GamePro Shutting Down After 22 Years [Slashdot]

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redletterdave writes "Popular gaming magazine GamePro has shut down its U.S. operations after 22 years of publications by its parent company IDG. GamePro's website, which has been online for about 13 years, will be converted to a gaming channel and incorporated into PCWorld on Dec. 5. Sources within the magazine say GamePro's employees, including its executives, received phone calls this morning with the news. The news comes as a relative surprise, as GamePro experienced its highest traffic ever last week. The company also released its first quarterly magazine earlier this month after deciding monthly print issues were too costly to maintain."http://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgames.slashdot.org%2Fsto ry%2F11%2F11%2F30%2F2220245%2Fgamepro-shutting-down-after-22-years%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfaceb ook) http://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=GamePro+Shutting+Down+After+22+Years%3 A+http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2Fs5AAZj)

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[The 1 2 P]

RIP Gamepro.

[Edmond Dantes]

It's kind of sad that an era is ending, but on the other hand I haven't read a Gamepro magazine since the mid-1990s.

I wish I had the money and space to collect back issues though. Re-reading all the ones from the early to mid 90s would be one hell of a nostalgia trip and maybe even inform me of games I had missed.

[badinsults]

I was a subscriber from 1996-2000. It was a good magazine, better than EGM at that time.

[megasdkirby]

I subscribed from '92 - '95. Won't miss it much...at one point it turned to one of those UK magazines that all they did was insult the reader whenever he/she had a complaint, which was a complete turnoff.

Good riddance, I say.

[G-Boobie]

The disreputable past of GamePro colored the perception of the magazine from the last couple of years, where it was an exceptionally well done magazine. It's a real bummer that it's been canceled. RIP GamePro, and good luck to the staff going forward.

[JSoup]

I only ever read one issue of GamePro, around the time Donkey Kong Country was released. It had great pictures, but I didn't feel like the magazine was trying to tell me anything, more like a picture book full of adults calling everyone poopyheads.

I'm in the 'won't be missed' camp.

[Oobgarm]

I was never much of a fan. I had a few of them, back when they'd print moves for games like Mortal Kombat and such.

It all seemed especially juvenile, and the need to name every person associated with the mag with some silly penname rubbed me the wrong way for some reason.

"ProTip" and their review scale with the dude's face are fond memories of it, but that's it.

[Ludwig]

Still existing in germany.
http://www.gamepro.de/

Yes that's actually from IDG. :)

[Sunnyvale]

I read one of my kid brother's issues in the 90's. Forgot about it all together till 4 years ago. Got a box of Nintendo Power Magazines, a couple old Scrye's, and a handful of Gamepros.

It seemed ok. Easy to discount the tips and whatnot nowadays, with google and all, but it had a pretty good breakdown of Primal Rage and KI.

I think they were good for their time, which is 15 years gone. RIP.

[RPG_Fanatic]

I'm surprised they lasted this long. Egm will be next and then finally Nintendo Power will leave us.

[thegamezmaster]

Too bad. Will miss them. Fond memories. I remember when I won two free games from them, The Three Stooges for the NES and Miracle Warrior for the SMS. Still remember them calling me and asking what games I wanted. I was in shock, never won anything before or since. Still have the letter, mag my name was in and the games. Great times! RIP GamePro!:|

[Robocop2]

It's all beacuse they quit publishing "The adventures of Game Pro"

[Flashback2012]

I subscribed from '92 - '95. Won't miss it much...at one point it turned to one of those UK magazines that all they did was insult the reader whenever he/she had a complaint, which was a complete turnoff.

Good riddance, I say.

In the pecking order of video game magazines, GamePro always managed to come in at the bottom, if I even decided to consider it in the first place. I never did care for the magazine even when video game publications were at their apex, it always struck me as cheap and unprofessional compared to the competition. Diehard Gamefan was more of a fan production than GamePro was and it felt more professional than GamePro did most of the time.

I'm trying to think of any redeeming values the magazine and unfortunately I cannot. The layouts were awful, the paper quality felt flimsy, and the artwork...my God...never have I wanted to break a person's hands before (more on this in a second). So yeah...chalk me up in the "Good Riddance" column.


