This week, a bombshell hit the gaming industry. It's a sad, sad day for gamers in the States as Electronic Gaming Monthly, one of the last three gaming magazines in circulation, has bitten the dust. Many of the writers who have been with the magazine for years, authors of stories I grew up reading, are now out of work. And it's a shame.
I guess it goes to show that the industry isn't nearly as "recession proof" as it seems. And gaming magazines, once the only source of industry news, previews, reviews, and hints available, now take a very large backseat to the information colossus known to all as "Teh Intarwebz".
I'm not saying the Internet killed EGM. I'm saying that the new reason to read a gaming magazine is for the articles about the games we love - not for news or previews. Reviews are becoming more important, I feel, as the price of games continues to rise. $60 is too much to be conned out of for an overmarketed movie-licensed turd-on-a-disc in my opinion, and EGM's reviews were some of the most honest around.
Rest in peace, EGM. おやすみなさい。。。
1 comment:
I believe it was killed by the internets. News travels too fast. They were about current news, which in print can be difficult in monthlies. Their stories were about specific games, but not in the way that Wired or National Geographic is (examining a theory or culture).
They would be trounced by IGN and Kotaku, and Joystiq, and in some arenas by Gamefaqs, all of which are inexpensive and quite faster to access than an EGM.
I am sad these great writers lost their jobs, but they needed to adapt a lot faster than they did. There's no way a monthly can compete with a daily tech blog for latest news, and they didn't seem to get that change.
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