Do you collect game informer magazines?

[lookfun78]

I have been collecting game informer magazines since 2006 and keep them for the game reviews, cheats, and the covers. Some of the game informer cover have more than one of that game. Examples are dead or alive beach volleyball which had 2 covers and rock band: beatles which had 4. Did you collect all of those covers. Oh and are any game informers worth anything.

[shopkins]

Nope, I throw them away. It's a weird feeling for a guy that has a room just for comic books, but I have to draw the line somewhere.

[Kyle15]

No. I personally cannot stand Game Informer; they're like a mixture between IGN and Famitsu. Even then, I'd probably trust those two more than GI.

[Therealqtip]

I realllly hate game informer, I used to collect the mags of others like nintendo power tips n tricks uhh psm. But GI is just terrible I cannot stand them. They ARE the gamestop of magazines

[sixwayshot]

Game Informer is the prime example of the "7-10 Review Scale". Anything below 7 is not worth your time to them. And in later issues, they'll go and reference a game that got a 6 in another column and say that it sucked. "5" is supposed to be average on a 0-10 scale, NOT "7". They're also notorious for making these awesome cover stories on upcoming games and then blasting them when the review hits, and never once mentioning that they had the game on the cover.

They've also had some pretty stupid comments in their reviews. For instance, when reviewing Dr. Mario & Puzzle League for the GBA, the reviewer said that they couldn't recommend the game because "There were already perfect versions of Dr. Mario & Puzzle League on the Nintendo 64". Well, not everyone has a Nintendo 64, dumbass. It'd be like me not recommending Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 for the Xbox 360 because the "perfect" version was already on the Dreamcast.

But, I still get the magazine supposedly every month. I say supposedly because I don't get it every month. They charge me for a full year and they don't deliver every issue. Why do I do this? Eh, it's interesting to read somewhat. Their non-review articles are interesting. But you can tell that the people playing are certainly just doing it for the paycheck and the resume space.

[Shingetter]

I don't collect it so much as put it on a shelf till I need more space... for better stuff.

[buzz_n64]

Had it for a year with my game store membership in 2003. Was a decent read, but nothing spectacular.

[Enigmus]

I throw them out after a month. All they ever seem to talk about is Xbox and PC games, like they're still stuck in 2004, yet most of the fan art is Nintendo. You think they would get the clue that not only their writing is on-par with IGN, but most of their readers seem to be Nintendo fans.

[lookfun78]

So you no one even collects game informers for the cover art.

[NayusDante]

The games that GI picks (or is paid) for their covers usually aren't my cup of tea.

I don't collect them, but they keep showing up at my house. Last weekend, I boxed up all mine except the last few. Their reviews are... well... not the best. I read some of the previews and developer interviews, which are about all it's good for. I might not renew my Edge card this year after discovering Goozex, not a big loss.

I did collect the 200th issue alternate covers. And by collect, I mean asked the GameStop clerk nicely and she handed me the 8 that I didn't already have.

The only magazines worth collecting to me are pre-2000, and preferably pre-1996.

[kupomogli]

I picked up the Official Playstation Magazine on Amazon for that one $5 special.

The magazine wasn't bad, but it's almost got no content. A 10 page interview or guide for Alpha Mission, a game I have no interest in, was almost half the magazine. The front cover showed Mafia 2 and it only had one page of information on it.

I have to say the last Game Informer I've gotten was better than the current OPM.

[Damaramu]

It's a great read when you're on the shitter. The only reason I get it..well, it came free with the damn discount card.

[G-Boobie]

The previews and reviews are utterly worthless, but they often have reveals on huge games before the internet does. That's something, I guess. I've also noticed a huge increase in the quality of their actual articles.

So yeah. I don't collect them: I throw them out after I'm done reading them. I don't mind the magazine as much as some people do though.

[CelticJobber]

I used to like them back in the 90's when they had more of an amateur-ish look and covered more of the kinda games I was interested in. Now they're way too polished and seem to shill for the major publishing companies.

And the photos they show of the magazine staff hanging out and having drinks with reps from Activision (and other companies) make me question their journalism ethics.

[shopkins]

Like other people in the thread I have to admit I only get it for the Edge Card. I do read it, though, except for the boring and hyperbolic preview articles. The reviews don't seem any better or worse than what you usually get in gaming mags, definitely not something you'd take as the word of God.


I used to like them back in the 90's when they had more of an amateur-ish look and covered more of the kinda games I was interested in. Now they're way too polished and seem to shill for the major publishing companies.

And the photos they show of the magazine staff hanging out and having drinks with reps from Activision (and other companies) make me question their journalism ethics.

Questionable journalism ethics in the gaming press? No!

[11killer11]

I throw mine out or I donate them to the local thrift shop,what they do with them I really don't care.

