COLUMN: 'Game Mag Weaseling': Mag Roundup 7/11/09

['Game Mag Weaseling' is a weekly column by Kevin Gifford which documents the history of video game magazines, from their birth in the early '80s to the current day.]

Woo woo woo! For resubscribing to GamePro I got this rad Pro Strategies pamphlet of repurposed material! Deeee-lighted!

I am maybe being a little cynical here, but in this age of near-giveaway subscriptions in game media, I do sort of miss the bonuses you used to receive occasionally for caring enough about a mag to subscribe. GamePro's had a history of freebies throughout its existence, which I respect. What gamer of a certain age can forget receiving Dragon Warrior and a year of Nintendo Power for twenty bucks in 1990?

Fast forward to today, where not only are bonuses largely a thing of the past, but a certain game magazine doesn't even take renewals by the net or over the phone, instead asking me to drive down to a certain nationwide retail chain and be told by a recorded message that I'm under video surveillance the moment I pass through the door, while getting upsold on a used-game card I'll never use by the college-age equivalent of the ShamWow guy.

Edge and some other UK mags still offer these bonuses -- though I guess not to US subscribers, 'cos I've never gotten any T-shirt or postcard set or nothin' with my Edge order, not that I'm complaining that much. It's a bit heartwarming, nonetheless, to see a mag try to actively seek out readers with actual gifts as opposed to near-free subs and circulation tricks.

Anyway, it's been a slow coupla weeks for my mailbox, but regardless click on to see all the new mags that have come out lately.

PC Zone July and August 2009

   

Cover: Batman: Arkham Asylum and Modern Warfare 2

I had a bit of a treat this week when a British man visited in order to use my magazine collection as a primary source for his masters' thesis in economics. He was kind enough to bring the very latest issue of PCZ for me, saving me a little bit of money. (He also bought a lot of chocolate, which sadly PCZ does not come with.)

These two issues are PCZ are their usual best, although only the August one has any really standout content -- namely, a feature on why voice acting in games is often so contrived.

Another quick sample of why I enjoy PCZ is this page:

Nintendo Power August 2009

Cover: Mario & Luigi 3

This is the E3 recap issue, which means that it's unfortunately among the more boring issues of NP for the year. This is because all the preview content -- things that NP normally has a hot exclusive on, or at least a unique viewpoint or interview -- is a month old to everybody and there's no way to avoid that.

Things are saved with the cover story, which interviews Nate Bihldorff and offers a peek at the localization process for Mario & Luigi -- timely for me, because I was just reading a piece online about how real "comedy" in games is a startlingly rare thing nowadays.

Official Xbox Magazine August 2009

Cover: Left 4 Dead 2

Man, time flies! I didn't notice until I looked at the face of the demo disc (containing the lovely UFC 2009) that this is issue number 99 of OXM. Seems like just the other day that the "preview edition" of OXM was scuffling for bookstore shelf space with the issue of Game Informer that had...drum roll...Azurik on the cover. I hope something rad is prepared for next month.

The L4D2 feature is nice, like a lot of other L4D2 bits I've seen in mag-dom -- but looking inside, I get the idea that OXM really wanted to put The Beatles: Rock Band on the cover. This piece is the nicest-looking intro to the game I've seen so far online or off, definitely head and shoulders above anything else in terms of design, content, and knowledge on the part of the writer. Well done.

Future Summer Special Madness

   

Also known as "I spent $20 on what?!!".

Nintendo Power Summer Games has a nice cover, but inside it's 68 pages of reappropriated preview content from NP and the same sort of general buyers-guide content you've seen in previous NP specials like this. The one neat thing to discover in the back: a 4-page piece about making 8-bit sprites out of PixelBlocks.

PC Gamer Presents 101 Reviews, meanwhile, is...wait for it...100 pages of review reprints organized by genre, along with a few basic hardware/software features. The far back page is neat (and too difficult to explain in words; just have a look for yourself in the store), but otherwise most people reading this column can safely skip it.

[Kevin Gifford breeds ferrets and runs Magweasel, a site for collectors and fans of old video-game and computer magazines. In his spare time he does writing and translation for lots and lots of publishers and game companies.]