It's all because they quit publishing "The adventures of Game Pro"

That's the comic strip about the character who bounces from game to game, meeting Michael Jackson in Moonwalker and such, right? It was done by the same guy who would occasionally do the covers for the magazine. Gag. That's guy's "art" was terrible. TERRIBLE. His "best" stuff made the worst stuff by hacks like Rob Liefeld look like a Rembrandt or Da Vinci. And before anyone goes there I'll save you the trouble; Yes I CAN draw better than him. :ass:

[Aussie2B]

the need to name every person associated with the mag with some silly penname rubbed me the wrong way for some reason.

That always bugs me too. It's a real knock to the professionalism. If you're a real professional and take pride in your writing (and want to ensure that you can use it in a portfolio later on), you want your real name on it. It's one thing if your participation in something could be viewed as shameful (which is why Japanese game developers in the 80s used fake names), but there's no reason why a games magazine writer should not want to associate him/herself with the magazine. And if they do have a problem with that, it probably doesn't reflect well on the magazine. But in the end, I think it's nothing but a bunch of adults acting like kids, treating the magazine more like a message board than legitimate journalism.

[portnoyd]

PROTIP: At least I still have the PROTIP gag to use in their memory.

[Nikademus1969]

I was never much of a fan. I had a few of them, back when they'd print moves for games like Mortal Kombat and such.

It all seemed especially juvenile, and the need to name every person associated with the mag with some silly penname rubbed me the wrong way for some reason.

"ProTip" and their review scale with the dude's face are fond memories of it, but that's it.

This. I tried to like the magazine back in the day, I really did, but it just never did it for me. With all the pseudo-names and such it seemed more like something you'd buy from those Scholastic flyers they handed out at school (think Dynomite magazine) than a real magazine.

[c0ldb33r]

when's the last issue? I might buy that just to keep.

[treismac]

I won't shed too many tears. GamePro always seemed geared towards the youngest kids in their writing and presentation, and they handed out way too many of these
http://sardoose.rustedlogic.net/reviews/jturbo/gamepro5.gif
for me to have any faith in their opinion. If memory serves me correctly, a game had to be absolutely abysmal to receive a negative rating. When a magazine or website's main objective is to act as a shill for products to ensure a heavy flow of advertising revenue, I will take my business elsewhere.

[Dobie]

I subscribed to GamePro for 3 years, starting around 2004. The subscription was a free one year subscription I obtained online somewhere, that they just kept giving me free extensions to. I think it would have continued had I not canceled it. I didn't think the magazine was horrible... just not great. When John Davison took over again a couple years ago, I considered reupping and actually paying this time, just never did. Now I'm sorry I didn't.

[Peonpiate]

I won't shed too many tears. GamePro always seemed geared towards the youngest kids in their writing and presentation, and they handed out way too many of these
http://sardoose.rustedlogic.net/reviews/jturbo/gamepro5.gif
for me to have any faith in their opinion. If memory serves me correctly, a game had to be absolutely abysmal to receive a negative rating. When a magazine or website's main objective is to act as a shill for products to ensure a heavy flow of advertising revenue, I will take my business elsewhere.

Thats exactly why i tried my best to avoid Gamepro back then, it was really hard to take their reviews seriously when 5s were handed out like candy. And the CD-ROM games [which in SNES times were rare] always got a 5 for sound, which was silly even then.

Of course they also seemed to be in bed with certain developers, a hyped game was always - 5s across the board. And the review read as though it was Jesus himself returning to earth and not merely another game being released. Maybe it got better in the last few years but in the 90s it didn't impress me much [minus the fighing game guides, which were well done].

[Robocop2]

That's the comic strip about the character who bounces from game to game, meeting Michael Jackson in Moonwalker and such, right? It was done by the same guy who would occasionally do the covers for the magazine. Gag. That's guy's "art" was terrible. TERRIBLE. His "best" stuff made the worst stuff by hacks like Rob Liefeld look like a Rembrandt or Da Vinci. And before anyone goes there I'll save you the trouble; Yes I CAN draw better than him. :ass:

That would be the one. :D It's still better than any Leifeld art but it was pretty terrible.

I also always kind of thought the fake names bit was kinda fun in a way. But I like my game mags to be somewhat less than super-serious and I still kinda hate that Game Informer has strayed from the older smart assy tone it had. It's a video game magazine, not The New Yorker.

[BlastProcessing402]

I'll never forget the time they reviewed WWF Rage In The Cage for Sega CD, only for some reason they got the title wrong and called it Rampage In The Cage. Always the mark of a true professional.

