EGM Returns Again!

[theatermike]

http://www.egmnow.com/articles/features/egm-is-evolving

[Areala]

Interesting...I'm quite tempted to shoot them an e-mail and see what they're looking for (and if it pays)...

*huggles*
Areala

[Ethereal Dragonz]

I look forward to seeing how they can stand out from IGN, Polygon, Kotaku and all the other sites out there.

EGM has gone through so many alterations I had to read the Wikipedia page to remember their site changes.

[kitsunebi]

On the one hand, I question why I should really care about the announcement of a new website being launched using the EGM name.  So far as I'm concerned, EGM is the name of a print magazine, not a website, so this new venture seems to be rather tastelessly trying to capitalize on that mag's name recognition and reputation.

On the other hand, I have no interest in modern gaming anyway, so even if they change their minds and decide to relaunch a print mag under the EGM name, unless it was a retro-focused publication, I'd have no interest in it regardless of what it was called.

Wake me when Hardcore Gaming 101 decides to launch a print mag.  That's something I'd pay for.

[KiwiArcader]

I agree.

EGM was the mag, not the crappy website that postdated the magazine which died the death of a thousand "yep we sent you your copy but we really didn't have the money to print anything"' excuses from the publisher. GamePro, the resurrection was another one where Dave Halverson got Meppi to scan three issues as part of some sort of comeback but forgot to take his magazine making Viagra and couldn't get it up again (the magazine of course!!)

Thank goodness for Retro Gamer although you never know what Future will do with their magazines nowadays such is their recent propensity to discontinue titles.

[kitsunebi]

1 hour ago, KiwiArcader said:

GamePro, the resurrection was another one where Dave Halverson got Meppi to scan three issues as part of some sort of comeback but forgot to take his magazine making Viagra and couldn't get it up again (the magazine of course!!)

 

Thank goodness for Retro Gamer although you never know what Future will do with their magazines nowadays such is their recent propensity to discontinue titles.

You meant to say GameFan, but yeah.

As for Retro Gamer, at this point, the way I see it, the majority of people still reading gaming mags are old timers who grew up reading them and still like holding something made of paper in their hands.  Younger generations aren't buying gaming mags, and as people get older, some of them (like myself) stop caring about new systems and games - and thus stop being interested in reading new gaming mags as well - which is why their circulation numbers continue to dwindle.  By that same logic, however, a print mag focused on retro gaming should have the most lasting appeal with older gamers who still read print mags, so who knows?  Retro Gamer may well be the Last Mag Standing when all is said and done.

[mvangord]

My favorite part of EGM was how they weren't afraid to speak their mind when it came to reviewing.  I remember how shocked I was that in the same issue that had State of Emergency on the cover they gave it middling-to-bad scores.  And of course the time someone gave the first Assassin's Creed a 4.5 (which is what it deserves honestly).  EGM the website?  Gave a 9.5 to Aliens: Colonial Marines.  Which happened to have a bunch of paid content on their site.  If you're going to make the site any better, start with that shit.

[Leathco]

I went ahead and sent them an e-mail.  Sure, my only literary works of note is being a blogger for Retro Gaming Roundup and a couple of self-titled books, but I figured I would give it a shot.  I made a pitch for a Retro corner feature, since that is the era of gaming I specialize in.  We will see if they get back ahold of me, but if they do, I would like to push for some sort of return to print feature.  Perhaps not a monthly magazine (which in 2019 seems a horrible idea), but a quarterly, annually, or yearly publication featuring articles on both retro and modern gaming.  Going in-depth would be the game changer, doing something like the Hardcore Gaming 101 books.  They could even be Kickstarted to gauge interest, with higher levels of funding going towards being a longer publication, higher quality paper, or even a hardcover book version!  It wouldn't have to be specifically about the games and systems either, it could be a celebration of what EGM used to be, including interviews with key members of the staff over the past, and features of the magazine itself, such as a look at all the Aprils Fools moments and so forth. 

They have made mistakes in the past, but if done right this could be a decent revival.  I'm willing to throw my name in the hat for a new generation of EGM, for as little weight as my name carries.

[MigJmz]

nothing will beat 1up.com for me. I miss it so much.

[mvangord]

41 minutes ago, MigJmz said:

nothing will beat 1up.com for me. I miss it so much.

Seriously though what was up with that site and those letter grades?  Did people really want to be reminded of GameNow?  I really hope someone saved all the podcasts and stuff they used to upload there though, there was some pretty good stuff there.

[Leathco]

I got a reply back fairly quickly, and responded with some examples of my work.  I am hoping I get lucky enough to get chosen to put some work in with EGM.  It should be quite interesting to see what develops!

[E-Day]

4 hours ago, Leathco said:

I got a reply back fairly quickly, and responded with some examples of my work.  I am hoping I get lucky enough to get chosen to put some work in with EGM.  It should be quite interesting to see what develops!

Best of luck to you! It would be neat having a member here writing for a game site.

Personally, if it;s not a print magazine, I am not interested. And even if they offered a print magazine, I am not sure I would trust them again because of what happened the last time.

[Leathco]

I got an e-mail today saying they were gonna go in another direction.  Totally fine, as I am an amateur at writing anyway, and my largest accomplishments are 2 self published books and a blog for a fairly popular podcast.  Should be interesting to see what changes they make!  I made a pitch for a "Retro Corner" feature that would cover older games from the Atari 2600 to PS1 era, and a "Paper Days" segment that would showcase some of the highlights of EGM such as the April Fools jokes, standout reviews, and writers who portrayed Sushi-X, among other things from the magazines history.  It looks like they would prefer a focus on newer games, which is likely more profitable, but also outside my writing specialty minus certain areas like the Switch and the Mini Console fad, which I am a huge fan of.  It should be interesting to see how things go!

