PLAY MAGAZINE continues to smell

[fishsandwich]

Anyone get PLAY MAGAZINE? I used to love it but lately it's been a mixed bag. I'm a sucker for most gaming mags (except GamePro... bleech) but I think that PLAY is continuing its slow and remorseless decline into oblivion. Yet I still continue to have hope for the mag... it's like a nice-looking car with a decent interior and a solid engine that has a nearly flat front tire. It may get a new tire and start driving better or it may just run off the road and crash into a ditch. Anyone get the new one? It's thicker than the past few month's SKIMPY issues and the content isn't bad at all (some of the writing is very good, in fact) but something about PLAY is pissing me off.

Case in point: The letters to the editor. Some guy wrote in bitching about how the new Tomb Raider game is not following the continuing plot of the previous games, opting instead to go with the history presented by the two movies (I'm not into the plot of either the games or the movies so I can't offer comment as to what he's talking about.) He went on to say that he loved every single one of the TR games and that the last one (Angel of Darkness) was his favorite. Everyone is certainly entitled to his own opinion... Personally, I think that the last few games in the series pretty much sucked and that Angel of Darkness was especially weak considering it was Laura's next-generation debut (I don't count the Dreamcast ports of the PSone games as true next-gen TR's.)

My problem with the magazine stems from the editor's response... the editor claims to admire Angel of Darkness (PLAY gave it an 8 out of 10) and basicly said that the general public loved the game and that it was just a small bunch of haters who has created the game's shitty reputation. I recall that most gaming publications and websites gave the Angel of Darkness poor (if not downright hostile) reviews. Like I said... I thought it was pretty lousy overall. I'm all for someone liking any game's virtures (it wasn't completely terrible) but the editor backed up his opinions with sales figures. Sales figures? Sure, AoD sold over a million copies but that doesn't make it a great game (AoD certainly didn't come close to matching the sales of some of the other games in the series.) I've seen literally dozens of copies in some EB's. I think the going rate is $4. Did it even achieve Greatest Hits status? I think that gamers everywhere made a collective statement about AoD when they exchanged their copies for something (anything?) else.

I just think that the magazine is in trouble and that it may be courting additional advertising revenue by sucking up to publishers and developers. I hear that the upcoming Tomb Raider game is very promising, but I won't be looking to PLAY for an honest review of it.

I'm done rambling now. Sorry about that.

:/

[Ridley30]

I happen to agree. The problem I have with Play is the entire back half of the issue dedicated to freaking anime. There's plenty of mags out there that cover anime extensively, and very few good video game magazines. Gamefan, Gamer's Republic, GameGO!, all gone. All quality mags. Gamepro? Still going strong. Damnit.

[le geek]

All I have to say is bring back Next Generation you Bastards! :angry:

Okay, I feel better... LOL

Cheers,
Ben

[Anthony1]

The thing that I don't understand, is that Dave Halverson should simply realize that all he has to do, is copy exactly everything they did with GameFan, and simply apply it to modern gaming, but add an expanded "Graveyard" section to cover the minor surge in Retro Gaming. And I'm talking about the early years on GameFan.


That format was absolutely perfect, no need to F with it whatsoever.


I know that GameFan later got into anime too, but really, if you are seriously into anime, then get a magazine that specifically does anime, no need to take like 20 percent of the magazine and use it for all that. Same thing with the other DVD movies and music and all that bullshit. Action figures and shit.


Come on. M F er. Wake up and smell the damn Java. You can't be everyting to everybody. So stop freaking trying. Your mag doesn't have 300 pages, so stop acting like you have 50 pages to waste. Man, it's like I read the first 70 percent of the mag, and then after that, I just have to put the thing down, cause there is so much non video game stuff that I have zero interest in. In the early years of GameFan, they never wasted any space whatsoever. You could read that mag cover to cover, getting real insight and real takes, and real opinions and breakdowns, etc, etc on every freaking page. They didn't waste anything. They covered stuff that was off the radar like FM Towns and Laseractive, stuff nobody touched. Unfortunately, the modern era of gaming just doesn't really have wild cards like that to cover anymore. It went from a 5, 6 and 7 horse race to a 3 and 2 horse race.




I can tell you what. If I hit the Mega Millions lottery, I would track down who had the rights to the name GameFan, and I would purchase the rights and hire a staff and come out with the GameFan that should have never died. I would expand the Graveyard in a big way, and I wouldn't cover music and movies at all. Nor Action Figures or Anime or any of that other bullshit. Only things that would relate directly to video games. Maybe I would do an article on displays or audio systems, but it would only be in relation to how to best enjoy the current games.

