Re: Goodbye Game Informer

On Tue, 06 Aug 2024 09:11:23 -0400, Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com>
wrote:

On Sun, 04 Aug 2024 11:54:14 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
>

Probably most people won't care, but "GameInformer" -the long running
computer game magazine- shuttered its business the other day.

>
I had subscriptions to QuestBusters, Computer Gaming World, PC Gamer,
Computer Games Strategy Plus and Computer Game Review. But somehow, I
missed on ever subbing to Game Informer. Or maybe I only I subbed to
them briefly, I don't remember. I hope they weren't the best of the
bunch, because if they were, then I missed out.

Game Informer made it hard to get a subscription, since the only way
to actually get one was to physically walk into a GameStop store, and
buy it there (and even, what you were technically buying was that
stupid store-discount card thing; it just happened to come with a
year-long subscription to the magazine).

You couldn't even RENEW the subscription without going to the store.*
Even if you called up their customer service line, that's the answer
they gave you: go to the store if you want another year of the
magazine.

Which, you know, I totally get from the perspective of GameStop. If
you're going to the store to renew their magazine, you're much more
likely to buy something else while you're there. And, honestly, I
didn't mind too much; a yearly subscription to the GameStop membership
plan (with free magazine subscription) cost... I forget, exactly;
maybe $15USD? That was about a third of what other magazine
subscriptions cost at the time. So it was something of a bargain and
well worth the short trip to the store.***

But this restrictive policy severely limited the readership of the
magazine. Which is a shame because, despite it being entirely
subsidized by the retail store, it was actually one of the more
readable gaming rags.

I don't want to go back to the days of relying on these magazines for
information, but I miss them all the same.

Helpful hint: the entirety of the Computer Gaming World archive is
available (legitimately!) online. You can read every issue at
https://www.cgwmuseum.org/

Many other magazines are somewhat-less-legitimately*** Archived as
well, if you know where to look. It's useful if you want to read what
people were writing about specific games when they were first
released, which is always fun. But those collections are less
convenient to find and usually not quite as extensive as CGW.


-----     
* at least, that's how it used to be. They might have changed it in
the years since I gave up the subscription. Later on I think they also
offered digital-only subscriptions to the web site as well; I don't
know if that also required a trip to the retail shop.
** at least until GameStop up and closed pretty much every store in my
vicinity
*** Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum, me hearties!