Electronic Gaming Monthly December 2006 (Podcast)

Cover: Halo 3

This is the first issue of EGM's big redesign, complete with new logo (although the polybags on newsstands still have the old logo for some reason).

As I surmised a few weeks back, the "EGM" abbreviation takes center stage on the cover, with the wordy and unexciting "Electronic Gaming Monthly" relegated to subtitle status. The blocky pixel font is now EGM's typeface of choice for section titles and such, but the rest of the redesigned is quite a bit less square -- instead, it's whiter, curvier, and a bit simpler. In fact, its closest cousin in design is probably Xbox Nation, the late Ziff mag that was the first to receive a full visual treatment from notable British import and Ziff game-group creative manager Simon Cox.

The basic magazine layout is still the same, with "Press Start" (an informal collection of news, previews, and general-interest game articles) up front, reviews and Seanbaby in the rear, and the big exclusive preview or preview feature in the middle. The one refinement that sticks out the most is a streamlining of Press Start, with all the old tiny departments (like Overheard and the news bits that used to run along the bottom of the page) now taking up a vertical column that takes up a third of most pages in the section. This makes Press Start seem like more of a real section, complete with its own voice and writing style, and less of the mishmash of random stuff that it was criticized for being before.

Otherwise, however, the redesign seems largely a cosmetic one. All the basic sections are still there, including Hsu & Chan and the crossword in the back, and the reviews are in the exact same format as before. The new art style, however, makes EGM seem a great deal different -- a bit more, I don't know, refined, friendly, professional-looking, instead of the pseudo-Maxim look it had going before. I was anticipating more, but still, I approve heartily. (The main complaint so far: The "rewards" that games receive in the reviews section are inconspicuous and harder to notice than before. You have to leaf through the pages carefully to find out what Game of the Month is.)

Next-gen watch: EGM got their hands on no PS3 titles and only one Wii launch piece (Super Monkey Ball), which they didn't like very much. Guitar Hero II and Bully (which gets one 10 from a hyper-excited Robert Ashley) tie for GOTM.

Games for Windows: The Official Magazine December 2006 (Podcast)

Cover: Dragon Age

While EGM has sadly lost its infamous title font (with the crazy curly "T"), the new Games for Windows has gained a truly amazing one for its own. Imagine a font that's largely square, yet laughably curvy and all over the place, and that's the new GFW title typeface. You can see it on the cover, and I think you'll agree that it truly does portend a new era for computer games media. A curvy one.

Although EIC Jeff Green said earlier that GFW would not be that radically different a magazine from CGW, I was surprised to find it far more redesigned than EGM was, the opposite of what I was expecting. "Start" now reads a lot more like EGM's own Press Start -- it's where all the quick previews, dev interviews, and the ever-famous Freeloader section go. The cover stories/features (this month, for Dragon Age) largely look the same, but you can see evidence of trying to lighten up the look of the design a bit, similar to EGM's new XBN-ization.

Reviews, meanwhile, have been completely redone. Again. Just a few months after CGW experimented with shuttling number ratings and turning the reviews section into a sort of one-man roundtable discussion (an approach I adored dearly), GFW is now back to ratin' stuff out of 10 like everyone else. The editors make it a point to say that 5/10 is truly the average score, just like EGM does, and the reviews section actually looks a whole ton like EGM's now designwise.

Overall I'm much impressed. I'm sad that the reviews are back to "normal," but otherwise the new design looks superb and really helps the mag stand out against the competition, something I think may have been a problem in the past. I look forward to great things, and in a 4-page advertorial in the back, Peter More agrees: "I think you'll really like what the [GFW] team has in store for you. It's a beautiful, informative, and irreverent publication worthy of its heritage."

Irate CGW... er GFW letter-writer of the month: "As a Russian-American whose family was directly affected by Stalin's purges, frankly I find Stalin's inclusion as a leader [in Civilization IV] to be patently offensive..."

Official PlayStation Magazine December 2006 (Podcast)

Cover: Resistance: Fall of Man

Boy, nothing like the announcement of the folding of your magazine to make the current issue seem moot, huh? It's doubly a shame because even OPM redesigned this month -- and its new title font (seen in boldface with "resistance" and "IT'S HERE" on the cover) is the looniest of all!

Nearly every section of OPM gets a graphical retouch, and as with EGM and GFW, the result is a much whiter, curvier, and more refined Euro-style design. Back when I worked at 1up, we used to call this sort of redesign "Simonization," since it always seemed to happen after Simon Cox got his hands on it. Again, it looks superb, although it isn't such a major leap in design compared to Ziff's other two mags since OPM, well, they've always been out there visually, you know?

The disc: Has .hack//G.U., the new Bionicle game, and that's about it for new stuff I reckon.