[s1lence]

I was having a hard time trying to find PLAY on the newsstands. So I though, maybe its not in the electronics/gaming area. I looked in Comics, and low and behold thats where they decided to put it, even though its suppose to be a gaming mag. LOL

[Neo Rasa]

Just as an aside, Paramount SUED the publishers of Angel of Darkness, under the pretense that the game was so bad it directly affected ticket sales for the movie. LOL

[Ridley30]

The thing that I don't understand, is that Dave Halverson should simply realize that all he has to do, is copy exactly everything they did with GameFan, and simply apply it to modern gaming, but add an expanded "Graveyard" section to cover the minor surge in Retro Gaming. And I'm talking about the early years on GameFan.


That format was absolutely perfect, no need to F with it whatsoever.


I know that GameFan later got into anime too, but really, if you are seriously into anime, then get a magazine that specifically does anime, no need to take like 20 percent of the magazine and use it for all that. Same thing with the other DVD movies and music and all that bullshit. Action figures and shit.


Come on. M F er. Wake up and smell the damn Java. You can't be everyting to everybody. So stop freaking trying. Your mag doesn't have 300 pages, so stop acting like you have 50 pages to waste. Man, it's like I read the first 70 percent of the mag, and then after that, I just have to put the thing down, cause there is so much non video game stuff that I have zero interest in. In the early years of GameFan, they never wasted any space whatsoever. You could read that mag cover to cover, getting real insight and real takes, and real opinions and breakdowns, etc, etc on every freaking page. They didn't waste anything. They covered stuff that was off the radar like FM Towns and Laseractive, stuff nobody touched. Unfortunately, the modern era of gaming just doesn't really have wild cards like that to cover anymore. It went from a 5, 6 and 7 horse race to a 3 and 2 horse race.




I can tell you what. If I hit the Mega Millions lottery, I would track down who had the rights to the name GameFan, and I would purchase the rights and hire a staff and come out with the GameFan that should have never died. I would expand the Graveyard in a big way, and I wouldn't cover music and movies at all. Nor Action Figures or Anime or any of that other bullshit. Only things that would relate directly to video games. Maybe I would do an article on displays or audio systems, but it would only be in relation to how to best enjoy the current games.


Amen brother!

[fishsandwich]

The thing that I don't understand, is that Dave Halverson should simply realize that all he has to do, is copy exactly everything they did with GameFan, and simply apply it to modern gaming, but add an expanded "Graveyard" section to cover the minor surge in Retro Gaming. And I'm talking about the early years on GameFan.
I know that GameFan later got into anime too, but really, if you are seriously into anime, then get a magazine that specifically does anime, no need to take like 20 percent of the magazine and use it for all that. Same thing with the other DVD movies and music and all that bullshit. Action figures and shit.
Come on. M F er. Wake up and smell the damn Java. You can't be everyting to everybody. So stop freaking trying. Your mag doesn't have 300 pages, so stop acting like you have 50 pages to waste. Man, it's like I read the first 70 percent of the mag, and then after that, I just have to put the thing down, cause there is so much non video game stuff that I have zero interest in. In the early years of GameFan, they never wasted any space whatsoever. You could read that mag cover to cover, getting real insight and real takes, and real opinions and breakdowns, etc, etc on every freaking page. They didn't waste anything. They covered stuff that was off the radar like FM Towns and Laseractive, stuff nobody touched. Unfortunately, the modern era of gaming just doesn't really have wild cards like that to cover anymore. It went from a 5, 6 and 7 horse race to a 3 and 2 horse race.



Man, I LOVED the old GameFan. I have an old one at home (I have a lot of old ones in storage.) You're right about the coverage they did on super-obscure shit back in the day. The one I have at home is a perfect case in point... the review section up front (they have the expanded section with the same reviews in the back plus extra stuff) featured SNES, Genny, GameGear, 3DO, FM Towns Marty, and Laseractive... ALL ON THE SAME SECTION. Just with different color codes. Strange (but so cool) to have SNES game reviews right next to ones for FM Towns Marty like it was no big deal and you could just pick up the latest release for the Marty down at Toys R Us.

Anyway, I'm going to keep my subscription to PLAY... some of the writing IS really good. I just can't trust its reviews... someone is sucking up and trying to get more ad revenue at the cost of honest criticism.

[Rogmeister]

If I felt a magazine's reviews were being swayed one way or another, there's no way I'd continue to support that magazine.

And am I the only one who finds it ironic that the one person who says a magazine smells goes by the name of fishsandwich? :D

[fishsandwich]

If I felt a magazine's reviews were being swayed one way or another, there's no way I'd continue to support that magazine.

And am I the only one who finds it ironic that the one person who says a magazine smells goes by the name of fishsandwich? :D

I've been debating with myself about that, but I ultimately decided that I enjoy some of PLAY's writing so much that I'm willing to overlook the biased reviews. I enjoy literature about gaming almost as much as I enjoy gaming itself.

Have you ever smelled a McFish sandwich straight out of the fryer when the bun is fresh and the cheese is melting? DELICIOUS

My feet, on the other hand... NOT SO DELICIOUS