The latest EGM feels like... a real magazine
Reading the latest issue of EGM, I had an extraordinary experience I don't think I've ever felt while reading a gamer magazine before: the experience of reading a real magazine.
Meaning no great insult, we all know that videogame mags consist primarily, if not exclusively, of previews fed by game publishers followed by reviews of games about to come out.
But the new EGM has something I don't remember ever seeing: a cover package that's not tied to an exclusive preview. The new issue's huge blowout with interviews and essays about the state of Japanese videogame development -- tied to the at least semi-controversial premise that the state is pretty goddamned mediocre -- is really interesting and doesn't feel at all like something pitched to the editors by a publicist. It's original reporting and original writing spurred by an editorial vision -- everything a magazine is supposed to be.
Sure, they put a scandily clad Seong Mi-na from "Soul Calibur IV" on the cover. And yes, there are pretty standard "first looks" at "Diablo III" and "Skate 2" that provide little real insight. But the interviews with the creators behind games like "Final Fantasy," "Ninja Gaiden," "Devily May Cry" and "D," the essay tracking the history of Japanese game development along with graphics of "landmarks" and "setbacks," and the roundtable with Western game developers about the state of Japanese gaming were all fascinating in a way PR-driven previews never are.
My basic point being, the September issue of EGM is proof that videogame publications can deliver real journalism. Now they've just go to realize that 1/3 page reviews, especially with three people sharing the space, are almost utterly pointless. It's time to shrink the screenshots or cut the number of games so there's more room to actually write something.
Chris Morris reports on the business and culture of video games and offers analysis of recent events and industry trends.
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Posted by: cheap lastchaos gold | March 11, 2009 at 09:16 PM
Yeah, the problem with doing legitimate journalism in the games sector is that the majority of the people who follow games, follow them enough to read something, are looking for the wow factor, the shock and awe of bullshot and publicist speak.
If EGM were to go full true journalism their readership would balk at them for betraying them. They'd want big screenshots and lurid vapid previews.
Now if a magazine got started that catered to the people looking for real journalism, then hey, that'd be great.
Posted by: GeorgeR | August 14, 2008 at 11:02 AM
its a shame but high-brow games journalism always struggles in print form, perhaps not as much as any televised games show (has there been any high-brow games shows?).
Perhaps it's a reflection of mainstream gamers' lack of taste (apologies if anyone finds that a snobbish description), but magazines with Official status or demo packed discs always seem to sell better than games magazines with insightful, honest, mature content.
Posted by: infosales | August 13, 2008 at 01:49 PM
Have you by chance ever read PLAY magazine?
I highly recommend you check it out. They do things differently than any other gaming mag out there. My personal favorite is that they no longer score games. They also do many features about gaming.
For them, this is the norm, not the exception.
Posted by: Mike | August 12, 2008 at 01:35 PM
With the great bunch of minds and writers behind EGM and 1up, there is a lot of potential for their magazine to be the US' equivalent to the UK based Edge. Which is, quite frankly, the only gaming print publication worth reading at this point.
Posted by: Erik | August 12, 2008 at 09:00 AM
All good points, Joseph. The vast majority of our reviews are definitely longer than most of the ones in EGM, but we do sometimes have space constraints that keep us from writing as in depth as I'd like. And reporters here certainly work with publicists all the time. But our features stories are certainly not based on what "assets" we can get from the companies we cover, which was more the point I was driving at there.
As for whether high brow sells... I'd like to think this issue of EGM found a good balance (there are still sexy girls and big titles), but you may indeed be right.
For the record, though, Premiere magazine doesn't exist anymore. It was killed by the same market forces hurting many of the videogame magazines.
Posted by: Ben Fritz | August 11, 2008 at 05:45 PM
Yes, but the question is will it sell?
Videogame magazines have tried to High-brow it up quite a few times without much success. The last issue of GFW magazine were great.
And for the record the 1/3 page reviews in variety aren't blowouts either.
For the record there are quite a few articles I've read in variety that feel like "something pitched to the editors by a publicist." But that's the way it looks to me from my end of the entertainment industry. I'm sure there were reasons, I'm just saying those in glass houses...
And if you look at the landscape of Magazines, I'd take EGM over Premiere or EW any day of the week.
I think in many ways the current EGM/1up crew (along with a few other influential blogs) will end up as a strange sort of "Cahiers du Cinema" for the Video Game medium.
Posted by: Joseph | August 11, 2008 at 05:10 PM