Originally Posted by
Half Japanese
I like Play too, and here's why: Play is an enthusiast magazine. It's very clear that everyone who works for the mag eats, sleeps, shits and breathes games. On the downside, they really need an editor who's worth a shit. Rampant spelling mistakes, bad grammar, missing author credits, etc. abound. They also aren't afraid to go balls-out doing a huge feature and interview on a game that probably won't light up the charts. Some people read this as being up for sale to the highest bidder, but with some of the cover stories they've had, it'd be hard to argue that the publishers had the funds to pony up for a cover story. If you give me a choice between the slick, corporate mag versus the sloppy-but-genuine enthusiast mag, I'll take the underdog any day of the week, it's in my DNA somewhere.
I also agree that Game Informer is pretty good. I just started getting it again as a result of the evil Gamestop card, and it's probably the best of the rags with a decent circulation. The only thing I hate about it, and it's a nitpick more than anything, are the stupid-ass nicknames the editors give themselves: "The Original Gamer," "The Game Katana," etc. Blech.
There was a time in the late 90s and early 00s when I thought EGM was pretty decent, back before they felt like they had to be smartasses about everything and hire Seanbaby to write the same tired shit about the same crap games month after month.
I didn't pick up Tips & Tricks on a regular basis, but I already sort of miss it. T&T felt like Play, more like an enthusiast magazine than one put out by the empire that twat built (Larry Flynt Publishing). The regular articles devoted to collecting, game-related comics and figures were awesome. I think if they would have dropped the codes section in this age of few to no codes and started reviewing and previewing more, they might have survived.
Sorry to be so long-winded, I used to pick up game mags almost religiously in the 90s and early 00s.