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It's really the end of an era. Most of you guys probably know already, but our decrepit gaming forum deserves a thread about something this significant.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3172156
MTV Multiplayer » EGM Shuts Down, More Than 30 Ziff Davis Employees Laid Off
Twitter / milkychan
And of course there's a lot more out there if you bother to hunt for it.
NOOOOOOOOO!
Meh
Oh, goddammit. I'm going to miss Seanbaby the most. :(
I feel bad for the people that were laid off :( That sucks.
What the heck? I heard rumors of layoffs and focus on 1up but I didn't think ZD's whole gaming division would just belly-up like that. They've always been one of the most, if not THE most, respected gaming publication groups.
I'm sad to see them go. Hopefully all the staff can find places to work elsewhere.
I never thought i would say this,but i hope Edge Magazine is the next one.
I would be more inclined to care but the reviews and other things in those magazines are nothing compared to the free web stuff out there. I would have preferred less low res pictures and more meaningful words as to better describe everything. I read a good magazine like The Atlantic and look at other magazines and go "This is". Granted The Atlantic is far from a gaming magazine but the depth of articles and the length craps all over EGM.
I use to get EGM years ago and stopped because it was just going downhill. I felt a lot of their articles were blurbs rather than anything remotely meaningful. The only meaningful thing was usually their main article and even that was laughable sometimes.
I am not sad to see it go in the least. I am kind of sad to see the people get laid off but not really considering they were basically paid to play games. I feel as sorry for them as if a film critic was fired. It sucks for them but they had a super sweet gig and it was good while it lasted.
Newspapers and magazines are seeing a large decline in recent years. This is not surprising with the state of the economy; however, I expect to see this trend continue until newspapers and magazines are more of a novelty rather than a premier soruce.
I never read EGM but I know of its legacy so its still sad hearing that it has ended. But other than its legacy is this really a big deal? Gaming magazines are the absolute worst source for information on games. The writers are moderated heavily on what they are allowed to say on a particular game and the end result is rarely the writers intended response. Because these magazines thrive on getting exclusive info on games the publishers can bully the magazines to say what they want or can threaten to sell the info elsewhere. There is hardly any integrity left with these magazines.
Also the companies owning these magazines are still just money fiends and therefore only give the spot light to big name franchises like GTA and Call of Duty and ignore any lesser known games because ultimately a magazine with a cover of Gears of War will sell more than a magazine with say.....Yakuza 3 on its cover. I can't fault the companies for wanting money but It would be nice if they could cater for everyone.
Its sad to hear about a gaming legacy finally ending, but like a few have said, I feel the quality of EGM has fallen in recent years. Course I would have rather see Game Informer go cause they are insanely jaded (P4 docked points cause its a PS2 game? WTF?!) and they almost never talk about anything interesting in their main articles anymore...
EGM had a pretty good run and I feel they have held better than other gaming magazines like Game Pro, Game Informer, and PSM. I still like my gaming magazines and despite what you feel Dreddz there are gaming magazines that support the underdogs more. Like Play :love: the spiritual successor to Game Fan. I actually heard about the Yakuza series because of them. They are probably the best gaming mag on the market imho.
I also like Edge (though not as much), even if they walk the thin line between pessimism and hardcore jaded gamers. I just like that they don't talk about the gaming companies as though they could do no wrong. I fee they present a more accurate idea of what's going on in the gaming world cause they are willing to talk about the bad stuff and willing to speak up when they feel a company is doing something stupid. Its a sobering experience.
EGM (along with the rest of the Ziff Davis Game Group) were notoriously outspoken about not playing ball with pushy PR types. Ubisoft in particular cut all contact with them for saying how they felt about Assassin's Creed. Integrity was the last thing they needed to worry about.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreddz
More popular games usually get on the covers, because the cover needs to draw in as many people as possible. But on its pages, EGM was just as enthusiastic about the obscure, the niche, and the retro.Quote:
Also the companies owning these magazines are still just money fiends and therefore only give the spot light to big name franchises like GTA and Call of Duty and ignore any lesser known games because ultimately a magazine with a cover of Gears of War will sell more than a magazine with say.....Yakuza 3 on its cover. I can't fault the companies for wanting money but It would be nice if they could cater for everyone.
The talk about EGM and integrity reminded me of this... :cool:
I never particularly read EGM but it was a staple of my childhood always seeing it on the shelves. I haven't bought a game magazine in months and only recently got a free OPM one from a Video Game Expo in Philly about 2 months ago. Kinda disappointed. But it's sad to see Edge go.
You mean EGM (although i wish it was Edge).Quote:
Originally Posted by Bolivar
Meh. I'll give them credit for typically having the balls to say what they thought right from the beginning, but I stopped reading EGM years ago when I noticed a few instances of them printing things that were regarded as rumour (and even proven to be rumour before the issues came out) as fact. It's not something that happened all the time and it wasn't always blatant, but it was enough to make me question their credibility and therefore drop them like a bad habit. I've even seen former editors admit this happened too often after they moved on to other jobs/companies.
Still not as bad as former Game Informer editors admitting that the review scores are just what they think the general public will rate the game.
I'm kind of upset for nolstalgia reasons. All their best staff is on 1up.com anyway, which is much, much better than EGM right now.
With 30+ people fired from 1UP as part of the merger, that is sadly not the case.
I can't even remember what Ziff Davis magazines I used to subscribe to. They didn't suit my gaming magazine style. Nothing could competently replace Game Players. I guess EGM will be missed. But it doesn't really bother me. The best magazine already died long ago