading it or EGM.

I use magazines for breakfast reading material before work. Beyond that, there's nothing you can get from those magazines that you can't get on the net as well.

sweener2001 · Post by **sweener2001** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 2:14 am

egm has definitely decreased in quantity. i think the quality has skyrocketed.

reviews aren't bloated, they get to the point, and they include their own personal bias, which i actually like. it wouldn't work if it were only one reviewer per game, but since there are three, the bias is actually kind of nice.

egm has recently made a push to get themselves a little more respect as far as journalism goes. usually gaming magazines will accept cash to run feature stories created by a developer, and basically hype anything they see. at least that was the case with the issue of play that i tried out.

egm actually asks some hard questions. they will actually tell people that certain things sucked, making developers and ceo's have to defend themselves.

or it's possible that i'm still very naive about how real journalism should be, but i like that egm isn't afraid to tell someone that their game was awful, or that their console launch was a wreck.

that kind of sounded like a promo, but i guess i wasn't lying when i said that i liked that magazine.

anyway, what else do you read pre-purchase, or do even do that?

Panzer88 · Post by **Panzer88** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:07 am

I don't like any gaming magazines anymore, I still get some because they come with other things I purchase, and they do have some nice exclusive things.

But it seems that every editor has an agenda, if not in their reviews then in their mailbag, and most mags cater to your middle american gamer which I'm not.

I prefer online game news but even some of these places are starting to sour.

It seems to me that so much of the game media either loves to love everything without enough critisism, or just thinks it's cool to randomly bash any kind of gaming and that makes them so daring.

It doesn't, it makes them ignorant and small. Also they seem to contain the same adds in all game mags month after month. I'm not saying it is all worthless, and am not arguing with you guys.

Like you both said, the quality is becoming less and less. It's sad really.

I want a serious magazine that caters to a more hardcore userbase that knows what it is talking about and doesn't give the latest Final Fantasy or Zelda game a 9.x for the heck of it, or because

"Theyz are teh BeStTt!!!1111"

snkcube · Post by **snkcube** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:30 am

Since I get EGM for free (about a two years of it), that's the only one I read. Besides that, most of the stuff in the magazine can be found on other gaming sites. Their interviews are pretty great though.

Joe Camacho · Post by **Joe Camacho** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:43 am

Toilet Literature, yeah.

sweener2001 · Post by **sweener2001** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 8:39 am

Panzer88 wrote:I don't like any gaming magazines anymore, I still get some because they come with other things I purchase, and they do have some nice exclusive things. But it seems that every editor has an agenda, if not in their reviews then in their mailbag, and most mags cater to your middle american gamer which I'm not. I prefer online game news but even some of these places are starting to sour. It seems to me that so much of the game media either loves to love everything without enough critisism, or just thinks it's cool to randomly bash any kind of gaming and that makes them so daring. It doesn't, it makes them ignorant and small. Also they seem to contain the same adds in all game mags month after month. I'm not saying it is all worthless, and am not arguing with you guys. Like you both said, the quality is becoming less and less. It's sad really. I want a serious magazine that caters to a more hardcore userbase that knows what it is talking about and doesn't give the latest Final Fantasy or Zelda game a 9.x for the heck of it, or because "Theyz are teh BeStTt!!!1111"

usually, zeldas and final fantasies are deserving of their scores. i mean, the series aren't still alive for no reason. and it seems like you may be generalizing.

i don't when the last time you actually picked up a gaming mag was, but you're pseudo-entitled on your opinion. kind of depends how long it's been as to how entitled you are.

i guess what i was more curious about in the end was whether anyone had any game pre-purchase research they go through.

corronchilejano · Post by **corronchilejano** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:26 pm

Joe Camacho wrote:Toilet Literature, yeah.

Ditto.

That's why I liked them when they weren't as thin.

PHoNyMiKe · Post by **PHoNyMiKe** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 1:00 am

yeah I liked egm, when I was like 12 and mortal kombat 2 was the biggest thing on earth. anyone over the age of 12 who reads video game magazines is a nerd. does world of warcraft have a magazine? I bet it does, and if you have a subscription to that then you are to be labeled 'mega-nerd with no chance at life.'

Panzer88 · Post by **Panzer88** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 1:10 am

I'm not trying to say that high level franchises aren't deserving of high scores, if they are high quality.

It's just by reading the reviews it becomes more and more evedent that their score is based on politically-correct climate more than actual game research.

For your information I regularly read EGM and many other games at my public library. I have yet to be persuaded from my cash for them though, usually something that comes with like an online insider or a gameshop membership.

The only game mags I liked getting consistantly was the DCMag for the demo disks

not that they were the only mag that did that, heck no, but I liked the majority of the games they had on the demo disks.

Joe Camacho · Post by **Joe Camacho** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 1:28 am

Panzer88, I would like to introduce you to the Enter Key.

Enter Key, please meet Panzer88.

I really hope both of you enjoy making paragraphs together.

snkcube · Post by **snkcube** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 2:15 am

And Panzer88, shrink your avatar. It's way too big.

Que · Post by **Que** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 2:31 am

egm sucks, that is all.

Panzer88 · Post by **Panzer88** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 3:14 am

beleive it or not

I usually space my comments so as not to creat a wall of text

but I neglected on my last two posts

my apologies, and I'll take care of my avatar.

That is all.

sweener2001 · Post by **sweener2001** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:47 am

well then you're entitled to your opinion, and that's fine. i just i'd see what other people thought