Gaming Magazines (Printed)

[Derek]

The problem that the game magazines face is publication lag. They have to have their finished copy to the printer 60-90 days before the issue hits the stands and in that time a lot can change. Readers would like to see reviews at the time a game comes out, but at the time the magazine is written, the game isn't finished.

They must be having really crappy printing services then. 60 days is just insane. It doesn't even take more than a month between a game goes gold and it hits the shelf, and that's including time for writing the manual.

I used to get Nintendo Power and there was an obvious void of knowledge in their features/articles within the magazine. It wasn't quite 60 days, it was more along the lines of two/three weeks. Still, I find that to be outrageous when I can stay up to the minute on the internet.

[Qurqirish Dragon]

The problem that the game magazines face is publication lag. They have to have their finished copy to the printer 60-90 days before the issue hits the stands and in that time a lot can change. Readers would like to see reviews at the time a game comes out, but at the time the magazine is written, the game isn't finished.

They must be having really crappy printing services then. 60 days is just insane. It doesn't even take more than a month between a game goes gold and it hits the shelf, and that's including time for writing the manual.

I used to get Nintendo Power and there was an obvious void of knowledge in their features/articles within the magazine. It wasn't quite 60 days, it was more along the lines of two/three weeks. Still, I find that to be outrageous when I can stay up to the minute on the internet.

Considering that newspapers get published daily, they should be able to put the magazine together in fairly short order. Maybe not daily, but definitely faster than they do. After all, other mags such as Time or Newsweek have the same quality paper, and they aren't two months behind the calendar.

As for me, I subscribed to NP when they first became NP (I was a charter member of the Fun Club News), but dropped it long ago. Since then I had a few magazines with a short subscription (generally ones that came "free" with a software store discount card), but I found I only used the magazines for the demo CDs they came with. As the titles I was interested in dried up, so did my interest in these.

[asandir]

i think that with the more widespread use of the net, it is easier for people to find out what they want from gaming sites then a mag, upto date info, links to further info, and they don't have to pay for it

[Derek]

They must be having really crappy printing services then. 60 days is just insane. It doesn't even take more than a month between a game goes gold and it hits the shelf, and that's including time for writing the manual.

I used to get Nintendo Power and there was an obvious void of knowledge in their features/articles within the magazine. It wasn't quite 60 days, it was more along the lines of two/three weeks. Still, I find that to be outrageous when I can stay up to the minute on the internet.

Considering that newspapers get published daily, they should be able to put the magazine together in fairly short order. Maybe not daily, but definitely faster than they do. After all, other mags such as Time or Newsweek have the same quality paper, and they aren't two months behind the calendar.

As for me, I subscribed to NP when they first became NP (I was a charter member of the Fun Club News), but dropped it long ago. Since then I had a few magazines with a short subscription (generally ones that came "free" with a software store discount card), but I found I only used the magazines for the demo CDs they came with. As the titles I was interested in dried up, so did my interest in these.

It is strange, I'll give you that much. The Economist comes weekly and I'd wager it offers better analysis than NP. I think the source of the problems with many of the gaming magazines is because of their relativly cheap subscription fees. NP, for example, was only $12.95 for 12 issues and other free goodies. I'd guess that they(NP and others) are making these mags on the cheap and analysis is beyond the scope of their intentions.

[Angelspit]

Wow, Ziff Davis just killed Computer Gaming World (and replacing it with an official "Games for Windows" magazine). That's the end of an era.