Do you still buy computer magazines?

Ever since I got netted up I realised I no longer buy computer magazines. Everything I want to know computer-wise is out there on the web.

Around and before 1997 BC (Before Connecting) I used to buy these regularly:

* Input - Programming course (in BASIC)
* Zzapp!64
* Commodore User
* Your 64
* Computer and Video Games
* Amiga Format
* Amiga Power

Are you still a mag buyer?
I wonder what sort of cirulation the mags are getting nowadays?
How long can they survive?

No never. I don't trust their reviews any more, they're pretty much all pay-per-percent these days. News I can get from the web, same with hints and tips, etc. The only thing worth reading these days is Dominik Diamond's editorial in PCZone, which I read in the newsagent.

I do - I used to buy 5 or 6 different ones a month when I had my Amiga and all of the spectrum ones too when I had my Spectrum.

Now I just get PC Format and PC Zone on subscription.

It is true for me too that Internet has removed my need for computer magazines.

I bought the odd speccy listing mag as a kid, then got into Zzap64 seriously (still got 'em). Probably got a few Commodore User and others. Got a few C+VGs. For the Amiga I got "Zero" for a long time, inc. issue 1. Also Amiga Format and other ones. Then when I got a PC I got PC Format around Doom1 and 2 times with amazing demo CDs. Then I got bored as they branched out into less games more apps. Haven't bought any PC mags since. Did used to buy PS1 mags for the demos and a couple of PS2/Gamecube mags just for the review summaries but this was a few years ago. Basically, yes, since broadband I can find out everything I want (and more) online.

btw Dominic Diamond is an idiot! (imho of course).

Even with wireless broadband... I still need something to read 'on the throne'.

PC Pro and ocassionally Computer Shopper

I read old s/h 1960 sci-fi books when in royal court.

I don't buy'em. I just get Game Developer, which is free.

I don't normally buy mags, however, I've recently got a couple editions of Retro Gamer and the latest EDGE just because they contained articles I was particularly interested in. That doesn't happen very often, though. :)

He is - I've met him. :P

I get on Subscription:

3D World
Digit
PC Plus
PC ZOne

And pick others from the shoppies if they have interesting articles or software on the CD/DvD

I use to buy a lot more, but cut back when I got me Broadband, but its a bit uncomfortable sitting on the throne with a laptop on yer kness.. it gets quite hot too :) .

Cheers
Garion

I used to buy loads of mags - back when I was loaded. :(

I'm a PC Format man myself...

Though, thinking about it, I probably read each issue loads of times (See Black Jumpers Post)

:)

P.S. When I was younger in my days :P, Amstrad Action was the order of the day!

Never read any PC-mags, except for an MSX magazine (up until halfway the 90's). Internet is king.. not only you get to read the last news the first, also you can read opinions/reactions from other readers. This leads to much more objective conclusions.. you don't have to rely on the findings of 1 person - the reviewer -, who might have subjective looks on certain things.

Bit ironic, but our less has just brought me this months issue of PC Format! :)

Que can of Murphys and a sprawl on the sofa! :)

Dabz

P.S. The model on the front looks canny too! :D

Yeh, they quite often have a tasty bit on the front of PC Format. When we were planning the 3rd party Blitz meeting we were going to hire some of them - coz I couldn't afford proper models. Anyways, that idea died.

ZZap64 rocked as a mag - probably the best ever!

List of main mags since the early eighties that I can remember:
C&GV
Compute! and Compute64!
* Australian Personal Computer (APC)
Amiga Format
PC Format
PC User
* PC Authority (probably my fav at the moment (australian)
* MSDN Magazine

* Current

Mags are probably not as relevant as they used to be, but still a good read.

I remember the old days of mag code listings, especially Compute! which had this coverter thing call MLX (or something similar). You would enter 10 pages of hex numbers (probaby 10 sections per row ie. 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 and 50 rows per page) and it convert it into a machine language game. After an hour or so, you would enter a row and the checkdigit wouldn't add up. I'd sit there for 10 minutes reading back the line and not see the error - great stuff!!

