PC Gamer magazine, how is it?

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pcgamer420

Limp Gawd
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Jan 5, 2009
Messages
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I have a 20 dollar B&N gift card and I'm thinking of subscribing. I remember the mag being pretty good back in the day, but I've noticed the past couple times seeing it on store shelves it has thinned out from what I remember. Is the 12 issues/DVDs worth 15 bux? Thanks
 
It's aight nowadays, not as great as it once was. I think there are better PC gaming magazines out there now, can't recall any though.
 
I subscribe without the DVD. It has entertaining articles and I like their columns. Definitely worth $15 to me and I'm on the internet all day.

Sometimes it's just nice to kill some trees, sit back in your recliner and have something tangible to read.
 
Despite being terribly editied, Aussie mag PC Powerplay isn't too bad and they are particularly scathing of console ports - Assassins Creed 2 and Splinter Cell Conviction got 6/10s, IIRC.
 
I hate it so much the last few years I let my sub go dead. I now refer to it as PC Lamer instead of PC Gamer.
 
It's about all there is by default in terms of print mags for PC gaming. I'm glad Desslock is back it's got some overall merit but its best days are behind it.
 
I get it the CD-less version and enjoy it for something to look through. I do like some of their recent editorial columns. I mostly like the podcast for work-listening material.
 
I read it regularly. It's got good articles that are usually funny and interesting to read. I mainly get it for game reviews as I usually seem to agree with them once I buy the game myself.

What I like best about it is its written by actual gamer nerds just like us that spend most of their free time playing online with readers.
 
I dropped PC Gamer about 18 months ago after be a subscriber since 1997.....they started changing the format a lot and there was a great loss of content in it, plus all the awesome writers/reviews have left.

Anyone know though if Andy Manhood still writes a sim article in it? I think that guy always had the best ones.
 
I miss PC Accelerator :(

PC gamer is ok, but in my opinion hasn't been the same since Greg Vederman left.
 
Krenum said:
I miss PC Accelerator :(

PC gamer is ok, but in my opinion hasn't been the same since Greg Vederman left.
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:eek: Vederman left? Lame.

I haven't subscribed to PC Gamer in a few years. It always seemed to me that the issues kept getting smaller and smaller.

I guess it doesn't help that internet journalism has been getting more and more attention.
 
I built my first PC after reading the article on how to build a gaming PC in PC Accelerator...

I loved that mag.

PCGamer has a great website, but I don't trust the review scores over there anymore after seeing how low they ranked Magicka. I do like their podcast.

Are any of the PC Accelerator guys still in the industry?
 
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-Sn1PeR- said:
I built my first PC after reading the article on how to build a gaming PC in PC Accelerator...

I loved that mag.

PCGamer has a great website, but I don't trust the review scores over there anymore after seeing how low they ranked Magicka. I do like their podcast.

Are any of the PC Accelerator guys still in the industry?
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Damn, a 69? They just made a simple mistake of rotating the rating graphic 180, since clearly a 96 would be more appropriate.
 
There was a ludicrous subscription deal months ago for $5 annual - PC Gamer and Maximum PC both had this. Not sure who it was through, but I grabbed both.

I think PC Gamer is easily worth, say, at least $20 a year.
 
Matrices said:
There was a ludicrous subscription deal months ago for $5 annual - PC Gamer and Maximum PC both had this. Not sure who it was through, but I grabbed both.

I think PC Gamer is easily worth, say, at least $20 a year.
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Disagree. Their review format is way different now and a little lacking. The hard stuff section has been moved to back and compressed a bit. And the DVD's suck now that barely anyone releases demo's anymore thus making the DVD's nigh useless short of the random mod or free to play game. I think it was the changing of editors after the Vede left that really saw the most impact. It looks like Logan from the Hard Stuff section is the new EiC which I didn't know about, he's old school.

Speaking of print, on an unrelated note I was especially saddened by Wizard being discontinued. :(
 
gentoo said:
Disagree. Their review format is way different now and a little lacking. The hard stuff section has been moved to back and compressed a bit. And the DVD's suck now that barely anyone releases demo's anymore thus making the DVD's nigh useless short of the random mod or free to play game. I think it was the changing of editors after the Vede left that really saw the most impact. It looks like Logan from the Hard Stuff section is the new EiC which I didn't know about, he's old school.

Speaking of print, on an unrelated note I was especially saddened by Wizard being discontinued. :(
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Don't care about the DVDs. Not sure why they even waste money sending those out these days.

I think there is a lot of value in having something decent to read in print. Do I rely on their reviews for all my gaming decisions? No, but I don't rely on 99% of the posts I read here, either. It's just part of the hobby, and it's nice to be able to flip through pages and not click through screens once in a while.
 
-Sn1PeR- said:
I built my first PC after reading the article on how to build a gaming PC in PC Accelerator...

I loved that mag.

PCGamer has a great website, but I don't trust the review scores over there anymore after seeing how low they ranked Magicka. I do like their podcast.

Are any of the PC Accelerator guys still in the industry?
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they had a bunch of questionable review scores over the years but most of them were pretty spot on.

Crysis is one that comes to mind 98%....I enjoyed the game and thought it was good but no where near being almost perfect.

I actually still have all my issues and a stack of OLD cd's from the magazine back at my parents place.
 
OP are you aware that as of this month the PC Gamer digital copies of the UK edition can be bought on a monthly basis?

