Games for Windows/CGW R.I.P.

[Trebuken]

http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/04/games-for-windo.html

I was irritated when Computer Gaming World became Games For Windows, now I am doubly irritated. Despite the name change and new look the contents remained solid enough for the subscription price ($1 and issue I think I paid). Now it gets canned and the staff gets packed off to 1up.com.

I love my monthly magazines. I don't browse ign.com or 1up.com for the latest news. Do you guys get all your news online now3adays, am I old fashioned? Is the internet to blame or is this some moneying saving decision (aka downsizing)?

Will anyone else miss this mag (the news has gone several days without being mentioned)? X-play gave it a mention even though they rarely review PC Games. Another sign of the Apocalypse for PC Gaming?

[boatofcar]

Print mags, especially platform specific mags, are on their deathbed. Perhaps EGM will print more PC reviews since the GFW staff went to 1Up.

I like reading video game magazines, but I think they're on their way out in favor of going PDF-only.

[Poofta!]

i never liked this magazine. they seemed to thing their shit dont stink. anyway, im not sorry to see them go at all, other than its always sad to see something thats been around for years and defined a generation, wrap up.

i always loved PC Gamer a *lot* more. i was very peeved about the "games for windows" rename. but like i said, i really disliked that mag.


as for your other points, i read news online first of course, but i still subscribe to about 5 + mags which i read

(PCGamer, EGM, Game Informer, OXM, Games for Windows -- well not anymore i guess, Nintendo Power)

[TonyTheTiger]

I don't know. Everyone always says that the old school formats will die out in favor of the newfangled technology of the internets but I don't think that's going to happen. At least not anytime soon. The internet makes getting info about current events pretty easy but people still read newspapers.

[Damaramu]

Darn, I'm only about 2 issues in on my free subscription to GFW. I guess they'll add 10 more months to my EGM subscription instead.

Heh, I'm already double stacked on that (sub is up July of 2010). Ah well.

[Diatribal Deity]

Nothing will ever compare to the short-lived PC Accelerator, but I digress...

[SpasticFuctard]

Print media as a distribution mechanism will soon be dead, long live digital distribution.

I expect a rise in self printing/binding soon.

[TonyTheTiger]

I don't see that happening. Fact is, regardless of how efficient digitizing everything may be, we aren't always rational actors. In fact, we enjoy some more irrational things.

Case in point: A video game store wishes to avoid theft, right? Imagine a store where there is no actual merchandise on the shelves. You can still browse because there are displays and such but it's kind of like Gamestop is now just a little more extreme. The clerk is not behind a counter. He's behind a solid wall. You have a microphone, a speaker, a camera, and a monitor mounted on the wall so the clerk and customer can communicate. There's a drop slot kind of like a mailbox where you can deposit your money and receive your merchandise. There's also a credit card scanner right on the wall. There will also be one or two bouncer-type employees walking the floor to stop people from swiping the cheap things on display.

This is perfectly rational, right? It will make theft almost impossible. Of course, it will also make selling anything almost impossible. Who'd want to shop at a place like that? Some people get turned off when they see bars on store windows despite having them being totally rational.

Likewise, shopping itself is a social event even if you don't talk to anybody. We're hardwired to like being around people. It's why terms like "recluse" and "hermit" have negative connotations. I think there's also something about us that likes to touch and hold things. We show our affection with touch. So despite the efficiency of downloads, there are many psychic benefits that can't be replicated that way.

Digital downloads will become more prominent but I don't think they'll totally replace the standards we have now without substantial resistance.

[Roufuss]

I don't see that happening. Fact is, regardless of how efficient digitizing everything may be, we aren't always rational actors. In fact, we enjoy some more irrational things.

Case in point: A video game store wishes to avoid theft, right? Imagine a store where there is no actual merchandise on the shelves. You can still browse because there are displays and such but it's kind of like Gamestop is now just a little more extreme. The clerk is not behind a counter. He's behind a solid wall. You have a microphone, a speaker, a camera, and a monitor mounted on the wall so the clerk and customer can communicate. There's a drop slot kind of like a mailbox where you can deposit your money and receive your merchandise. There's also a credit card scanner right on the wall. There will also be one or two bouncer-type employees walking the floor to stop people from swiping the cheap things on display.

This is perfectly rational, right? It will make theft almost impossible. Of course, it will also make selling anything almost impossible. Who'd want to shop at a place like that? Some people get turned off when they see bars on store windows despite having them being totally rational.

Likewise, shopping itself is a social event even if you don't talk to anybody. We're hardwired to like being around people. It's why terms like "recluse" and "hermit" have negative connotations. I think there's also something about us that likes to touch and hold things. We show our affection with touch. So despite the efficiency of downloads, there are many psychic benefits that can't be replicated that way.

Digital downloads will become more prominent but I don't think they'll totally replace the standards we have now without substantial resistance.

For some reason, your description of a future Gamestop reminds me of what Toys R Us used to look like years ago ROFL

Grab the ticket, pay it the cashier, go to the cage looking thing, give the employee the ticket and he looks in the shielded behind glass cage for your game.

