Gaming Signal: CGW farewell

CGW farewell

Last week, Ziff-Davis in a partnership with Microsoft announced that starting this fall, the magazine formerly known as Computer Gaming World will change its name to Games for Windows : The Official Magazine. Jeff Green, editor in chief, gave a great interview over at Firing Squad talking about the change and why they are doing it.

The bottom line is - the owners of the magazine wanted to see it grow its newsstand presence and felt that the best way to do that was to partnership with Microsoft. Microsoft agreed, and wanted the name to tie into the new branding effort they are embarking on later this year. It turns out we're going to see Microsoft try to brand games for PCs like the console industry brands its games - with official logos and specific dimensions of boxes, etc. All told I think this new branding is a great thing for the maturing PC game industry. I'm disappointed with the change to CGW - I'd never think of picking up the 'Official Playstation Magazine' or the 'Official XBox Magazine' because I assumed immediately that they have no editorial integrity at all (however I've since learned that OPM is as independent as the new G4W will be - so maybe I will take a look at it.) I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt though - we'll just have to see how it changes as their readership changes. I've been a subscriber to CGW so long I've forgotten when I first started (1986 maybe?) and like the magazine of today a lot - so we'll see how it goes.