CamFu
02-15-2005, 11:50 AM
I usually like to pick up a gaming magazine once a month. For a while it was just EGM and PC Gamer. Review, Previews, Articles, and Rumors and what usually keep me coming back to pick up these magazines. But lately, I’ve had no desire to buy EGM. I was just so pumped up to get the Halo 2 edition. A lot had to do with what was done with the Second Coming of Halo. I will be truthful with you guys, I was pumped for this game. I loved Halo:CE and the second one promised so much more, I tried to follow it as much as possible. I wouldn’t say that I fell into the hype of it, mainly because I didn’t have the access to the media as this game was getting hyped. But once I got it, it wasn’t as great as it was told it was going to be. No big deal happens to the best of games (Mario, Zelda:WW). But then again, it’s all opinion. This brings me to my question. What review magazine/site do you guys trust the most? I will list the ones that I have read and explain why or why not I do/don’t trust them.
EGM: Used to love this magazine, until recently. Halo 2 got 10 straight across, Game of the Year. Yet, Resident Evil and Metroid Prime 2 both were gigged on little problems with the game. But in my opinion, Halo 2 is just more of the same. Something that MP2 was knocked down for. Commenting on how Resident Evil 4 would have been perfect if Leon could have strafed. Come on, you don’t think that Capcom thought of that? It adds to the effect of the game… like DooM3, you shouldn’t be able to use your flashlight and gun at the same time, it adds so much more to the game.
GamePro: Where do I start with this magazine. Just Horrid! I just hate their reviews, they write childish articles. It feels like their opinion is influenced by the media. I rarely pick this one up… if ever. Every time I pick this up to read, I feel like I’m opening a coloring book. RE:4 Graphics… 4.5/5? What is that about? Idiots!
Surge: This one if fairly new, but when I picked up the second edition, I was reading through it, and they considered Nintendo to be “kiddy” in one of their articles. That pretty much sealed that I wasn’t going to be picking up this magazine again.
Nintendo Power: Another Magazine that I despise. I trust about 0% of what they write. You can tell that they are directing their humor and articles toward the younger crowd. This can’t be helping people Nintendo with their whole age group. I actually took the time once to email into them and tear them apart on their writing, never got anything back. Strange. :p
GameStar: Another new magazine. Picked up the first edition of it, and loved it. Loved how it came with a CD that has previews/music/wallpaper/extras. Liked the articles, liked the reviews, liked the gadget section, pretty much liked everything they covered in this magazine. So I kept picking it up. But I’ve started to notice that they are being to become the Stuff or FHM of the Video Game Magazine. So I’m getting turned away from it.
OXM: Don’t trust any magazine that dedicates itself to one console (including NP). So I don’t think I have ever bought it before.
PSM: See above.
Play: Out of all the magazines, I think I like this one the most. I never knew it was even out there until I was in Iraq and somebody got it in the mail. I picked it up and got hooked. It’s more then just the writing in it. It’s how the magazine is put together. One big thing is their art style. If you have picked up this magazine before, you know what I’m talking about. In most magazines, when people have their artist go to work, it looks just like the video game. But in play, they add something extra. Hard to explain, since I’m not an artist. But I do appreciate what they do. I haven’t read it for a while, since I can’t find it around here. So I haven’t read it since MP2, Halo 2, RE:4, or GTA:SA have hit the shelves. I just hope that they don’t fall into the same category that EGM has. I really do like this magazine.
Now, lets go to websites. I’m not going to get into all the extras that the websites have to offer (i.e. Message Boards, Email, DL, Extras), just my opinion on their reviews and news coverage.
IGN.com: I would have to say that when it comes to reviews, they come the closest to my own opinion. So I usually trust what they have to say. Only downfall is that they don’t update enough for my liking. They are getting better though. I know that news is slow in the video game business at times, but come on; there is always something to talk about.
GameSpot.com: They are about average with reviews. They never really jump out at me and show me anything different. But I do like how they update their news when they get it. I can check it any time of the day, and bam, something new is there. It keeps me coming back. I also like their previews, they usually keep them coming pretty regularly.
GameSpy.com: This place is just to jumbled for me. So I don’t visit them that much. I’m very easily distracted… oh a pretty colors.
Gamerankings.com: Still don’t know what is so big about this place. I see so many people point out how great a game is, and compare it to GR.com. It’s useless to me.
Bluesnews.com: This place is cool. It doesn’t have anything it really does itself, but it directs me to everywhere I need to go. So if I want to read something on hardware or software, I usually jump there to find the reviews/news for it.
Fileplanet.com: I don’t go to this place for reviews? Does anybody? Or do you guys just go for the dl? I know it’s popular, but mostly for downloading.
Last and not least TV.
Since I don’t have cable, I don’t have a solid opinion on some of the shows that are aired. Heck, I don’t even know all of them. So I’m just going to list 2 of them.
SpikeTV: I’ve watched a couple of game reviews on show. Seems like it’s too main stream for my blood. But if I catch it, I usually watch it because I don’t get to see a lot of video game in the news today. Don’t put any faith in it though.
G4TechTV: Never seen it. I’ve heard a lot of complaints on it though. Once again, I’m guessing it’s very mainstream. Don’t know though.
I have other places that I visit. But those seem to be the most popular ones on the net today. I also didn’t list PC Gaming Magazines, because I wanted to just stick with Console Gaming.
