I Miss The Days..

[Mister Zero]

I miss the days of Gaming Magazines. Sure, they're around today, but everything inside them has already been leaked through the internet. I miss not knowing what was coming up until the game companies wanted us to know, I miss the surprise at hearing of a new game and seeing beta screenshots and all that. Gone are the days...

Anyone with me?

[Gnash]

I don't miss the actual magazines. I miss the feeling I would get when I would see an article about a certain game I would be happy about. Now with the internet having a magazine is useless since we get the news so much faster. But somehow it's less exciting than before :(

[gblock]

Game magazines were great in the day, I was subscribed to Sega Visions at one point and my friend got Gamepro, plus I had another friend who would get EGM. Was fun seeing screenshots of games I couldn't buy lol. Thank god for emulators, can play all the stuff I couldn't when I was a kid

[E-Day]

I miss the actual magazines. The ones today aren't the same. Bland layout, thin like a supermodel. They aren't as exciting anymore. Maybe that has to do with me being an adult now, but I doubt it. I still get excited when I reread an old article from a magazine from 15 years ago.

The internet sure has ruined things. But magazines still do get the info before the internet. Many games were talked about in Nintendo Power recently before they were mentioned on the web. Even A Boy and His Blob was unknown until Nintendo ruined the surprise by putting a couple pages from the article in the most recent magazine on their site.

[akator]

I miss the magazines, but more importantly the sense of anticipation. Of course, I say that while actively participating in and consuming the same forms of internet media that have killed off so many printed publications

[Hidinger]

I miss the magazines, but more importantly the sense of anticipation. Of course, I say that while actively participating in and consuming the same forms of internet media that have killed off so many printed publications

Yeah. I remember getting my EGM or Nintendo Power and having to slowly poor over every page and take it it. Like seeing the screen shots for the Legend of Zelda II for the first time. Not to mention that once you saw them in the magazine they would be out in a month. No long term waiting. NOW you see a game months, or in the case of Duke Nukem Forever years, before it ever comes out. I guess I really liked being suprised then knowing that I could have it soon.

[Crazylightsaber]

Yep. It ain't like it used to be.

Late 80's were good to Nintendo Power.

The 90's were good to EGM.

Now?

The internet?

Dammit!!

[classic80sarcader]

I miss Gamepro, and other irreverent gaming mags like it. They were few and far between, but not beholden, nor owned (at first), by corporate interests. Syzygy Magazine was another, although it was a hobbyist production (I was a writer for the mag).

I *really* miss the original Electronic Games Magazine, but I come from that era, and it's long gone...

[Thor]

I miss the days of Gaming Magazines. Sure, they're around today, but everything inside them has already been leaked through the internet. I miss not knowing what was coming up until the game companies wanted us to know, I miss the surprise at hearing of a new game and seeing beta screenshots and all that. Gone are the days...

Anyone with me?

You know just a couple weeks ago I was thinking the same. I miss getting my news straight from a magazine when it was fresh. Now by the time a mag is at the stands you already have just about all the info from them. But... I will continue to support the video game magazines.

[DPsx7]

I see plenty of new info in the mags I get. Websites have too much crap to sift through. I get 3 and maybe spend $20 a year since they offer cheap deals when your subscription is about to expire, and I only get GI because I make good use of the discount card at GS. GI would be my least favorite mag so of course it's the one I'm stuck with. The other 2 are Nin Power (started when I got the Wii and kept with it) and PTOM because I used to get PSM and they switched.

[Gnash]

I found that the internet age made some games better. Like those silly games you could never finish because you had to use that certain tool in that certain place that no one knew why or what the hell. Being able to search for help on those tight spots made some of those impossible games become a bit better. With magazines you had to pray they would mention something.

[Thor]

That's true too. I've never thought about that.

[nickerous]

Retro GOOD! FPS BAD!

I enjoy gaming pre-n64. I will play new games, but I'm looking for retro stuff more than deals on new games these days. I have a PS3 with 5 games and a Wii with 10 games, but I play NES, SNES, and Game Boy games every day.

[thisawfulme]

It was pretty cool when you had such a hard time on a video game, and you went out and bought a magazine hoping to find some info on it, or a eh em a cheat code.. I always loved to get Nintendo players guides for certain games I was having trouble with..Now with that new fangled Internet and all its FAQs and walkthroughs..youngsters these days just don't know how good they have it..

[Mister Zero]

I'm glad to see such good discussion over my first post. =] Let me say what's up to Rayder, especially, thanks for the cheat.dat. It's saved me some time on a couple of games! I agree with your points most of all, and I know that feeling you're talking about.

It seems like a lot of the games today have little or no replay value unless they have good multiplayer. You play a game through once, don't feel like drudging through the story again, and put it back down. This brings me to another point, who cares about a story in a game, REALLY? Is it changing our lives to read about Fake Planet B and the military there who encounter aliens? I don't play games for story or to see a movie. I could always read a book or actually WATCH a movie if I wanted that.

And of course love the internet, but also miss all the info and quick release of games after reading about them in a mag and not some site owned by IGN or another huge company. I also LOVE emulation and the things that have been done archiving video game music(PSF, NSF, GYM, etc.). I do like a few mags these days, and in the past few years Nintendo Power has been decent.

I just think gaming in general is heading in a bad direction- everything seems like it's trying to be a movie. It's nice to have the flashy graphics sometimes, it's really showy, but I miss actually having to use my imagination with games. I STILL can't get Double Dragon out of my head when I stand on top of a parking garage or walk down a seedy alley downtown. Those are images and feelings you can only come up with in your mind.

That and it seems like all games just keep handing you continues and go easy on you. Some games are challenging, sure, but they still walk you through and don't hand you your butt like most games on NES and Genesis did.

I too play NES, SNES, Gameboy, GENESIS, etc games almost every day. If not on the actual systems, I have them emulated on my comp or my M3 Real DS cart. I like how with emulation you can go back and play those games you never got to or didn't know about. I always hated when my local rental place wouldn't have a game I'd read about and therefore never got to play it. I also wasn't the richest kid growing up, so I only had a few systems(the more popular ones) and games, but now I can go back and play all those old systems and find new retro games to love. That and arcade games. I love some MAME.

There are some great games out now, I don't deny that at all, but it doesn't have the same feel to me. I guess I'm just getting older, seems like everyone says "I remember when..." at some point in their aging.

[gothioso]

so do i, i know im australian but there was nothing i loved more than goin to the newsagent and picking up my shiny new copies of hyper and pc powerplay, now if i buy them its only ofr unique articles or in the case of pc powerplay the cover demo disc,

[KevInCal]

I TOTALLY miss in the 90's as a whole, PERIOD! Including all of the awesome gaming magazines. What the hell went wrong with the 2000's!??! It's like the decade from hell I tell you... Give me back my 80's and 90's! :(

[triverse]

I TOTALLY miss in the 90's as a whole, PERIOD! Including all of the awesome gaming magazines. What the hell went wrong with the 2000's!??! It's like the decade from hell I tell you... Give me back my 80's and 90's! :(

I think with the 2000's gaming finally did achieve the dreaded mainstream status that everyone was saying the PSOne was supposed to be the start of.  People that are not gamers came running with more and more money and started calling the shots on things like magazines and games that got released/canned and that has delivered us to the precipice we are now at.  We lost EGM over money, plain and simple.  We are hopefully getting it back later this year with people that know what gamers want though and if it fails, well, the only people to blame will be the gamers themselves for whatever reason it wasn't supported.  I hope that doesn't happen and that EGM is around for another 20 years.