I haven't read it in a long time, at least 3 years since I got any issues, and it's been considerably longer since I bought it regularly, so maybe they improved recently, but to me it was always on the bottom tier of game magazines.

It's still sad to see it go, but so many better magazines already went that I'm all outta tears for this dying industry.

[StealthLurker]

In the pecking order of video game magazines, GamePro always managed to come in at the bottom, if I even decided to consider it in the first place. I never did care for the magazine even when video game publications were at their apex, it always struck me as cheap and unprofessional compared to the competition. Diehard Gamefan was more of a fan production than GamePro was and it felt more professional than GamePro did most of the time.

I'm trying to think of any redeeming values the magazine and unfortunately I cannot. The layouts were awful, the paper quality felt flimsy, and the artwork...my God...never have I wanted to break a person's hands before (more on this in a second). So yeah...chalk me up in the "Good Riddance" column.

Totally agree with this. It always felt like the generic, ultra-sanitized, regurgitated common knowledge info mag.


It's one thing if your participation in something could be viewed as shameful (which is why Japanese game developers in the 80s used fake names)

I was under the impression that the main reason for this was so that skilled developers were not head hunted by other companies.... with a little bit of the "insurance" for "hey I screwed up on that last one, but good thing my real name isn't up there" lol.

.

[retroman]

Sad to see them go...

[Aussie2B]

I was under the impression that the main reason for this was so that skilled developers were not head hunted by other companies.... with a little bit of the "insurance" for "hey I screwed up on that last one, but good thing my real name isn't up there" lol.

Maybe a little of both, who knows. I've never heard of that before, but I've definitely heard of there being a stigma around game development in the 80s, with the older folk looking down on their relatives involved in it, causing the game developers to use fake names in order to not bring shame to their families.

I really couldn't see head hunting working that well in Japan, anyway. People are extremely loyal to companies. The Japanese don't switch jobs nearly as much as Americans do on average. The most damaging head hunting was probably internal, when somebody decided to start their own company and talked their coworkers into joining them. So many developers started that way: Treasure, tri-Ace, Westone, Almanic, etc. etc.

[SpaceHarrier]

I have a bookshelf full of various video game magazines, 1988 to present. No GamePros on those shelves. I believe I only ever bought 2 or 3 issues, Tomb Raider was one of them. To me, the magazine was OK, but I always opted for Game Fan or EGM.

Still, it's sad to me that we are finally at that point.. you know.. where we start telling our kids (or someone else's kids?) that, "Back in my day, we got our video game info from a monthly stack-o-paper that we purchased at a store we had to drive to in our fossil-fuel powered vehicle."

[megasdkirby]

Just realized, no more LamePro on April Fool's Day. Oh well, the mag was always lame...

[otaku]

I used to enjoy reading gamepro. I can't recall if I ever subscribed (if so likely just a year or two) sad to see gaming magazines disappear but hell most of this stuff can be had online for free or done better with video/audio and the like.

That said I still have fond memories of subscribing to or picking up mags such as gamepro and my favorite EGM and nintendo power back in the day.

I still like (but can't afford) retrogamer :(

[Crocket]

Just realized, no more LamePro on April Fool's Day. Oh well, the mag was always lame...

They stopped doing that a couple of years ago anyway. I think it had something to do with them trying to do away with juvenile humor.

[LiquidPolicenaut]

I used to read Gamepro but always considered it "lower end" compared to the EGM and Gamefan. I still have a large stack of them and it's and issue of Gamepro that is my earliest gaming mag...November 1989! Something about that mag always seemed more "kiddie" to me but I still read it here and there. When they went through changes, I never really noticed it since their "quality" seemed to stay the same unlike when EGM and Gamefan changed I noticed a huge difference and no longer liked those mags (EGM around 2000 or 2001 and Gamefan when Halverson left). Still, after all, it is sad to see more print mags disappearing and, yes, the internet makes it easier and faster to get info now, but nothing beats sitting down and enjoying every page with excitement from a good gaming mag :)

[duffmanth]

I'm not really surprised about a magazine shutting down in the Internet age. Man I remember reading Gamepro and Nintendo Power in grade school back in the late 80's/early 90's.

[JSoup]

They stopped doing that a couple of years ago anyway. I think it had something to do with them trying to do away with juvenile humor.

