When I was a little boy gamer I would spend a bit of my allowance on Electronic Gaming Monthly a great little gaming magazine. Unfortunately, young gamers will never understand what the industry was like twenty years ago. In a time before the Internet, the only place to get gaming news for a young kid was a glossy magazine. Today, EGM closes its doors and we’re losing a historic piece of gaming history.
Granted, there were other glossy magazines prized by young boys too, but we were old enough to purchase Electronic Gaming Monthly, now known as EGM by the hip and cool. Although EGM was founded in 1989, many adults between the age of 29 and 35 probably spent their youth flipping through the pages reading the reviews and editorials.
The days of the magazine are drawing to an end for many industries, with video game websites covering everything from truly hardcore to highly niche, we all demand our information as soon as possible. If a company like Ziff Davis is selling its properties, we want to know the minute it is announced, when 1UP is purchased by UGO we want to know the minute the ink dries. Why? Because we can.
January 2009 marks the last issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly. After Hearst Corporation (owner of UGO) purchased 1UP from Ziff Davis it was announced that EGM would be seeing its last issue. Sure, there was a chance this would occur without the acquisition as well but the sadness wouldn’t be any different. We’re sure the staff will find a great home writing for another publication or in the online world, but it is sad just the same.
Along with the sad news of EGM closing, we’ve heard a number of folks at 1UP have also been effected by Hearst Corporations purchase of 1UP which has many people out of a job during tough economic times. There has been rumor the 1UP podcasts being ditched as well, but we have heard nothing official yet (please comment with official stories if you hear).
Of course, 1UP is “officially” rejoicing at the news but we know this is part of the “smoke and mirrors” that is an acquisition. A few, now former, 1UP folks have been using twitter and game forums to voice their own “opinions” of the purchase.
This is a rough economic time for many people, printed magazines, online publications and others. The only shining light is knowing many of these individuals will find new places to call home or start brand new online publications to compete against their old company. Talent will not go restricted, they will no doubt group together to form new aged publications to show off why the big boys are flailing in the dark.
We wish them all well in their efforts to find success.
@Sony patents tech to stop used games and rentals
So basically both the medium and the console will carry unique IDs. Those get sent to Sony where they get associated, then if the game gets played on a different console, with a different ID, what then? What happens to people who bought new consoles?
Digital only is not a guarantee. In case of Steam, for example, you can create an account for one game, then share the account info. And if you also create an e-mail account specifically for it, then the game/Steam account/e-mail account can be re-sold easily.
Backward compatibility is important. Heck, I still play games older than 10 years.
@PvP mode for Diablo III delayed yet again
Meh, who cares; I’m with Paul on this one.
From all the games that I saw in 2012, it’s actually World of Tanks that still stays on my radar. Too bad I have a crappy connection and I can’t play it.
Back to Diablo 3, even if I had a good connection, I wouldn’t buy it because of the DRM system. Just because I hate that kind of DRM.
@Telltale is in the very early stages of The Walking Dead Season 2
Didn’t play the first one, but during the night watches when the dog was recovering from surgery I watched some lets plays, and it looked very good. I mean people cried over it.
If the second one is just as good, then the devs and publishers will make quite some money.
Shooters being dead: dunno. Sure, you get more and more RPG games that use the first person perspective, but I wouldn’t call FPS-es dead. Not after Serious Sam 3.
@QOTW:
Man :), besides regular chores (cleaning up the place, help out with cooking for Christmas and New Years Eve meals), I got to make cakes: brownies, cheese rolls, and the New Years Eve cake … mmm, yummy …
I also got to play board games with the close family, got to play Serious Sam 3 BFE (damn, I missed you Sam!) and Rush for Berlin. The second one actually caught me by surprise, it’s quite a fun and yet challenging game.
Shortly, I enjoyed my holiday a lot.
@It’s time to go to the A-O-E-O
A bit stupid to offer premium content for free. Anyone who cares enough about extra content will play the game long enough to get it for free. People who don’t care won’t pay. Kind of defeats the purpose of freemium games.
@Turning PS4 into a software prison
They might as well sell PS4 with a slot for a modchip. This tech won’t stop people buying PS4 but they will crack it on purchase. I don’t think SONY will go through. Simply because any of it’s competitors (i.e. XBOX or WiiU) will gain all SONY looses if they stay DRM free. This will only work if everyone does it.
@E3
Can’t wait for E3. I too think that the current gen has burned out. The gaming industry needs something fresh.
@PVP in Diablo 3
Oh wait. Diablo 3 was out?
@Walking Dead
Picked up the entire series during the Xbox 360 christmas sales. For 800 points. Sale purchase of the year. I enjoyed it. Although I did find it to be more talk less action. Very basic point and click style. But great value for money.