Just read this in Shoe's Editorial in the latest EGM (# 183):
QUOTE:
Game magazines need to get their acts together. Right now, some of them are being run by a bunch of amateurs [hey is he talking about Manci?! ] instead of journalists with a sense of responsibility and integrity.
Example: Recently, I was negotiating for a cover story with a big game publisher whose name won't be mentioned here. The company hit me with a clause: EGM could get the exclusive review only if we guaranteed the game would receive a certain review score or higher. I ended the discussion right there, saying that would never happen in a million years with EGM or any other Ziff Davis Media publication.
I later learned that another publisher's magazine wanted to take them up on the offer; I guess they were hungry for the exclusive.
END QUOTE
So, maybe the new heavies are threatening coverage instead of ads? At any rate, I find this editorial pretty timely in light of our conversation on these boards last month. Indeed, companies are still threatening mags in this day in age.
Poor Halverson. They're never going to give that guy his due.