But juvenile humor was more or less GamePro's main shtick.
Ha, GamePro cost me a year of magazines when I was five. I had asked my mother if I could subscribe to a game magazine and held up an issue of Nintendo Power. She grabbed a GamePro off the shelf (parents, right?), read a bit of it and said no, stating "That's childish and rude!"

[The 1 2 P]

I was a subscriber from about 2000 all the way to the end. While definitely not the best multiplatform magazine(both GI and EGM had them beat) I still enjoyed the mag for what it was. I'm not surprised they are folding after what they pulled on their subscribers after going quarterly but such is life.

[BetaWolf47]

I always loved GamePro. Was a subscriber from about 1998 to 2004. Favorite magazine I ever subscribed to. The childishness, while frowned upon by some, gave the magazine a lot of personality to distinguish itself from the other magazines. It will be missed.

[kevifray]

first wizard magazine, now game pro. noooooooo

[scaryice]

In the pecking order of video game magazines, GamePro always managed to come in at the bottom, if I even decided to consider it in the first place.

I agree, Gamepro sucked back in the day. Way worse than EGM, Game Players, Gamefan, and Nintendo Power. The only cool thing that they did was put together a few fighting game mini-guides that came with a few issues. That's the first place I ever saw a tier list.

[pixelsnpolygons]

GamePro wasn't that bad. In the 90s it was more or less the same quality as the rest of the "aimed at 10 year-olds" mags.

As for the monikers used in the magazine, I believe it was stated somewhere (in the magazine, maybe) that the concept was originally used because in the very beginning most of the content was written by one or two people. They wanted to create the illusion that there was a much larger team.

[Tempest]

I was an avid Gamepro reader from the first issue up until the mid-90's when I got out of consoles and into computer games. The magazine was a bit childish, but it had its moments. The SWAT section was always good for info in the days before the internet. I also remember those god awful show they had on Saturday mornings. Ugh!

Did any game ever get perfect 5.0's? I saw a few that had all 5.0's and one 4.5, but never perfect 5's. Then again I stopped reading pretty early on.

[Steve W]

One of the things I've always liked about the magazine was that back in its beginning years, they used to review Atari 7800 games when it was nearly impossible to find any other magazine that would bother. So I have always had a little bit of respect for them just for that. And they would cover Lynx and TurboGrafx-16 games when others wouldn't. But then GameFan came around and stole me away with more Atari Jaguar coverage, and I stopped buying GamePro.

[Smashed Brother]

I just received this exclusive review in my email the other day! I found it...interesting



http://i744.photobucket.com/albums/xx86/leewelk/Photos%20of%20collection/gameprorating.jpg

[Lothars]

This is sad, I am of the opinion that Gamepro was on par with EGM back in the early 90's, EGM did get better but Gamepro was still amazing till around 1996 or so though I did pick it up again once John Davidson was on board and it was back to being as good as EGM.

The last gamepro issue where they went quarterly I enjoyed it quite a bit and would recommend anyone to pick it up.

[Compute]

Shoot, I don't think I've read a gaming magazine since my brief infatuation with PC gaming 10 years ago. Although I liked EGM more, Gamepro was definitely my second-favorite in the mid-90's. I'm pretty sure that all comes back to the April issue with the "Lamepro" segment. 10-year-old me found that hilarious.

[Dire 51]

The local Toys 'R Us was giving out free copies of GamePro #1 sometime in either '88 or '89. I recall buying an Atari 7800 game there, and as I was leaving the clerk offered me one. Never one to pass up a free gaming magazine, I took it. I enjoyed it for what it was - and was impressed that they actually covered the 7800.

I think that one and an issue I received as a stocking stuffer for Christmas '89 were the only issues I ever owned. My sister had a subscription, so I'd just read hers.

[Snapple]

I can see how older people would hate Gamepro. As a pre-teen in the 90s, GamePro was pretty much made for me, and I appreciated what it had to offer. The cartoon avatar reviewers were fairly iconic to me, and over time I grew to know which ones had opinions I often agreed with and which ones I disliked.

Was GamePro more juvenile than EGM? Absolutely. Would I like it as much today as I did 20 years ago? Probably not. But at the time, I thought it was great. And I don't think I was wrong to feel that way.

And the 5 point scale is much better than the 10 point scale, to me. Miss the 5 point scale with the happy faces and the sad faces.