[zemmix]

I've always preferred the printed mags to online review sites to be honest. Online sites are great if you know what you are looking for but with print I often come upon games I would have never known about otherwise. At least I still have PC gamer which I always preferred over cgw anyway.

On a side note Dan Shoe announced he is leaving EGM/1up/Ziff davis today also so something must really be going on over there.

[SpasticFuctard]

I don't see that happening. Fact is, regardless of how efficient digitizing everything may be, we aren't always rational actors. In fact, we enjoy some more irrational things.

Case in point: A video game store wishes to avoid theft, right? Imagine a store where there is no actual merchandise on the shelves. You can still browse because there are displays and such but it's kind of like Gamestop is now just a little more extreme. The clerk is not behind a counter. He's behind a solid wall. You have a microphone, a speaker, a camera, and a monitor mounted on the wall so the clerk and customer can communicate. There's a drop slot kind of like a mailbox where you can deposit your money and receive your merchandise. There's also a credit card scanner right on the wall. There will also be one or two bouncer-type employees walking the floor to stop people from swiping the cheap things on display.

This is perfectly rational, right? It will make theft almost impossible. Of course, it will also make selling anything almost impossible. Who'd want to shop at a place like that? Some people get turned off when they see bars on store windows despite having them being totally rational.

Likewise, shopping itself is a social event even if you don't talk to anybody. We're hardwired to like being around people. It's why terms like "recluse" and "hermit" have negative connotations. I think there's also something about us that likes to touch and hold things. We show our affection with touch. So despite the efficiency of downloads, there are many psychic benefits that can't be replicated that way.

Digital downloads will become more prominent but I don't think they'll totally replace the standards we have now without substantial resistance.

So, you've posited a strawman, one which, incidentally actually existed and did brisk business (see Roufuss)

The model is in place, and when broadband becomes slightly faster/more ubiquitous (fios anyone?) the existing channels will simply expand.

You fire up your Y-Box Live subscription account, browse what's new and download it over your fiber optic connection in a DRM protected manner which either allows for you to burn your own backup or that times out and falls off our storage unit. Sound feasible? Sound like something you might already be doing?

I worked in the professional publishing space for the last 5 years, they're all scrambling to paper over their asses as print revenues are in steep decline. The net for texual media, she is the new wave.

[TonyTheTiger]

For some reason, your description of a future Gamestop reminds me of what Toys R Us used to look like years ago ROFL

Grab the ticket, pay it the cashier, go to the cage looking thing, give the employee the ticket and he looks in the shielded behind glass cage for your game.

That was awesome and royal suck at the same time. It's like "Oh boy, my new game! Let's wait in line to pay for it. Ok, now let's wait in the OTHER line to get it! Total anticipation!


Riiiiiiight, cuz that's the inevitable outlet for digital distribution rather than:

You fire up your Y-Box Live subscription account, browse what's new and download it over your fiber optic connection in a DRM protected manner which either allows for you to burn your own backup or that times out and falls off our storage unit. Sound feasible? Sound like something you might already be doing?

Um...with all due respect, you ignored my point and responded to a completely different argument.

And it wasn't a strawman because I wasn't using it as a replacement for what you said. I was using it to explain why we aren't always rational actors. In case you didn't notice, I never said digital distribution will fail. In fact, quite the opposite. But I will not overstate anything. And to suggest that newspapers will vanish is such an overstatement that the most common way to defend it is to say "Well, it's easy and convenient to download stuff and we're doing it already." But, again, that's assuming people are rational.

In fact, Toys 'R' Us illustrates how people aren't always rational. They got rid of their yellow ticket system and theft in the video game section shot up. Why the hell would they do that outside of some irrational desire to be more like Gamestop? It certainly hasn't helped their bottom line. The company has been taking on lots of water for years now.

The only argument I'm positing is that just because something "makes sense" doesn't necessarily mean it'll completely replace something that makes less sense.

[Roufuss]

That was awesome and royal suck at the same time. It's like "Oh boy, my new game! Let's wait in line to pay for it. Ok, now let's wait in the OTHER line to get it! Total anticipation!


I always remember the cage was this omnimous thing too, that towered over my head and you had to look up and reach out to hand them this ticket. That could be because I was 8 or so.

When I was little, I imagined the cage was this wonderful land full of games and that it must be the best. job. ever. The wait never got to me, because it was such an exciting thing for me when I was little.

These days I think it would just be a hassle... hell, I'm hassled when I have to wait in a store for me than 5 minutes when I know exactly what I want because I want to get in and get out lol.

[TonyTheTiger]

Yours had a cage, though? None around me ever had something like that. It was just a counter with a stock room behind it.

[Roufuss]

Yours had a cage, though? None around me ever had something like that. It was just a counter with a stock room behind it.

Well, it wasn't technically a cage... let's see if I can remember it from 16 years ago, heh.