I dont buy magazines anymore. I ask for editors to send me them from time to time - if something i've done is in them, but few magazine editors ever honour their agreements.

I get them for free or subscribe from places like:

http://shoppervalues.com/cat.cfm?id=7

Where you can get PC Gamer for $5 a year. And many more for about $10 a year if you don't care about missing out on the disk.

Most mags are at least a month behind the internet, but some like computer games magazine actually have proper articles in. Probably why it costs $10 instead of $5 for PC Gamer.

I buy them from time to time, depending on the stuff on the cover dvds. Sometimes they contain full versions of some nice older games. Additionally some of them contain the latest drivers and antivirus software. And then there's also the throne thing.

I haven't had to buy magazines since the early 90s. Working in the industry, the major computer and computer gaming magazines were sent to me free every month. When I retired I was stil receiving a lot of them. Now, the only ones I still receive are Computer Gaming World and Electronic Gaming Monthly, and they usually go straight in the garbage.

I recently purchased a subscription to PCW due mainly to genuinly useful software appearing on the coverdisc but also because there are useful articles as well (database normalisation being a recently good series).

I don't trust the product reviews 100%, but if I ever want to buy anything, I'm clued up more than enough on what's hot and what's not.

The price was pretty good, works out to something under £3 per issue (compared to near £7 if shop-bought).

The great advantage with tree-derived content is its portability and ease of use whilst 'enthroned'.

Although its possible to do without mags with everything available online I still get PC Zone and PC Format every month.
Its nice to have something tangible that you can flick through with ease.
I always think that screenshots look better in a glossy mag than on the computer screen which is a bit ironic.
PC Zone is not bad for games and PC Format keeps me abreast of most hardware changes.

I used to get Your Sinclair (Crash - hiss!!!), The One, now I get PC Gamer and my mate gets PC Zone and we do swapsies.

Ahh. The title of that magazine often caused bemusement ...

Me: "Pick us up a copy of 'The One' whilst your out."
Pal (With a puzzled-looking face): "The One what?"
Indeed. Check out Def guide to Zzap!64


Here is BlitzBasicII featured on Amiga Format:

http://www.amigau.com/aig/af/af052.html

The last magazines I bought all the time were Amiga Format, CU Amiga and Amiga Magazine...

I switched to PC in '93 or so, and first got on the internet some time in '94 -- and haven't really bought any magazines since. Partially because of the info available online, and partially because I really didn't care for the majority of PC magazines available at the time. Amiga Format was a lot better than PC Format...

Printed Magazines are pointless now, with the net you can search for THE GAME you want to look at, not just a load of reviews that happen to be out that month.

You can read 5-6 or reviews and even customer reviews, giving you much more choice. I often find in magazines (whilst the occasional great wit) that they're either biased in some way or they waffle on about things I don't really care about.

You can also download movies of the game in action where appropriate, and high res full screen screenshots that are much better than a tiny print one in a mag. Sometimes even playable demos.

And then you can shop online, compare prices and order it, all without having to even leave your seat. And if that isn't enough, you can usually download free screen savers (like posters free with mags) and sign up to forums and talk to real people about the game(s) you might be after.

All for free too, and you don't have clutter of all the paper in your house afterwards either. So yep, I think printed computer magazines are past it. Pointless :)

Just like libraries really, since the invent and widespread use of the internet, printed paperback media just isn't needed anymore.

yep. I agree. With magazine reviews you'd get just
one opinion and like Enay said, often biased.
With the net, you get many opinions and from
real gamers. The good thing about magazines though
was that you could read them anywhere ! :) ...
like this forum if it was the olden days we'd
all have to wait for the next issue to see
what other people have said and it woul be chosen
by the editor. The net is cool, everyone gets to
have a say .. Computer magazines were fun though,
used to love seeing what was on the coverdiscs ! ... :)

Only magazine i buy every issue of now is Retro Gamer.

Jim brown I had that mag and remember the zombie game.

To some extend -- many game studios now employ so-called 'astro-turfers', (=artificial grass-roots movements) people who are payed to roam the various forums, blogs, and other channels, pretending to be just your average random gamer who happens to be completely awe-struck by the latest product -x- from studio -y-.

