Missing Magazine - Walmart Gamecenter

[RetroDefense]

If you have any further information regarding this magazine, please chime in!
 
Walmart GameCenter (officially Walmart GameCenter Magazine according to the indicia) in an ongoing magazine published by EGM Media LLC.  Introduced in late 2011, the magazine grew out of Walmart's "GameCenter" brand - itself introduced in 2010.  While other areas of the branding seem to have been downplayed over time, the magazine itself has maintained a schedule of 10 issues per full year with print copies distributed in Walmart stores and digital issues made available online.
 
Name: Walmart GameCenter (aka Walmart GameCenter Magazine)
Website:  www.egmnow.com/gamecenter (um...?)
Country: USA
Number of issues 40 (41?; ongoing)
 
I found this announcement press release via Engadget (dated 11/4/11):
 

 

EGM Media Enters Into Exclusive Relationship to Produce Walmart GameCenter Magazine
 
EGM Media, LLC, the publishers of gaming media publications and websites including the flagship videogame magazine "Electronic Gaming Monthly," announced today that it has entered into an exclusive relationship with Walmart to produce a new in-store print magazine and digital companion publication catering to gaming enthusiasts that expands upon the retailer's existing GameCenter brand.
 
Debuting on December 6, 2011, Walmart GameCenter magazine is a high-quality regular frequency publication that delivers news, previews, interviews and other exclusive stories about gaming culture and the most important game releases. Each issue is available for free at more than 3,500 Walmart retail stores as well as digitally using applications for personal computers, iPad and Facebook with EGM's proprietary ScreenPaper publishing platform. Future issues will be available for purchase in-store, via subscription, and as an added incentive with certain games and game products.

 
I haven't checked iTunes but the ScreenPaper issues are "digitally enhanced" with short video clips, audio, etc, and supposedly offer additional content.  I'd prefer DRM-free PDFs but these are hard to find and I don't believe offered regularly if at all - I've only managed to track down a few official releases in this format and they're usually presented with little or no fanfare.  Perhaps I've overlooked a formal, official PDF outlet entirely but haven't found one yet. 
 
Issue 20
Issue 21
Issue 22
Issue 28
 
Digital issues - via ScreenPaper, at least - feature slightly varied static covers as opposed to their print counterparts.  Usually it's only a matter of a "Free Magazine - Take One!" bubble on the cover but in some cases different cover text layouts.
 
Contradicting the press release, all issues thus far - both print and digital - have apparently been made available free of charge.  You can typically find the latest print issue available in the electronics section of your local Walmart.  The magazine lists subscription info in its indicia but they're probably not available.
 
To date, 40 (perhaps 41?) issues have been published.  The following breakdown is based on publish dates listed in ScreenPaper.  I'm not sure if the print editions followed suit but issues themselves unfortunately neglect to include the month of publication.
 
01 - Jan 2012
02 - Feb 2012
03 - May 2012
04 - Jul 2012
05 - Aug 2012
06 - Oct 2012
07 - Nov 2012
 
08 - Jan 2013
09 - Mar 2013
10 - May 2013
11 - Jul 2013
12 - Aug 2013
13 - Sep 2013
14 - Oct 2013
15 - Nov 2013
16 - Dec 2013
 
17 - Feb 2014
18 - Mar 2014
19 - Apr 2014
20 - Jun 2014
21 - Jul 2014
22 - Aug 2014
23 - Sep 2014
24 - Oct 2014
25 - Nov 2014
26 - Dec 2014
 
27 - Feb 2015
28 - Mar 2015
29 - Apr 2015
30 - May 2015
31 - Jun 2015
32 - Aug 2015
33 - Sep 2015
34 - Oct 2015
35 - Nov 2015
36 - Dec 2015
 
37 - Feb 2016
38 - Mar 2016
39 - Apr 2016
40 - Jun 2016
 
An additional unnumbered issue - The Ultimate Guide To Battlefield 4 - is listed in ScreenPaper as published in October 2013.  A regular issue (#14) was also published in October 2013 so - in print - I'm wondering if this may have been a loose supplement included with the regular issue.  I do know a supplement was included with print issue #34 - a supp not available digitally via ScreenPaper - so perhaps the Battlefield guide was released solo.  Hopefully someone can confirm this.

 

I created a personal Walmart GameCenter cover gallery a while ago and have uploaded some print cover scans.  I hope this can be easily shuffled into the Magazine Covers - USA Magazines category without too much trouble.

 

Gallery:

https://community.retromags.com/gallery/category/430-walmart-gamecenter/

 

Magazine dbase:

https://www.retromags.com/magazines/category/usa/walmart-gamecente/

 

---

 

7/16/16 - added gallery link

8/3/16 - added magazine dbase link

[RetroDefense]

Added to the magazine dbase:

https://www.retromags.com/magazines/category/usa/walmart-gamecente/

 

I used ScreenPaper's publication dates - again, I'm not entirely sure these are 100% accurate in regards to physical copies but I imagine they're close.  I've left out the Battlefield 4 guide for now as I'm not convinced it was released separately in print.  If anyone can prove otherwise, please do so.   

