EGM's April fool's jokes really suck...

Ah yes. I had a Game Players subscription back in the day, with the extra newsletter page. I remember around 94-95 they started putting in all the goofy-ass letters they had and only a few serious ones. Then Gazuga. The Box. Skullbats. The Cleansing. The Lamination of the Ducks. Cosmic Race.

 

Anyone else ever read Mean Machines Sega? I used to like that as a kid, haven't read it since. Seem to remember a lot of bloody pictures and swearing...

 

EGM, back in the day, was like that. They appealed to both groups. It completely toasted anything else available in the US.

CGW is a good magazine. You should try that.

I don't understand why everybody hates GTA or Madden. Why should it matter if everyone buys them? OH NOES TEH CASUAL GAMERZ WILL RUINS TEH INDUSTRIESS!!!11

 

It's a very complicated algorithm that can be expressed as follows using a rudimentary psuedocode:

Code:

#define gamer_intelligence; 
#define casualgamer_intelligence AS (gamer_intelligence*.25);
 
IF game=flash+flair AND gameplay=mindnumbinglyRepetitive THEN
	casualgamerPurchase + 1;
 
num_casualgamers == num_gamers*num_gamers;
 
publisher_catertocasualgamers == 1;
 
IF game=flash+flair AND gameplay=mindnumbinglyRepetitive THEN
	casualgamers = buy
	publisherEarnings = booyah
	if independent_devlopers = 1
	call HostileTakeover
 
HostileTakeover(){
publisher + independent_developers = BIGpublisher
independent_developers = 0
innovation = squashed
BIGpublisher = win
casualgamer = win
gamer = lose
Baby Jesus = cry
}

See? All very simple. Oh yeah, GTA and Madden suck because they are essentially lukewarm rehashes of previous installments (Madden having been going on for nearly 20 years) with rather pointless and completely uninspired gameplay. But you don't need me to tell you that.

 

San Andreas has SO much more stuff than the previous installments. Vice city and GTA3 are closer to your comparison in repetitiveness. I have never played Madden though, since I don't like sports games.

 

the same applies to GTA too. i didn't disliked gta 3, but where the hell was the innovation in the other ones that followed with one year intervals? Oh yeah, OMG!!!11!OMG!1111!!! YOU CAN RIDE F**KING BYCYCLES AND YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR CLOTHES!!!!1!1!!!!!1! Apart this and a couple of changed textures that are still all pretty bad, nothing changed at all. this is just reharshing a violent, stupid and no-brain game that worked because kids like blood and things that are not of their ages. If i dare the comparqson, it's Just like a Barbie with new clothes, Its still just the same F***ing barbie!

 

I read it in the shops but never bought it. I always thought it was a bit childish, you know like the Official Nintendo Magazine. For Sega Megatech was the one to get while for SFC/SNES if was Super Play which was the best games mag ever followed by the British Official Sega Saturn magazine

Yakumo

 

Is Nintendo power the official Nintendo magazine? They never acted childish, and the worst word *maybe* was damn or hell. And they didnt use those much, either.

 

Yeah, Nintendo Power is the official Nintendo mag, and as far as I know is the ONLY Nintendo magazine here in the US. They can be a good source of info on upcoming Nintendo stuff, if you can get past the frequent Pokemon coverage. -_-

 

thought you folks might dig this fabulous article:
momabible entry for GameFan

Anyway, GameFan was uneven: horrible to read, yet the only place to consistently offer tons of coverage (i.e. mainly via screenshots) for a wide-wide variety of import games / consoles (i loved their PC engine coverage, for example).

Don't get me wrong, we needed (still need) mags like GameFan, flaws and all.

favorite mags: I'm partial to VG & CE myself, although the first few years of Nintendo Power were pretty kool as well. Say what you will about Nintendo, but they put out great NES propaganda (I can't remember the SNES era too well). Sega Visions and TurboPlay (dedicated Sega and NEC mags) couldn't match Nintendo Power in the propaganda department, though SegaVisions made a valiant attempt.

