When GameStop acquired the obscure Game Informer magazine and turned it into a household name, I was sickened. Partially because of the high-pressure methods they used to push it on customers, but mostly because of how they stopped carrying a lot of other (better) magazines in what some say was a hostile takeover. And a hostile takeover it was; only EGM and GamePro were available after that. They must have been the ones to make a deal, and the others must have been the ones who hadn't sold-out to stay on their shelves. Ultimately sickening. GameFan, Gamer's Republic, GameGo, and now maybe even Tips & Tricks...all gone.
"Ever
Get That Feeling...
Why do these stores need
a magazine? Profit. It's bullshit, and it's not for the sake of gaming,
but to sell product. They give good ratings to titles they want to sell,
or are paid to push. They don't want to give rare or less-popular games
as much (if any) attention because they can't make nearly as much profit
from a limited-print title. They avoid shooting games and imports like
the plague because they think there's no money to be made. Then, there's
the whole front about how much they claim to know about retro games (when
they don't know shit). It's pathetic seeing them act like they're part
of the retro generation(s) when they look like they weren't even born
when 8-Bit and 16-Bit was in. The ones who actually were probably paid
no mind back then.
No matter what they try and say, or claim to be, these magazines are not around to make the scene better or to pay any sort of tribute. They exist solely to brainwash and deceive you into buying what they want. You don't even have to look closely; it's all there, completely obvious, and in the biggest possible print. All the big-budget titles will always be "front and center, wasting space." Not to say that all big budget titles are bad, but so many of them are complete shit that the space could usually be better used for less-popular, but better titles.
...They
Lied To You?"
GameStop's Game Informer
is pretty bad, and Best Buy's @ Gamer magazine is pretty bad, too.
Retailers give these things away with purchases and whatnot, which makes
me wonder if they actually sell any of them, at all. Does anybody who
seriously plays video games buy even buy these things? Regardless, these
are big corporations who can afford the loss. Does this all mean magazines
need to have retailer backing to survive nowadays? I hope not. Magazines
not affiliated with retailers were hard-enough to trust as it is...