Gaming Signal: What gaming magazines do you read?

What gaming magazines do you read?

This week I was picking up the mail and had a little surprise. It was a complimentary copy of the Official Playstation Magazine. I know it is slanted towards Sony (and some folks will say meh), but I think you are selling yourself short. Now the magazine is published by the same folks who publish that crap EGM, but this one is so much better. This all started me thinking about what magazines I get and which ones I really feel are worth my time investment to read them. Basically, my monthly gaming magazine set looks like this (it is a short list, but I have other magazines and stuff to read too):

Of those, I really only trust Game Informer (and is currently the only one I pay for) for reviews, articles and what not. The others are great as vehicles for previews and screenshots, but very little else. I have posted before about an article in PC Gamer, and sometimes there is an interesting column there. But for the most part, I find these magazines are not very good. Luckily, many offer free subscriptions for a year and that way I can find out what I like and what to avoid. I also fully understand there are websites out there (some which are to be avoided at all cost) that do a fine job of presenting news, but sometimes I am not connected to the web and I still enjoy flipping pages.

So I wonder what magazines other folks read and would be willing to pay for a subscription? (That is two questions for you...)

Right now I pay for Computer Gaming World (about to be renamed the Official Games for Windows Magazine) and PC Gamer. When my PC Gamer subscription runs out, I'll be dropping it. It's OK mostly, but I believe it actively participates in the negative aspects of game 'journalism' - by selling its covers and coverage (it is a News Corp. publication and I believe they all have a similar philosophy.)

I've enjoyed the couple of Game Informer's I've read, but haven't gotten a subscription yet (mostly because I'm currently homeless - but that's another story.)

Posted by Scott on Sunday October 22, 2006 at 7:54 AM

Ack I cut my comment short.

I like CGW/GfW primarily because I've always felt they've had integrity. The recent decision to drop ratings from game reviews (and in fact changing reviews up a lot such that they are now more commentaries on games rather than reviews) is a great one. Magazines have to adapt to be relevant in the world where a game is reviewed online within hours of its release. CGW/GfW is at least trying to do that. They've also had some very interesting articles (about gold farmers from the farmer perspective, for example) lately that I hope continue.

Posted by Scott on Sunday October 22, 2006 at 8:04 AM