Gamepro Magazine Closes Up

Back in the day, yes you had a fair bit of ads, but you also had a ton of fucking info. Some issues were 200 pages long or close to it. Now? Well...

As for internet gaming news sites: the writing for the English ones at least isn't much better. Kotaku is probably the worst of the bunch, yet is amongst the most successful.

Personally, I mostly read 1UP.  I think Parish's writing is quite good.  I know he rubs a few people here the wrong way, and I don't agree with everything, but his stuff is still pretty insightful.

Some of the other guys over at 1UP rub me the wrong way, but hey, you gotta have all types, I suppose.

Nowadays, since I am barely a console gamer anymore, I just read Rock Paper Scissors. there are very few PC oriented mags anyway. Plus RPS has the due wit I need in their articles and my daily dose of puns in their comments section.

I honestly can't remember the last time I held a printed gaming magazine in my hands.

I try to read gaming blogs that are impartial.  When it comes to news, nothing screams amateur to me more than a reporter coloring the information with their own agenda.  That's the problem I have with Parish.  There's too much of his own self in his writing.  But, if you like the guy, that could be a good thing.

That said, finding good gaming blogs is hard.  Once upon a time Kotaku was worth a shit, but then it became all about the cakes and tats.  Joystiq and VG247 are still OKAY, when the articles don't try to inject paltry humor.  Destructoid was never good.   The Escapist was too haughty right out the gate.  I once loved Insert Credit, but when Brandon focused on Gamasutra he didn't have time to really keep it up to snuff anymore.  If you want to know what NOT to give a damn about, go hurt yourself over at Reddit's gaming channel.

So yeah... I generally just glance over Joystiq and VG247.  I check the daily reviews and previews of IGN / Gamespot, not so much for the scores, but just to see what has been released lately because they are so prolific.

Oh, yeah, there's a lot of personal anecdotes that slip into Parish's writing.  I've come to accept that, and to some degree, knowing more about his thought processes and formative experiences helps me accept or dismiss his various premises.  If you don't like that, it's totally understandable.  It's not as if he's the only guy's writing I read.  I read a lot of Joystiq, even if some of their authors get really annoying sometimes.

Also, for the record, I still receive Nintendo Power and Game Informer.  I let my subscription to the new EGM lapse.  And I got OXM and OPM for a while, but didn't see a real need to renew those, either.  I do enjoy reading mags, though.

EDIT:  Got to add, I do a lot of retro reading these days, too.  Hardcore Gaming 101 is great, as is Racketboy.  Parish's blog (GameSpite) is good for that kind of stuff, too, especially since the authors vary quite a bit.  Nostalgia is (mostly) awesome. 

I used to like IGN fairly well, as they generally seemed to agree with my tastes in gaming (as far as game ratings and such). Sometime around when they went to a paid membership deal, I kind of lost interest in the site, and couldn't tell you if that still holds true now.

I used to like IGN fairly well, as they generally seemed to agree with my tastes in gaming (as far as game ratings and such).

:|

You should read his whole post before you judge him. He stopped reading it like a decade ago.

Edit: IGN was a very different creature back in 2001/2(When they introduced that subscription crap)...

You should read his whole post before you judge him. He stopped reading it like a decade ago.

Edit: IGN was a very different creature back in 2001/2(When they introduced that subscription crap)...

Exactly.

IMO IGN's downhill slide began after Peer Schneider left and Craig Harris started running things.  Nothing against Craig so much, but he sailed the ship towards waters I didn't care for.

I'm reminded of how Nintendo was devoid of third-party ads until Volume 111, one month after their tenth anniversary issue.  Even then, ads were still sparse until volume 114, their longest issue ever.

completely devoid of ads until Volume 111,

Third-party ads.
As I recall, that would be mid-1998. I guess Nintendo couldn't absorb the cost as easily once they were no longer dominating the industry?