Given the Nintendo Gamer website is staying up, presumably their forum is staying up too. A dead magazine will still have a forum, Edge - Future's flagship gaming magazine - will not. Craziness all round.

I enjoy reading a well written review, even if it's something I don't want.

I've enjoyed reading all the Guild Wars 2 reviews, even though I won't buy it. Mod, you make it seem like it's HOURS OUT OF YOUR LIFE to read a review. I just like a good piece of game criticism.

I do like it when I've enjoyed a game and then read a review that is of the same opinion. Reading through a review that is lavishing praise on a game you love and nodding in agreement is great.

I know what Dante is saying regarding using them as a guide to buying games. I know my own taste so even if a game gets poor scores I'll chance my arm if I know it's in a genre I'll enjoy, so they're of no use to me in that way.

I read Edge's review of Theatrhythm and it was basically "It's a Final Fantasy rhythm game, YMMV. [6]" in listless, bored prose. One of the worst reviews I've ever read.

EvilRedEye wrote:

It's fucking weird, it could be from February 1993 or February 1994 but it just seems wrong for both. I'm so fucking confused.

What's the issue number? Mean Machines Sega started in Oct 92 so you should be able to work it out from that.

Diluted Dante wrote:

Do you honestly only ever read the reviews for games you want, on formats you own?

I don't read reviews at all any more, whether I fancy the game or already own it, and certainly not for stuff I'm not already interested in on formats I don't own. I like games but I don't like them that much.

I've been in Beano's loft.

@Mod74, I listened to an interview with Simon Pegg recently, I'll need to think which podcast it was on so you can look it up.

He was talking about how movie journalism has changed to the detriment of the whole medium.  He said that movie journalism once protected the enjoyment of films and reported in a responsible way, rather than the current trend of sating some consumers' desire for spoilerific previews, trailers, and general hoopla that goes with it.  For better or worse (hint: the latter) the Internet has facilitated those who wish to pander to our short attention spans and requirement for instant gratification.

I think it applies to videogame journalism.  While I consume these things too, I don think constant access to the very latest is necessarily a good thing.  It's all diluted over time.  A monthly magazine saves up all those tid-bits and re-presents them as a filling picnic of info.  A gameplay video is fine, but should be taken in the context of a review.  Given the choice of just one or the other, I honestly think the written review is better, but I think the world would vote otherwise.

Saving everything up for a 13 yearly digest is fine if you haven't got the internet, but I have. Once you remove everything newsy, previewy and reviewy you're left with the editorial and features which for most mags is pretty slim pickings.

That's why I picked up Retro Gamer, nothing in there was time sensitive.

As for the video vs review, I'd like to think I can tell much more about my likelihood of enjoying a game from a 2 minute gameplay clip than any written review.

That's a fucking sad state of affairs.

Not strictly relevant but to give an example, I bought Sleeping Dogs without seeing a review, or a single trailer/gameplay vid. because I_R said (on Live) it was great.

I hadn't even been reading reactions in the thread because I'd mistakenly thought it was the next game in that Japanese hostess series.

I can trust IR's opinion because I know things he thought were great in the past I did to and things he thought were shit I did as well. When you read a mag you've got no or little previous knowledge of the reviewers tastes, especially if you look at the EDGE. The reviewer might have loved games I hated and hated games I loved.

That's why metacritic has actually been useful, if you're trying to gauge opinion the only reasonable thing you can do is try to take an average from many.

That's not to say there isn't value and worth in reading an entertaining or thought provoking review. But from a will I like this/should I buy this perspective they're -in isolation- pretty useless. To me at least.

Arcade was the best gaming magazine ever.  Shame it didn't last long.

Mods speaking sense in his last two posts

So, is EDGE next?

Was Arcade the Neil West one? I used to buy it but didn't really rate it.

At one point in late 1993 I bought pretty much every games magazine on the shelves just to gawp at the same screen grabs of Sonic 3 and read slightly different previews filled with very little information. So off the top of my head, in one month I probably bought: The Official Sega Magazine, Mean Machines Sega, Megatech, Megadrive Advanced Gaming, Mega, Mega Action, CVG, Diehard Gamefan, Gamesmaster, and I dare say a couple more. Obsessive.