We have all already paid our respects to the late EGM, destroyed before it's 20th anniversary. There's a lot of people we can blame; the jerks who bought the magazine just to shut it down, the fools who sold it to begin with, the public for not buying enough copies, whatever you cry about as you hold your back issues of Electronic Gaming Monthly.
Don't take offense to that last statement, I'm crying too, if for nothing else than nostalgia reasons. But I'm not blaming any of those (well, maybe ugo a bit). I think everyone knows the real reason why EGM is going away.
The Internet.
Yes, that's right, this handy thing you're using now that doesn't cost money to print. With the ads that you don't have to skip over to get to articles. Hell, with the articles that are online without needing to wait for the next issue. The wonderful technology that gives you both professional write-ups as well as total amateurs.
Yes, the interwebs is a blessing and a curse. A blessing in the sense of being much cheaper for us and giving lots more people a chance to share their opinions. Not to mention reading review sites that give you a user-average is usually more helpful than a max of four paid reviewers. Unfortunately, the curse is the horrible truth that caused EGM to be a victim. Just too many people have this handy thing called the internet.
EGM isn't the only magazine that's dying this year. There's lots of them, just we don't care about them as much. Fashion magazines, hunting, car, I recall just recently reading an article that listed at least two dozen magazines that are being shut down due to lack of interest and profits. And our generation is to blame. Not that it's completely a horrible thing, as technology evolves so does the media with it. But if things keep progressing like this, I have to wonder, how long until print (at least in the form of magazines) dies completely?
Books are safe, electronic reading won't catch on in a huge way anytime soon. Comic books are already being downloaded the same day they come out, but sales seem to still do pretty strongly thanks to collectors, bathroom readers, and loyal comic fans that want to support what they like. But magazines? Why SHOULD they stay around? Like it's already been said, by the time you get your issue in the mail it's all old news. Sure the editorials are neat, but in the world of blogs, they're not unique. What is going to have to happen to get people to still like paper-news?
So the question is who's next? Will GameInformer's higher ups finally realize how useless it is? Will GamePro become online only? Will OPM update itself via PSOnline? I'm worried for nostalgia reasons, plus I personally like print. There's something special about getting your issue in the mail as opposed to just clicking a link. What do you guys think?
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And we actually still have e EGM Brasil here (although it will probably be gone since the original is no more), but I still was sad when I heard the original one was gone.
And I just want to point out it isn't UGO's fault EGM is gone. Ziff Davis has been going down the crapper for awhile now and EGM would have dissapeared anyway. UGO just bought its online counterparts and didn't buy the rights to EGM because they had no intention going into the magazine business. I think it is unreasonable that people give UGO so much shit when their decision was perfectly reasonable. Would you want to break into the magazine business by publishing a magazine that has been struggling financially for awhile now? I don't think so.
Amen.
EGM's subscription rate was still doing pretty well, but the ad sales just weren't there. It's still sad though.
Sad...
Yet true...
Things change...
Also, people who read comics via computer make want to throw up.
But I buy the hell out of comics. I buy plenty every week. I just don't want to buy every one.
The card is a pretty good invesment, it pays for itself provided you buy used games, the magazine is just a bonus.
If you don't save 15 bucks worth in a year, you don't buy many games.
I never got the problem with used games, the clerks always check the discs for me and give me the best ones and they hold manuals and boxes for me if the game I grabbed doesn't have one.
Essentially, you could spend an extra $15 for a card to save maybe five bucks every used game you buy (this is completely ignoring how much money you're losing if you trade in any games, or how much you might be losing buying games you could otherwise rent). Which means, if the card costs $15, you have to buy three games for the card to pay for itself.
Or you could go to a place like Toys R Us with percent deals or BOGO deals, get the same games, and save $10 (or more if they have a rare bogo with video games, it happened last holiday season) automatically on the first purchase. So I saved $10 on the first transaction, you have thus far paid an extra $10 on the first transaction by buying a card. My game is also brand new and the profits go to the company that made the game, yours is used and the profits go just to Gamestop.