[theatermike]

@Leathco  Is this a purely digital project? They invested heavily in their EGMi platform which was great back then, but it quickly fizzled out. Then they developed the EGM Now site that was hardly promoted and clearly paid content.

I rarely found issues of Walmart Gamecenter/Parent's Guide and only have one issue of the third iteration of Geek.

It's tough to support this because I have no clue which direction this is heading in.

[kitsunebi]

Yes, it's just a website, not even a digital mag, so far as I'm aware.

I don't think they understand that the EGM name doesn't have any inherent value with the newest generation of gamers, so using it to launch a website just like any other that covers new releases is kind of pointless.  If they want to capitalize on the EGM name, that means appealing to older gamers that remember when the magazine existed and was worth a damn.  But more power to them, I guess.  What's in a name, anyway?

[Leathco]

Just now, theatermike said:

@Leathco  Is this a purely digital project? They invested heavily in their EGMi platform which was great back then, but it quickly fizzled out. Then they developed the EGM Now site that was hardly promoted and clearly paid content.

I rarely found issues of Walmart Gamecenter/Parent's Guide and only have one issue of the third iteration of Geek.

It's tough to support this because I have no clue which direction this is heading in.

Best I can tell, yes, it is purely digital.  However, one of the ideas I had in my pitch was to bring back print EGM as a bi-yearly or even yearly special done in the style of the Hardcore Gaming 101 Digests, but with the EGM magazine styling.  The idea was to choose a game series to cover as a main feature (Super Mario Brothers franchise as an example) that would fill half the book.  The other half would be news, a combination of game reviews of both old and new, a Letters to the Editor section, and finally a few reprints of classic EGM reviews and articles from the past.  I didn't get this far, but I was also thinking funding could even be done via Kickstarter if necessary, with a free mini-mag being part of the Kickstarter pitch and backers would get a special edition with an alternate cover and a few extra pages of articles.  No ads would be ran if this were the case.  Just a pipe dream of mine.

[theatermike]

@kitsunebi77  Steve Harris still owns and operates the associated EGM companies, so he ought to know what fans want. 

He went out of his way to reacquire the rights and *poof*.

The Gaming Media properties I was involved with seemed more successful and we didn't toss millions at them. That's a story for another time. 

[kitsunebi]

Just now, theatermike said:

@kitsunebi77  Steve Harris still owns and operates the associated EGM companies, so he ought to know what fans want. 

 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure what the fans want is their unfulfilled subscriptions to be honored.

EGM has very little goodwill left with fans who stuck with them till the end, I think.

[theatermike]

@Leathco  Fusion Magazine  https://fusiongamemag.com  / Fusion Retro Books https://fusionretrobooks.com  knows their audience and are doing very well. 

I haven't the foggiest notion why EGM is attempting to be the US-based EDGE. Are they going the Unwinnable route?

https://unwinnable.com/subscribe/

or are they taking the discussion I had a while back regarding Interactive Age, which I helped conceive?

I am particularly rambly on the topic of EGM.

Is @E-Day the one who has a complete collection?

 

 

[theatermike]

5 minutes ago, kitsunebi77 said:

Yeah, I'm pretty sure what the fans want is their unfulfilled subscriptions to be honored.

EGM has very little goodwill left with fans who stuck with them till the end, I think.

Hahahahaha! That's true. They aren't hurting for cash at all, and can easily become relevant with said cash. Do they care?

[Leathco]

They have obviously made mistakes, but I am holding out some hope they got a new crew in there that can make some changes for the better.  If not, I'll keep doing what little I can blogging and such.  I really enjoy Retro mag from the UK, and wish I could get hardcopies here in the US without the expensive shipping.  I had high hopes for the US version of Retro that Mike Kennedy did but that quickly turned into a disaster.  The best US gaming alternative I have found has been the HardcoreGaming101 digests.

I actually have a few of those Fusion books.  I have the Ocean one on Kindle, and I won a hardcopy of the Commodore 64 in Pixels book from the RGR Podcast news section a couple months back.

[E-Day]

1 hour ago, theatermike said:

@Leathco

I am particularly rambly on the topic of EGM.

Is @E-Day the one who has a complete collection? 

That's not me. My almost complete collection is GamePro. 

[Leathco]

So after looking at "the new EGM" I kinda feel lied to.  When I stated my specialty was in older games and the history of gaming, I was told that they really weren't looking for anyone or anything in that field.  I go look at the revamped site today, and see a detailed analysis on "Sneak King" a game close to a decade old. I would have rather been told my writing needs more work or that there were other candidates in the area I specialized in they would prefer to work with than be told they aren't looking for someone in my field of expertise, than bring in someone working in my field of expertise at launch. 

Again, I am fine being passed by, as I am an amateur.  But an honest reason would be a lot better than them doing the opposite mentioned to me.  It left a bad taste in my mouth when I checked the site.

[E-Day]

If it was me I would ask them about that and why they were not honest. But that's just me. Seems like they could have at least been honest  about things.

[Ethereal Dragonz]

8 hours ago, Leathco said:

Again, I am fine being passed by, as I am an amateur.  But an honest reason would be a lot better than them doing the opposite mentioned to me.  It left a bad taste in my mouth when I checked the site.

Maybe you were not "diverse" enough 

Pretty lame excuse they gave you though.