Stores no longer seem to carry video game magazines.

[lazyhoboguy]

I went into a borders yesterday to look for retro gamer magazine. They did have video game magazines. They were in the section called "Men's Interests" and were grouped together with the mountains of porno magazines lol.

[buzz_n64]

I used to read Next-Gen all the time until they disappeared. Then I subscribed to EGM, but after my subscription ran out, I found the internet even better. Magazines are a dying breed as more info is obtainable on the internet, and people are able to access it easier by iphone, netbooks, and ereaders.

[hbkprm]

thanks to play i discoved this rap artist called pato pooh and this song called follow me

[mnbren05]

Never been a fan of Play it was always Meh at best. I used to love Game Informer but when I saw how badly they fucked up the layout and the new "magazine look" I had enough. My subscription ran out this past month and I must say I could careless. I can only assume this is the attitude of gamer's in general today. Shitty writing, bad layouts, horrible designs, and subpar reviews mixed in with more and more ads every month. GI can stick it up their GameStop owned butts if they think I'm going to shell out money for that hot trash.

[mezrabad]

Play sure is purty, but I found it was more of a Geek Media mag than a gaming magazine. I like anime, manga and movies too, but I don't buy a gaming magazine to read about them. I used to really enjoy PC Gamer (US) but haven't read that for years. I think I stopped when they experimented for a few issues making it look more like a men's magazine than a game magazine, i.e. cute pictures of scantily clad babes. I don't mind seeing them, but again, if I wanted them, I'd just buy FHM or Maxim.

Anyway, back on topic: My local grocery store, H.E.B also stopped carrying any gaming mags about a year ago. I guess there were too many people browsing them instead of buying them. Anyway, good to know that it's not just something I noticed and was annoyed by.

[Balloon Fight]

Just head over to the nearest Barnes and Noble or Borders. At least near me they have literally every game magazine in print including a bunch of UK only mags.

[segagamer]

Does anyone know what has happened to Play Magazine? I just went thru and organized all my gaming magazines, and have noticed that I have not received any new issues since the January 2010 issue. Their website seems to be down, and I had to email their customer service when I called their hotline. Wonder if they are going out of business...

[kupomogli]

Is PSM still around? It's an unnofficial Playstation Magazine. I used to read theirs a long time ago, thought they were the best in my opinion. I know they were also around early PS3 but never read anything after mid PS2.

[Kid Fenris]

Does anyone know what has happened to Play Magazine? I just went thru and organized all my gaming magazines, and have noticed that I have not received any new issues since the January 2010 issue. Their website seems to be down, and I had to email their customer service when I called their hotline. Wonder if they are going out of business...

Play died over a month ago.

http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2010/02/..._comi.php#more

[The 1 2 P]

Is PSM still around? It's an unnofficial Playstation Magazine. I used to read theirs a long time ago, thought they were the best in my opinion. I know they were also around early PS3 but never read anything after mid PS2.

They went out of business several years ago.

[josekortez]

Play died over a month ago.

http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2010/02/..._comi.php#more

The only thing worth reading in it was Nick Des Barres' Japan Report. After a while, I got tired of reading the same Dave Halverson essays lamenting the deaths of 2D and platformers. Good magazine a few years ago, though.

[slapdash]

Ah, hadn't noticed Play's passing... Oy. Suppose I won't be seeing a refund for remaining issues then, will I?

[Nintega Grafx-16]

Why read a gaming mag when you can easily get gaming news on teh interwebs? All these gaming magazine companies are going bankrupt for a reason.

[portnoyd]

The only thing worth reading in it was Nick Des Barres' Japan Report.

Lulz, NICK ROX is still out there writing? Jesus.

As the above poster said, print is dying rapidly. Games being more linked into the interwebs than say, running magazine, means they are more apt to have their media move to online only.

[YoshiM]

Play kicked the bucket? I've been busy catching up with my backlog of magazines (old and new) and haven't noticed. Suck.

Why read a gaming mag when you can easily get gaming news on teh interwebs? All these gaming magazine companies are going bankrupt for a reason.

For me, I've got a few reasons. The obvious one is that the magazine is 100% portable and requires no electricity or internet connection to be read. I can take one into the bathroom with me, toss a few in a bag to read later, etc.

Another reason is that I can always reference the material I have at any time, barring some disaster that destroys my mags. Web sites and online data come and go. Look at Play Magazine's site: down for "maintenance". Who's to say whatever info it had would be restored? Or how about happypuppy.com? They used to be a great site for finding info on PC games and demos. Now it just says "it works", as if the site was just recreated. Heck, I had my own web site that had reviews and such of games made with Click Team products back on Xoom.com. Long gone. Point of the matter is that just because it's on the Internet doesn't mean the info is going to be available forever.

Thirdly is an issue of comfort. I sit in front of a PC for 8+ hours a day. At times the last thing I want to do is sit down in front of another one to read the latest gaming info. Like a good book, a magazine is just easier to read. Kinda fits into reason #1.

Lastly the work of a magazine is typically more "edited" than that of a web page and information can be somewhat sporadic depending on the topic. It's more hectic trying to cough up info for daily news, which means the content may not be the greatest. With a monthly magazine, the content has a chance to be more refined. But that's just me and probably subjective.

[Lady Jaye]

Why read a gaming mag when you can easily get gaming news on teh interwebs? All these gaming magazine companies are going bankrupt for a reason.

Well, if you're looking for game reviews and news, yes, the Internet killed the mags. A videogame magazine today must offer in-depth articles, interviews, retrospectives to be interesting.

My current favorite magazine is actually a bi-monthly mook (magazine+book) published in France. It's called IG Magazine and it offers exactly that -- in-depth articles rather than mere reviews. It's well-written, has a very nice layout and because it's a smaller format, it's easier to carry. It may cost me $15 an issue, but that's for 250 pages of ad-free content. And they're about half-modern, half-retro, so there's something for everyone.

http://www.ig-magazine.com/fr (in French only)

[InboRenge]

Why read a gaming mag when you can easily get gaming news on teh interwebs? All these gaming magazine companies are going bankrupt for a reason.

Using that argument, why buy physical copies of retro games when you can just buy them on the Wii VC? There is something magical about being able to hold a game/magazine in your hands. Many of us "old timers" (Jesus, I'm only 23) have wonderful memories of anticipating EGM/Gamepro/Whatever, they were the only sources of game info, and it was amazing not knowing what you were gonna get.

[segagamer]

I have contacted Play's customer service to see if I can get my refund on the balance of my subscription...

As for the new EGM and GameFan, has anyone seen them on the newstands yet? Both appear to be slated for this month's launch.

[Therealqtip]

Does tips & tricks still exist? I liked that magazine.

[brykasch]

If you want game magazines, barnes and noble are your best bet to get your fix. GamesTM is the only one I get, with an occasional nintendo power here and there. Game Informer I do get as well but only because of the discount card, but has improved itself quite a bit since the redesign.