You gotta look at it this way,the magazine is like made to go along with the edge card when you get it. It's not in the magazine section of a food store or nothing like that. So you have to expect them to be stupid/biased because one they're catering to the gamer who spends sixty bucks on every game as soon as it comes out and the game companies who want good publicity for their upcoming games,simple as that.

[heybtbm]

I keep them around for some reason. I make a point to recycle every magazine we get after a month or so, but I've always kept my game magazines. It isn't a big deal since I can fit 14 years of gaming mags in two boxes in my closet. When they actually start to take up real space, I might toss a few.

I still enjoy thumbing through my old Nintendo Power and Gamefan magazines from time to time (I threw away the first 5 years worth of NP issues back in the mid-90's...can't remember why). I guess I keep my Game Informer's for the same reason, even though I haven't looked through any of them in the past 6 years.

Oh...I should add, I'm in the 1% of people who actually subscribe to Game Informer. As in, I pay for it without the Edge discount card. I can't think of a situation where I'd actually buy a new game at Gamestop, let alone a used game, so the card is pointless to me.

[Trebuken]

I get most of the US gaming magazines. I enjoy Game Informer, but, as has been suggested they seem to only cover the 'popular' games. I think most of the games get decent ratings because they are reviewing games that people want reviews for; popular, big bugger budget stuff. Games don't get reviews below 6 or so on a 1-10 scale because they just aren't that bad. Every game seems to have an audience. I think the below reviews arer theoretical. I'm can interpret Game Informers review scores well enough; I don't rely on their reviews alone.

The magazine seems to be designed for Gamestop customers who are not as informed as the folks here.

Yeah I goit a bunch of them. Finding the oldest ones is nigh impossible, but they are cool finds when they turn up.

[gepeto]

There are a couple of collector issues (guest artist) I know the shadow of collosus cover is one. I have to find the other one. I may be in the minority but I think it is a decent read. It is a lot of read. I like there clasic section albeit small. It is not the worse one out there. Actually one of the few left.

On another note. I received my gamer mag from best buy the first issue. It font is similar to GI. Will O neal is the editor. Not bad for a first edition. IMO

[darkslime]

No, Bookman's buys current issues of magazines for $1 credit so that's where they go. I only get them because of the edge card.

[The Manimal]

I did for two or three years until GameStop stopped carrying older games. I stopped going there, and my Game Informer subscription ended. It was (is?) a good magazine IMO!

The only subscription I still get is Nintendo Power - to check out what Nintendo games I'm missing out on. That is a terrible magazine, but for whatever reason, I keep renewing it. They used to give codes and walkthroughs for games, now they just give ratings and previews like any other crap mag. But I do like seeing what games are coming out, because it's easier to do it that way (paging through a magazine) than doing searches online.

[The 1 2 P]

I have had a subscription to GI since 2000 so in that sense I have been collecting their magazine for about a decade. I use to try collecting back issues from the early 90's but they eventually became harder to come by than I would have liked so I just stopped looking for them.

[Oobgarm]

I have darn near all of them from 1998-present. I might be missing 12 issues total from that span.

[YoshiM]

I think I have a collection of issues from like 2004ish to earlier this year when I let my Edge card lapse. They were all right, not great like others have said but not complete trash. But after a while I just lost my interest in it as I found myself just skimming through the issues (I normally read close to cover to cover).

I'll probably hang onto them for a while and then maybe check them out in the next year or so.

[exit]

I had a small collection going from the past year or two, but I recently had thrown them away since I deemed them useless. I was starting to get tired of getting them in the mail, which just gave me a reason to not renew my Edge card, since it's basically paying for a subscription to GI.

Only cover that I really liked was the Joke Arkham Asylum cover, but I ended up giving that one to a buddy of mine since he's a big Joker fan.

[Lerxstnj]

I saved the 5 or 6 that I bought. I never had a subscription. I can hardly ever afford to buy newer games. So I figure in a few years they'll be like reading retro mags. Then if I see a game I may like, it'll be much cheaper to get then.

[Robocop2]

I probably wouldn't subscribe if it didn't come free with my Edge card but it is a nice bonus. I guess I'm one of the few people who like the magazine. Sure they're probably influenced by being part of Game Stop and the review system is wonky but honestly, that could be said of 90% of gaming rags out there. Most of them are biased in some way. They do have some neat interviews and peices in the magazine and the covers are nicely done for the most part. I just miss the old nonsensical style prior to the format change. Would I use it solely as a source of information? Hardly. Is it a good book to keep by the toilet? Of course. More to the point of this thread however; I don't collect covers so much as I don't throw away old issues.

[otaku]

nope I read em and throw em away only magazine I would collect (though instead I sold/gave em away) is retro gamer

[Zthun]

I don't collect them, but I would recommend it as a good read. I heard a lot of bad stuff about Game Informer, but when I finally got around to actually reading them, they're actually really well written.