Why are the best game magazines all British?

[Synthesthesia]

Yeah , bad stats in a way. I can't read the internet on the ****ter.

Get a laptop

[Mayhem]

Seriously Zzap!64 and Superplay were the ****znaz... the dog's danglies

Mind you since then it has been a bit downhill, but you aren't the first American I know to say this about US vs UK mags...

[Team Andromeda]

Gamefan imo was one of the best gaming mags ever , right up there with the best of them MeanMachines , SSM . Gamefan were one of the few mags to give the Mega CD and Saturn some respect

[Shin_Gouki]

I used to read EGM religiously, but stopped buying it in 1995. Picked up a copy last year and it really disappointed me - not much to it and a hell of a lot of ads. Damn shame really as it was the gaming resource for me back in the 1990's - I suppose stiff competition from the internet must hurt gaming publications though.

[paul]

Well, in terms of serious drama the US is the biz, but for decent News, documentaries, comedy shows and current affairs the UK is the best provided you only count the BBC and Channel 4 (and some Five) ITV and Sky are dire - truly the Daily Star of broadcasting.

I don't think we have better comedy shows. We have the odd good ones such as peep show, the office, but imho Americans are well on top in the comedy stakes.

[Leon Retro]

I used to be a big fan of GameFan and EGM back in the 90s( especially around 92-95 ) ... They were full of content, character, and enthusiasm.

The only British magazines I like now are Retro Gamer and EDGE.

I always hope that a truely amazing videogame magazine appears though. It's about time that EDGE & GamesTM had a new rival for gamers over 20.

[prinnysquad]

Get a laptop

heh, but how would I explain such a situation when the thought police burst through the door?

PLus, the internet isn't absorbant enough

[Leon Retro]

I don't think we have better comedy shows. We have the odd good ones such as peep show, the office, but imho Americans are well on top in the comedy stakes.

I think it's quite balanced overall, when you look back.

British comedy I like: Monty Python, Red Dwarf, Allan Patridge, plus stuff like The Day to Day and Brass Eye.

American comedy: Seinfeld, Dream On, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Saturday Night Live, King Of Queens etc.. etc..


If I had to choose sides, I'd probably grab my Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm collection and run, but I'd definitely miss Red Dwarf and Partridge.

No side really wins the battle of the comedies.

[SmokeMeAKipper]

I've been a subscriber to Edge for about 5 years now and though I feel the quality has dropped in that time it is still definitely the best magazine. I also subscribe to GamesTM and although it's good I feel like they try too much to be Edge (perhaps not as much now as they did originally) and they come off slightly worse for it.

I agree that the Official Console ones are generally very poor - however the Official Xbox 360 magazine actually isn't horrifically bad and has had some interesting articles in. I got the Official PlayStation magazine for a couple of months last year and that was simply ghastly. I realise it wasn't their fault but somthing that was most embarrassing was that the free Blu-ray each month had the same demos on for about 3 months running.

[Brats]

I don't get the 'I don't buy magazines, I just use the internet' point.

Surely the point about printed media is that it isn't about the latest news, instread it's about interesting articles and well written pieces that you don't get anywhere else.

It's like saying 'I don't watch current affairs programmes like Dispatches, because I just watch BBC News 24'. Kinda misses the point.

[Hohum]

Yeah, that's true... daresay it's due to me not being as passionate about gaming as I used to be though, therefore my needs are somewhat limited compared to others.

[eastyy]

i remember exactly when i really didnt bother buying magazines anymore ...it was when CVG went to a new look (where they lost the freeplay section

to be honest i dont really use review sites much anymore i just use the first play on this site lol

i mean look at the trigger heart review on IGN.........

[NekoFever]

I used to read EGM every month around 1998-2000 and loved it, apart from the ridiculous number of ads in there. I know EGM (I assume other US magazines as well) are still like it, because I've seen issues in the shops that are like 75% adverts. It really puts me off buying it.

Anyway, I used to like EGM a lot. They had good exclusives - they had the first hands-on with the original Xbox, as I remember - and decent features like a really good series on the ins and outs of importing. I was really getting into imports at the time and those pretty much formed the basis of my import knowledge, with the pros and cons of the various importing options, basic Japanese, introductions to great import sites like Lik-Sang, NCSX, Tronix, etc. Seanbaby came in around that time as well and I still think he's hilarious.

I'm still in touch with EGM through 1UP, but I really can't stand Shane Bettenhausen. He puts me off, as well.

I definitely agree about most magazines being past it, though. I read several magazines, cover to cover, every month back in the early-to-mid 90s. Now 90% of them are the same bland nonsense, fighting over the same scraps. Magazines can't compete with the Internet for news so they need to stake their claim with quality writing and features, because the standards on plenty of websites are ****e.

[Montario]

i remember exactly when i really didnt bother buying magazines anymore ...it was when CVG went to a new look (where they lost the freeplay section

Man, that was the beginning of the end... The 'new look' cvg was an abomination! No wonder it came to its demise. That Freeplay section was excellence, my favourite part of the magazine at the time!

What annoyed me back then was how great multiformat magazines decided to SPLIT, like Mean Machines and dennis publishings Game Zone. Was a pisser if like myself you had a Megadrive AND a Gameboy.... I couldn't afford to buy several mags a month.... :<

Gits..

[JazzFunk]

^The 'new look' CVG felt like a Heihachi punch to the large intestine. It felt like the sun had fallen from the sky when I bought that turd of a magazine. C&VG in 96/97 was an amazing magazine, so full of content and enthusiasm.