Since hype, buzz, and whatnot now make or break a game, it's getting big business, and there's not many major studios that just sit back and hope for the best when they have millions riding on a successful game launch.

I still have the game which is playable via WinUAE. The zombies are apparently Mark, Skid, and someone else from BRL.

Time to name and shame me thinks:

I'm guessing zombies 2 and 3 are skidracer and zombie 5 is Mark. Not sure about the others.

4 could be mark too?

But with grey hair! :D

Dabz

At one meeting with a publisher, we were told that one really BIG magazine got a trip to an aircraft carrier and a one lucky guy got a ride in a fighter plane. As well as everyone going out for an expensive dinner.

Not sure how much was true, but we did manage to get an exclusive and very favourable 4 page preview. And the the magazine never got to have a hands on with the game. It wasn't finished enough yet. Instead our marketing guy played it for them. And they wrote about that.

Kind of puts you off of gaming mags a bit. Another thing that happened, was on the internet. Where some site took someone elses interview with our game designer and wrote a preview of our game based on the interview.

We also got the other way around, where someone took the game info/specs and story on our web site for a game, and wrote an imaginary interview with one of the team based off of it.

Yes Evak, journalists are evil. They sell whatever sells, and the general public will never be responsible enough to prevent them from writing useless or untrue things, because as long as its fun to read most people wont object. Very very sad.

Nope. Stopped buying computer magazines completely with the cancellation of Amiga Power.

I stopped ages ago, in fact I've not regularly bought a mag since about 6 months before the final demise of Sinclair User. The same reasons most people have sited, reviews are available on the internet, there is too much bias in the mags. The trust isn't there with the mags these days and without credibility as a source of information you have nothing.

Darkheart

With all the hype in thread about retro gamer, I thought it would be nice to get some mail, so I just subscribed for 6 issues wia internet.

Should be interesting.


Andy

mags aren't worth the money anymore. nowadays, you can find good reviews on the web. occasionly, i do read electronic gaming monthly though.

>mags aren't worth the money anymore. nowadays, you can
>find good reviews on the web.

Generally I find online reviews to be very unsatisfying. Often, the reviewer is biased(either for or against) from the beginning, hasn't actually reviewed the product, or isn't capable of doing a balanced, carefully considered review.


Andy

Used to buy PC Gamer mags all the time back in the 486 days, the days when demo discs contained 20+ demos of gaming goodness....nowadays demo discs can barely contain 4 discs as most publishers refuse to move onto using DVDs instead....ah well.

I moved on from then once I got the internet around 6 years ago, dial-up was the bomb for me, getting all the information I ever needed just for $19 (CDN) a month for unlimited dial-up access.....ah them were the days, no bandwidth caps or anything, all I did was get a second phone line
hooked up, used a good download manager with auto-reconnect, and download things during the night when I sleep without worry of crap like bandwidth costs the majority of us deal with these days.



The only game reviews I ever read are from GameSpot, and if I ever want a second opinion then I'll hop on over to IGN and see what they have to say, other sites I just cant stand for some reason.

"Generally I find online reviews to be very unsatisfying. Often, the reviewer is biased(either for or against) from the beginning, hasn't actually reviewed the product, or isn't capable of doing a balanced, carefully considered review."

just because something is written on paper does NOT exclude it from being biased. someone will always give a good review to their game if they like the game. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A NON-BIASED REVIEW. every review that you ever set your eyes on will favor some product over another product - not because the product.

If EA would pay me to advertise a game, how i could tell people that game is only 46% and crap?

>just because something is written on paper does NOT
>exclude it from being biased.

I didn't say it was.

>someone will always give a good review to their game if
>they like the game. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A NON-BIASED
>REVIEW.

Of course not, but a professional reviewer will know what is important and what is not. He will also attempt to give a fair evaluation of the game and describe his reasoning. This is sorely lacking when john doe does a review, then the game is either da_bomb or worthless. When you look at the other reviews by the same person, you find that all of his reviews are like that.


Andy