Rather amusingly: This issue seems to symbolize all the challenges mags face with timeliness. First off, Tokyo Game Show coverage which is way late. Second off, a big feature interview with Tomonobu Itagaki right before he got sued for sexual harrassment. And, indeed, news of the mag folding before I even got the issue. Ah well.

PSM Holiday 2006 (Podcast)

Cover: BlackSite: Area 51 (haven't seen the newsstand edition yet to see if it's different)

Finally, on to some mags that didn't completely revamp themselves! Things are the same as always in PSM-land, and that means big-arse preview features on Stranglehold and the new Area 51 game. Guitar Hero II wins top adulation in the reviews section, and a basic sort of launch guide occupies the midsection.

Paradox: If this PSM is only 96 pages long, then why does it feel so much thicker? Simple! That's because there's an enormous 32-page "Guide to Wireless Gaming" sponsored by Cingular -- yes, those infamous paid-for wireless gaming guides that used to be all over the Ziff Davis mags. There's one in this month's PC Gamer, too, where it's just as out of place as it was in Computer Gaming World.

PC Gamer Holiday 2006 (Podcast)

Cover: Windows... yawn... Vista

Hold on -- is this the cover of PC Gamer, or PC Magazine? I suppose the editors figured a big fat Windows logo would sell the mag better than some unidentifiable art from Titan Quest or Assassin's Creed, and to be honest, they're probably right. Nine pages in the middle of the mag go over how Microsoft is going to transform your PC real soon now, although I have the impression that the majority of this stuff was already covered a few months back when PC Gamer last looked at the Games for Windows movement.

Play December 2006

Cover: Sonic the Hedgehog

Ohhh, if only more hardcore gamers cared about Sonic these days -- they'd undoubtedly eat up this month's Play cover feature / review, which kicks off with a centerfold-style vertical pinup of the guy runnin' atcha and continues on with a whole mess of screens, character art, and Dave Halverson massaging a platformer in the way that only he can.

Only in Play: Will you find a full-page review of the new SpongeBob Squarepants game. And also a full page on Xyanide. And two on The Red Star, which goes ignored in all this month's other mags. The only other mag who'd do that is XBN, assuming they were still around.

By the way: Rocket is Halverson's newest mag, a "pop-culture multi-media magazine" devoted to games, anime, movies, and you know, whatever else the kids like these days. It debuts in January and there's a full-page ad showing the first cover in this month's Play.

Nintendo Power December 2006 and January 2007

   

Cover: Wiiiiiiiiiiiiii and Zelda: Twilight Princess

I got my January NP in the mail just a few days following the December one. I don't know if this was deliberate or not, but the result almost seems like Nintendo's putting out a double-issue of NP to celebrate the Wii launch, then taking a break for Christmas 'cos nothing's really happening afterwards for a while. December has an enormous Wii game preview feature, of course, which goes over the console's menu system and everything. January, on the other hand, reviews 'em all, including Zelda, Wii Sports, Rayman, even Splinter Cell for chrissakes. Hell, there's even a strategy for Twilight Princess, and the 4 pages of Eiji Aonuma interview will be enough to make any Nbot squeal.

All told, when it comes to Wii, NP is schooling all the other mags with their early January issue. It's just like the old NES/SNES days!

GamePro December 2006

   

Cover: Zelda: Twilight Princess or Guitar Hero II (Level 2 edition)

If it weren't for Nintendo deciding to send my January issue a month early, GamePro would've been the only mag with much Twilight Princess coverage this month. It's GamePro-y, but still a lot of fun to read -- you really can't do much wrong with the Zelda art this time around, although it's kinda a drag to see the cover's just the standard GamePro "take some character art and do a Photoshop glow effect around it" stuff they've been doing for five years now.

   

GamePro also has these two launch guides out this month, both featuring a bunch of previews and some Best Buy coupons. You should be able to find both of these at Best Buy stores right now; one's also being packed with every newsstand GamePro.

Tips & Tricks December 2006

Cover: Guitar Hero II

The next gen hasn't hit T&T yet, but Guitar Hero II sure has! Not much else to say about this month's issue, except that I heard Bill Kunkel is doing some work for T&T these days, so is a Game Doctor re-re-re-re-return in the cards soon?

Hardcore Gamer December 2006

Cover: PlayStation 3

You know, Hardcore Gamer's covers have been looking damn stylish lately. This one probably won't stick out in the newsstand much, but for a Sony-bot it's almost like porn.

This issue contains features on MUGEN and the Bit Generation GBA titles. The copy I bought is also defective, or something -- it contains two copies of pages 34 through 50, one in the correct place and another wedged between pages 66 and 67. Crazy!

Game Developer November 2006

Cover: Prey

With all the excitement right now, GD gets shunted to the end. Sorry, Simon! The cover's very nice!

[Kevin Gifford breeds ferrets and runs Magweasel, a site for collectors and fans of old video-game and computer magazines. He's also an editor at Newtype USA magazine.]