It wasn't a counter, more of a raised platform.. think of a trailer, and you've got the idea, though this wasn't a trailer, just a raised area of the store with the length of a trailer. It was a ways up off the ground, and where you could see the employee, it was completely glassed off, like a check cashing place. It had a little slot where you handed the guy the ticket, he dug around in his little trailer, and found your game, which he gave to you through the glass.

So it was a completely closed off stock room, at the time, the only part you could actually see was the counter that was walled off with glass.

[scooterb23]

Sorry to see another mag go down. I just get the feeling that with all the online sites...and the speed that video game news goes...that magazines just don't fit the hobby too well anymore, just my 2 cents.

As for Toys R Us...I was at 2 TRUs this week, and still have one in my area that does the ticket / blocked off room system. It is completely a wonderful throwback, and quite frankly...I want them all to go back to this!

[TonyTheTiger]

I liked it that way too but I think for me it's more of a nostalgia high rather than it being actually useful in any way. Back when you're a little kid getting a new video game was a big deal and Toys 'R' Us was the place to buy them at the time since Electronics Boutique didn't exist.

[SpasticFuctard]

Sorry to see another mag go down. I just get the feeling that with all the online sites...and the speed that video game news goes...that magazines just don't fit the hobby too well anymore, just my 2 cents.

As for Toys R Us...I was at 2 TRUs this week, and still have one in my area that does the ticket / blocked off room system. It is completely a wonderful throwback, and quite frankly...I want them all to go back to this!

Every Toys R us I've been in recently (last year or so?) still has the ticket/cage.

(If you care Those are: Wayne, NJ route 46, Paramus, NJ route 17)

[tom]

I don't see that happening. Fact is, regardless of how efficient digitizing everything may be, we aren't always rational actors. In fact, we enjoy some more irrational things.

Case in point: A video game store wishes to avoid theft, right? Imagine a store where there is no actual merchandise on the shelves. You can still browse because there are displays and such but it's kind of like Gamestop is now just a little more extreme. The clerk is not behind a counter. He's behind a solid wall. You have a microphone, a speaker, a camera, and a monitor mounted on the wall so the clerk and customer can communicate. There's a drop slot kind of like a mailbox where you can deposit your money and receive your merchandise. There's also a credit card scanner right on the wall. There will also be one or two bouncer-type employees walking the floor to stop people from swiping the cheap things on display.

This is perfectly rational, right? It will make theft almost impossible. Of course, it will also make selling anything almost impossible. Who'd want to shop at a place like that? Some people get turned off when they see bars on store windows despite having them being totally rational.

Likewise, shopping itself is a social event even if you don't talk to anybody. We're hardwired to like being around people. It's why terms like "recluse" and "hermit" have negative connotations. I think there's also something about us that likes to touch and hold things. We show our affection with touch. So despite the efficiency of downloads, there are many psychic benefits that can't be replicated that way.

Digital downloads will become more prominent but I don't think they'll totally replace the standards we have now without substantial resistance.


A shop like that exists in UK for ages, Argos, you go in, flick through catalogues, write the number on a ticket, pay, pick up your item from the counter (They sell video games too).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argos_%28retailer%29

.

[TonyTheTiger]

Every Toys R us I've been in recently (last year or so?) still has the ticket/cage.

(If you care Those are: Wayne, NJ route 46, Paramus, NJ route 17)

Do they still use the tickets for the oversized items? They stopped doing that with the video games years ago. Then again, I haven't walked the isles of a Toys 'R' Us ever since they ditched the warehouse style in favor of a giant rat maze.


A shop like that exists in UK for ages, Argos, you go in, flick through catalogues, write the number on a ticket, pay, pick up your item from the counter (They sell video games too).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argos_%28retailer%29

.

I'm actually surprised as most retailers thrive on impulse buying. Something that can't really take place when there's no actual browsing happening.

[scooterb23]

A shop like that exists in UK for ages, Argos, you go in, flick through catalogues, write the number on a ticket, pay, pick up your item from the counter (They sell video games too).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argos_%28retailer%29

.

Service Merchandise stores here in the states had this mostly as their business model (they had floor displays upm I assume Argos has that to some degree), as well as a chain of BEST stores...neither one exists in its current form now though. If I recall correctly, Brookstone stores also used to do this (I remember an item carousel distinctly at the first store I ever went to.

Hell of a thread derail we have going on here btw :D

[skaar]

Nothing will ever compare to the short-lived PC Accelerator, but I digress...

Remember Boot? :D

[Iron Draggon]

Darn, I'm only about 2 issues in on my free subscription to GFW. I guess they'll add 10 more months to my EGM subscription instead.

Heh, I'm already double stacked on that (sub is up July of 2010). Ah well.

FUCK... just what I don't need... more EGM's to move from mail to trash! :angry:

[Ze_ro]

While I never read GfW, it's sad to see another magazine go under. Makes me wonder how long I'll be able to keep subscribing to OXM and NP. Both magazines are already so full of ads that it's becoming difficult to read them... but at least the ads don't flash all over the place, or make me click a seperate link to get to the article I want.

--Zero