I recommend that you buy a single issue and find out for yourself. If you have an iPad then the app you need is called Zinio - almost every online magazine is available with this app. I haven't bought a copy yet myself, but that might change today. I think I'm going to try it out.
 
Once PC Gamer (US) lost a lot of its creative editors and changed the format entirely I just didn't find it remotely good anymore. Its sad I use to look forward to it each month , a bunch of PC mags in fact but all of them are gone now.
 
pcgamer420 said:
I have a 20 dollar B&N gift card and I'm thinking of subscribing. I remember the mag being pretty good back in the day, but I've noticed the past couple times seeing it on store shelves it has thinned out from what I remember. Is the 12 issues/DVDs worth 15 bux? Thanks
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I am 99.99999% certain you cant get any sort of subscriptions with a gift card. Has to be credit card last i looked. I have a $40 B&N card i bought for magazines on my nook and they require the use of a CC.
 
I was subscribed for a few years. Like others have said, it's okay...but not as good as it used to be. If you do decide to go for it I would recommend not even bothering with getting the discs. I ended up using them as coasters more often than not. Unless you're running off dial-up or have some extreme bandwidth constraints the discs just really don't serve much of a purpose.
 
I miss Computer Gaming World. I subscribed to that for years. 1up.com and the PCGamer print magazine are just not the same.
 
I'm sure someone already suggested but what about Maximum PC? I've been considering re-sub'ing to them for a little while now.

PC Gamer is ok, I currently have a subscription, but not nearly as good as it used to be.
 
Artificiary said:
I'm sure someone already suggested but what about Maximum PC? I've been considering re-sub'ing to them for a little while now.

PC Gamer is ok, I currently have a subscription, but not nearly as good as it used to be.
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I cancelled Maximum PC back when 3/4 of the fucking thing became 1&1 ads. That and they are way outdated by the time they hit the shelves.
 
Krenum said:
I miss PC Accelerator :(

PC gamer is ok, but in my opinion hasn't been the same since Greg Vederman left.
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Yeah, ever since The Vede left it turned into PC Lamer.:( I remember PCXL and for a while Max PC having hot babes in their mags.
I haven't subscribe to them in years.
 
Artificiary said:
I'm sure someone already suggested but what about Maximum PC? I've been considering re-sub'ing to them for a little while now.

PC Gamer is ok, I currently have a subscription, but not nearly as good as it used to be.
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Max PC has had so many staff changes that I don't know who the hell the writers are anymore.It used to be my favorite rag but now I don't even look at the cover when I'm at Microcenter.
 
PC Gamer US is horrible right now. I've been a subscriber since 1996, and I stopped my subscription around 2004. Many of the good writers and editors left.

I read a few issues here and there the past few years, and it's horrible. Writing is ADD-atrocious, a woman was an Editor in Chief, Vederman was replaced by some Asian....
 
lobski2 said:
I read a few issues here and there the past few years, and it's horrible. Writing is ADD-atrocious, a woman was an Editor in Chief, Vederman was replaced by some Asian....
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:( anymore reasons you won't read it?
 
I will say after the dyke hair woman took over it started to go down hill. She wasn't there long before leaving herself.

Even Maximum PC isn't as edgy as they used to be and I just stopped my subscription to them as well. Their review start to get lacking, they didn't give photos of products. They did pick up Norm from Gamer for a while.

for the most part though, magazine are only aruond for toilet reading..

I dislike using electronics while on the shitter, but magazines are no problem.
 
I won a year subscription to computer power user, and i like it. Have you tried that?
But it does seem PC gamer has gone downhill though.
 
Kristen Salvatore never left the US edition of the magazine. She stepped down as editor-in-chief to become the publisher, and presently (to my knowledge) has total control over the magazine.

The present editor-in-chief, Logan Decker, was hired by Kristen Salvatore, surprisingly beating out the much smarter and more articulate, Dan Stapleton, for the position.

The digital editions of PC Gamer, however, are not the US editions - they're the UK editions, and at least right now, the UK edition is arguably much better than the US version. Again, anybody with an ipad can buy single editions of PC Gamer UK through the Zinio app. But damn that app worries me - there are about six magazines in there that I want to subscribe to. I really need to stay away from that thing.
 
Krenum said:
I miss PC Accelerator :(

PC gamer is ok, but in my opinion hasn't been the same since Greg Vederman left.
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My favorite magazine was Computer Games, they had the most thought out articles and well written reviews. Second was Computer Gaming World which luckily there is a website of archive materials which has/had issues 1 to 100 http://cgw.vintagegaming.org/, from what I can tell issue 101 is now available and the person has scanned up to issue 137!. I can't wait to read these again. With respect to PC Gamer, I finally quit subscribing last year.

*Update*

I just downloaded CGW Issue 101, and just glancing over the first 25 pages, dang there were a lot of games for the PC. Some of them I wish I had the money to play, or some of them I wish I had the PC requirements to play at that time. To bad most of them are hard to come by.
 
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Godmachine said:
Once PC Gamer (US) lost a lot of its creative editors and changed the format entirely I just didn't find it remotely good anymore. Its sad I use to look forward to it each month , a bunch of PC mags in fact but all of them are gone now.
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The truth of this post makes my eyes rain :(


Tronmaster Thank you for that link, brought back a ton of memories I had most of those magazines from 1999 and on, Computer Gaming World was awesome! That and PC Gamer, man I was in heaven.
 
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