[Phillyman]

Looks like Walmart GameCenter is still being published, putting this in for a reminder to get current with the newest issues.

 

http://www.adplayerz.com/properties/walmart-gaming-center-digital-magazine/

http://www.egmnow.com/magazine/

 

Picture just in case the site goes down....

 

 

[Foxhack]

Hi. The magazine links are basically glorified Flash viewers, all pages are stored as individual SWF files. In theory it might be possible to extract the images from them and assemble a full magazine out of them.

As of today, there's only Geek Magazine 1-6 and Gamecenter 52 to 64 up on the site.

[Foxhack]

... looks like I can't edit my posts for some reason (what) but it looks like the newer ones are just jpgs.

So yeah I'm ripping these today.

[JHD]

 

Are these magazines available at all Wal-Mart locations?

I occasionally (perhaps twice per year) do a cross-border grocery run to a Wal-Mart Supercentre in a small town in Northern Maine, and while I always check-out the electronics section -- I bought an NES Classic there! -- I have never seen this magazine. 

 

I suppose that it could just be a limited print run and I keep missing out, but after 20+ visits, you'd think that I would have found at least one issue.

[Foxhack]

On 1/10/2020 at 8:46 AM, JHD said:

 

Are these magazines available at all Wal-Mart locations?

I occasionally (perhaps twice per year) do a cross-border grocery run to a Wal-Mart Supercentre in a small town in Northern Maine, and while I always check-out the electronics section -- I bought an NES Classic there! -- I have never seen this magazine. 

 

I suppose that it could just be a limited print run and I keep missing out, but after 20+ visits, you'd think that I would have found at least one issue.

Howdy! I live in Mexicali, Mexico, and go to the Walmart in Calexico, California about twice a month - I've seen the magazine there (and its counterpart, Geek Magazine) at the beginning of every month, but they run out pretty quickly since they're free and at the reach of anyone. The most copies I've seen, right at the start of the month, have been 20.

The only difference I've noticed between the print version and the online PDF / Reader version... is the ads. And maybe an extra ad insert, and sometimes it's inside a baggie.

At my store they usually put these in the middle of the electronics section, next to the computers, but they also used to be next to the video games. Sorry for the late reply.

[Foxhack]

Sorry for the bump, but it looks like this magazine has been discontinued.

I've been downloading the official PDF versions of Gamecenter and Geek Magazine (and leeching the JPG web versions) off of EGM's website to keep local copies, but the old link now leads to a 404 Error. The last Wayback Archived version of the page is from July 15, which is three days earlier than my last scraped copy. All of the magazine links still seem to be active (they are hosted at a separate site) but any mention of the magazine is now gone from there.

I currently have all the issues they had available - from #52 to #70. Is there a way for me to add the covers to the local database?

I will be mirroring these magazines at the Internet Archive, so they won't be lost, but it will take me some time since my upload speed sucks.

Edit: Here's some links to the covers so someone can upload them.

GameCenter 52-70 / Geek Magazine 1-10 / Parents Guide 2017-2019

Geek Magazine covers video games and other media, so I figure it might be worth adding. The Parents Guide is basically a catalog.

Edited August 23, 2020 by Foxhack
Added links to covers.

[E-Day]

Your should be able to add items to the database as a member. If not let me know and I'll bump you to a group that can. 

[Foxhack]

It seems I can add images here: https://www.retromags.com/gallery/category/430-walmart-gamecenter/

But I can't add new issues here: https://www.retromags.com/magazines/usa/walmart-gamecente/

I'll upload the covers to the site in a bit. Edit: Done.

Edited August 23, 2020 by Foxhack

[E-Day]

I moved you up to Team Member, so you should be able to add new issues. If not, let me know.

[Foxhack]

Thanks. I think someone beat me to adding them just now...

Edit again: MigJmz added all the issues up to 60, but I'm filling in dates, pages and other info as I can find it. I'll finish that tomorrow.

Edited August 24, 2020 by Foxhack

[Foxhack]

Well, I forgot about this thread...

Looks like the magazine isn't canceled after all. They have issue 71 at their website, but the link doesn't seem to work for me - and they took down the links to their earlier issues. https://egmnow.com/magazine/

Edit: uBlock was stopping it from loading. But man, they made it a cell phone magazine now... it's a mixture of images and HTML pages. It looks awful.

Edited September 8, 2020 by Foxhack
meh

[ajmetz]

Just noticed the last issue was Feb 2021, and the front cover is not in your archive yet.

 

https://egmnow.com/magazine/