Every issue of Edge I've read is consistently entertaining and enjoyable to read (I'm basing this off of the first few years, since I've only picked up a handful of recent issues). I wish it were cheaper for folks here in the U.S. Even if Edge can be justly criticized for being too "academic" and "intellectual" .... why do we have to settle for the current load of poop in the U.S. mainstream mags? It would be refreshing to have a snooty mag like Edge here in the states. Just as GameFan's import fanboyism was refreshing.

in summary: GameFan and Nintendo Power were the magazines that would make you drool for upcoming games.

 

Edge is too expensive *everywhere*. Why can't someone make a good cheap magazine? :smt022

 

gamefan did go out of buisness, i forgot where but shortly after the last issue they anounced that they went out of buisness, still it was a good mag and had good reviews as well as anime and import reviews, there previews and coverage were some of the best. As ger then ta subscribe i agree that egm isnt as good as it use to be, they had some of the best import previews as well as arcade(in fact durring the saturns final days i belive egm did reviews for some import games) though i am glad they now have 3 people at least to review a game and their developer interviews are an intresting read, even though i wish they were a bit longer.

 

What's wrong with being casual about gaming? GTA single-handedly changed the industry with the 3rd installment. Madden has been solid for awhile now. Why does it matter if people purchase them or not? They are games.

 

I used to like Pokemon, but I quit after blue and red. Now they have used every color of the rainbow, and a few elements from the periodic table as well as "Fantasy" elements. :smt043

 

You're still missing the point. I played San Andreas for the first time the other day, having semi-consciously avoided it because people have warned me about it. Why? Because it's the same game as the last two. I really enjoyed GTA3, thought Vice City was ok but lacked innovation, and I lasted all of 2 hours on San Andreas before realising it was exactly the same game as the last 2 - only with teeth-gratingly cheesy dialogue that comes across less as tongue-in-cheek (like the previous installments) and more "hey, all this "nigga" talk sells, lets stick it in so all the kids will buy it". I can't speak for Madden, since I don't play sports games, but seeing Madden 198X through 199x, through 200X (and probably 201X when the time comes) doesn't exactly inspire me with hope.

These games are slowly sucking the lifeblood out of the industry. For every successful cash-in bullshit rap-inspired game, or sequel with no differences beyond the number suffix, the industry investors sees bigger and bigger dollar signs on unoriginal content. Pass this off as "hey, they're games too" if you like, but to be honest it's pretty worrying. When a game designer of the caliber of American McGee has to make a movie to tie in with his game before anyone will give him cash, you know something's seriously wrong with the situation.

 

True thing. This week, I saw this segment on CNN, with Trip Hawkings (eeeeeeEEw) talking all about how the gaming industry had games' budgets increasing, and how it had become "marketeable" and how it was bringing in lots of cash. Call me paranoid. The million dollar budgets and marketing-centred games industry keeps sounding like Atari in 83-84.
It worries me a lot, because this might cause good developers to go under, once the attention span of casual me-too fad inspired gamers is directed elsewhere and the industry collapses into itself.

AAAand, to go less off-topic - I think that PSXtreme also had a Tomb Raider Nude Patch "trick" on an april issue. I also think there was some talk about a gold plated, jewel-encrusted Game Gear, in some 1994 EGM. Was there not?

 

It was real

http://img68.exs.cx/img68/6250/goldgg2br.jpg

 

You're not proving anything as to why they are bad. Simply put, there is no industry without "casual gaming." Slowly sucking the lifeblood my ass. The market grows every year.

 

Well said, Alchy. I'm not sure how GTA ever single-handedly changed the industry in any manner, aside from upsetting a handful of parents and inspiring more copycat games. If that's positive change, then let me live in the stone age.

As long as games like that continue to be so popular among the casual gamers, publishers are going to be less and less inclined to take chances with creating innovative new games or importing decidedly different Japanese titles, such as the recent Katamari Damashi or XX/XY Feel The Magic.

 

I like anime type games, and there are lots of Japanese RPGS, and other platforms as well that werent even released here in the U.S that I want. A game like GTA is casual gaming, but I don't think its the reason games are dying. Its the lack of hardcore gamers. There are more casual gamers than hardcore, but how did casualism originate? The answer: Fanboys