What do you guys think is the best pace to visit or the best magazine to buy? Why do you guys trust it? Do you guys even trust reviews put out by the press?
Usually, I don’t base my purchase off of reviews anyway. I will give it a rental first (or just be an idiot and buy the game because of past ones… Turok Evolution!). The main reason is that I know that even though these are considered “professional opinions”, that’s all they are too me, just opinions. And we all have different ones. And I will like something different then everybody else.
EGM: Used to love this magazine, until recently. Halo 2 got 10 straight across, Game of the Year. Yet, Resident Evil and Metroid Prime 2 both were gigged on little problems with the game. But in my opinion, Halo 2 is just more of the same. Something that MP2 was knocked down for. Commenting on how Resident Evil 4 would have been perfect if Leon could have strafed. Come on, you don’t think that Capcom thought of that? It adds to the effect of the game… like DooM3, you shouldn’t be able to use your flashlight and gun at the same time, it adds so much more to the game.
GamePro: Where do I start with this magazine. Just Horrid! I just hate their reviews, they write childish articles. It feels like their opinion is influenced by the media. I rarely pick this one up… if ever. Every time I pick this up to read, I feel like I’m opening a coloring book. RE:4 Graphics… 4.5/5? What is that about? Idiots!
Surge: This one if fairly new, but when I picked up the second edition, I was reading through it, and they considered Nintendo to be “kiddy” in one of their articles. That pretty much sealed that I wasn’t going to be picking up this magazine again.
Nintendo Power: Another Magazine that I despise. I trust about 0% of what they write. You can tell that they are directing their humor and articles toward the younger crowd. This can’t be helping people Nintendo with their whole age group. I actually took the time once to email into them and tear them apart on their writing, never got anything back. Strange. :p
GameStar: Another new magazine. Picked up the first edition of it, and loved it. Loved how it came with a CD that has previews/music/wallpaper/extras. Liked the articles, liked the reviews, liked the gadget section, pretty much liked everything they covered in this magazine. So I kept picking it up. But I’ve started to notice that they are being to become the Stuff or FHM of the Video Game Magazine. So I’m getting turned away from it.
OXM: Don’t trust any magazine that dedicates itself to one console (including NP). So I don’t think I have ever bought it before.
PSM: See above.
Play: Out of all the magazines, I think I like this one the most. I never knew it was even out there until I was in Iraq and somebody got it in the mail. I picked it up and got hooked. It’s more then just the writing in it. It’s how the magazine is put together. One big thing is their art style. If you have picked up this magazine before, you know what I’m talking about. In most magazines, when people have their artist go to work, it looks just like the video game. But in play, they add something extra. Hard to explain, since I’m not an artist. But I do appreciate what they do. I haven’t read it for a while, since I can’t find it around here. So I haven’t read it since MP2, Halo 2, RE:4, or GTA:SA have hit the shelves. I just hope that they don’t fall into the same category that EGM has. I really do like this magazine.
Now, lets go to websites. I’m not going to get into all the extras that the websites have to offer (i.e. Message Boards, Email, DL, Extras), just my opinion on their reviews and news coverage.
IGN.com: I would have to say that when it comes to reviews, they come the closest to my own opinion. So I usually trust what they have to say. Only downfall is that they don’t update enough for my liking. They are getting better though. I know that news is slow in the video game business at times, but come on; there is always something to talk about.
GameSpot.com: They are about average with reviews. They never really jump out at me and show me anything different. But I do like how they update their news when they get it. I can check it any time of the day, and bam, something new is there. It keeps me coming back. I also like their previews, they usually keep them coming pretty regularly.
GameSpy.com: This place is just to jumbled for me. So I don’t visit them that much. I’m very easily distracted… oh a pretty colors.
Gamerankings.com: Still don’t know what is so big about this place. I see so many people point out how great a game is, and compare it to GR.com. It’s useless to me.
Bluesnews.com: This place is cool. It doesn’t have anything it really does itself, but it directs me to everywhere I need to go. So if I want to read something on hardware or software, I usually jump there to find the reviews/news for it.
Fileplanet.com: I don’t go to this place for reviews? Does anybody? Or do you guys just go for the dl? I know it’s popular, but mostly for downloading.
Last and not least TV.
Since I don’t have cable, I don’t have a solid opinion on some of the shows that are aired. Heck, I don’t even know all of them. So I’m just going to list 2 of them.
SpikeTV: I’ve watched a couple of game reviews on show. Seems like it’s too main stream for my blood. But if I catch it, I usually watch it because I don’t get to see a lot of video game in the news today. Don’t put any faith in it though.
G4TechTV: Never seen it. I’ve heard a lot of complaints on it though. Once again, I’m guessing it’s very mainstream. Don’t know though.
I have other places that I visit. But those seem to be the most popular ones on the net today. I also didn’t list PC Gaming Magazines, because I wanted to just stick with Console Gaming.
What do you guys think is the best pace to visit or the best magazine to buy? Why do you guys trust it? Do you guys even trust reviews put out by the press?
Usually, I don’t base my purchase off of reviews anyway. I will give it a rental first (or just be an idiot and buy the game because of past ones… Turok Evolution!). The main reason is that I know that even though these are considered “professional opinions”, that’s all they are too me, just opinions. And we all have different ones. And I will like something different then everybody else.