Ok, here is the deal. I want you to rank your Top 5 Video Game Magazines of all time. If you want to rank more than 5, that's fine. But you have to come up with at least 5. Also, these magazines of course can include magazines that are no longer in print. If you could, please next to you rankings include a sentence or two about what makes the mag so special to you.


Ok, I'll start things off with my list. I must say that I don't know anything about video game magazines before 1990. So I can't really comment on mags before 1990. So take that into consideration, when judging my rankings.


1. Die Hard Game Fan - Look, all I can say is that the Early Die Hard Game Fan, was untouchable. The key thing for me about Game Fan, was that they didn't waste space. So many video game magazines will just do preview after preview that won't really say anthing about the game, other than what you could get in a press release from the company that was promoting the game. In other words, most magazines previews are just advertisements. But with Die Hard Game Fan, even in their previews you got a good idea as to whether the game was worth you paying attention to or not. No wasted space. Plus these guys were true gamers that just loved games. The only thing negative I can say about Game Fan is that they were a little bit too positive on too many games. Also, when they changed management, the Mag suffered. I'm really ranking the Early Die Hard Game Fan No. 1.

2. Next-Generation - The thing that I loved about Next Generation is the fact that they really covered the health of the industry. I'm not so sure that they were that good at covering the actual games, and I really disliked the way that they reviewed games, but I absolutely loved the way they would cover the state of the video game industry. The way they covered the video game systems and companies that were fighting for our retail dollars.

3. GamePlayers - This was just a very solid magazine in terms of the previews and the reviews. I always hated the cheap paper that they used though.

4. EGM - To be honest, I hate to rank EGM this high. I don't think they really deserve it. But I have to. The reason why is because they have always been super successful in terms of having lots of advertisers, which allows them to have very large issues. Sometimes their November and December issues would just be gigantic. The bad side to EGM is that I think their previews were a complete waste of time. The only thing they would do in their previews is give you the same crap that's on the back of the game box. No insight, no opinion. No early take on how the game is shaping up. If their previews were decent, I would rank them much, much higher.

5. Gamers Republic - Obviously, being a huge fan of Die Hard Game Fan, I followed Dave Halverson and company to Gamers Republic. Once again, I thought that this was a magazine that didn't waste any precious space. Every word was giving you some real information and not just company PR.

6. Play - I like Play, but I think they waste alot of pages on Non-gaming stuff. If I want to have movie reviews, I will get them from my Newspaper. Just stick to the games please. They don't have enough advertising to waste pages on that.

7. GAMES tm - This is that magazine from England. I think this is a relatively new magazine. All I can say is that I absolutely love the paper!. That paper feels so damn good! This mag is expensive, because it's imported, and I'm not too interested in modern gaming right now, so I don't really get this mag, but if I'm in Barnes and Noble, I always check it out.

8. GamePro - I hate to rank LamePro, err, GamePro this high, but once again, I have to because they are so backed by advertisers that they have so many more pages than other mags. And more pages is never a bad thing. The biggest problem with GamePro is that their mag appears to be targeted to 12 year olds. This is great if you are 12, but if you're older than that, it can be kinda embarrising to be holding a GamePro magazine in your hand.

9. Game Informer - The little magazine that could. Game Informer is kind of an afterthought, considering they practically give this mag away for free. But their mag is actually pretty decent. Despite the fact that they have a blind prejudice to favor the PS2 and downgrade everything else, I still think their mag is pretty good.

10. XBOX Nation - I hate to rank a magazine that is exclusive to 1 system, but I think that XBOX Nation is a great read. They don't waste their space, and they really break down the XBOX scene in detail. Now that I'm into the old school games, I don't really check them out anymore, but of the current mags that are on Newstands right now, I give them some props.


Well, that is my Top 10 right now. I'm sure I've probably forgotten about some really good magazines that deserve to be on my list ahead of some of the ones that I got on there, but oh well. That is what the Edit feature is for.