Future betting on Xbox
by Alan Rose 
{ Nov 29th 2005 at 2:15PM }
UK-based Future Publishing Limited has extended their contract with Microsoft to publish the Official Xbox Magazine until 2011.
The U.S. edition of Xbox Magazine has a circulation in the neighborhood of 400,000 and is Future's most popular title in a portfolio that boasts more than 150 magazines. Other Future game-related publications include PC Gamer, PSM, and Edge.
So what game magazines are you reading these days?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bri @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
none anymore - I use the free internet.
Mullinator @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
Used to read PC Gamer, years before that Nintendo power but I didn't renew my subscription last year for PC Gamer and I stopped reading Nintendo power years ago. Pretty much everything found in magazines today is found on the internet for free. Sometimes with a slight delay though.
ill trooper @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
Off-topic here, but I really thought you meant 'Betting on Xbox gaming' as in 'gambling,' which is something I was wondering about with Gotham TV-style viewing probably being added to more games...
People could organize games and paypal schemes to have illegal gambling. Cool!
AJay17 @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
I think many people just get that magazine for the demos. Now we have the Marketplace for that.
scampy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
That's the main reason i subscribed.
james @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
PLAY is seemingly the only game magazine worth reading for content. Even though it comes with a poster it's still directed at more of the gaming intelligista than the tony hawk/madden crowd. If only my subscription came early/on-time!
PJ @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
I agree AJay17...that is the reason I got OXM. The Battlefield 2 demo kept me going for weeks and weeks.
The new Xbox Live with Marketplace is really cool. I have a feeling there will eventually be demos for almost every game coming out.
XD @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
Started way back with Nintendo Power durning the NES and SNES days, I moved on to EGM and Next-Generation. In the last 10ish years, no interest because I find out more online and at faster intervals then ordering a magazine. I wouldn't even order the newspaper anymore; same concept(for those of you who say you have to subscribe online to view the net version of your fav newspaper, all I have to say is google news)! The only benefit is the inclusion of a demo disc, but seeing as Xbox Live is around, its not an issue to me. The free Kameo demo was a quick download! Walkthroughs, previews, reviews, rumors, news and codes are available all over the net so why pay for an internet subscription and a magazine?
Raydeen @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
I read EGM, PLAY, GAMEPRO, and XBOX. PLAY is the best of all of them but I so miss NEXT GENERATION and DIEHARD.
Peter @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
Electronic Gaming Monthly. Read it since I was a kid back in the Coleco days. Plus I like Seanbaby's column.
Jody Anthony @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
the internet is way better than anything a magazine could offer. The internet has instant news, videos, and a plethora of screenshots. magazines have some screenshots, and month old news. Give me neterweb any day.
That being said, I do have a 3 month subscription to nintendo power for registering games (MK:DS and Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time (both great))
And I have a year subscription to game informer, but that was just to get my gamestop card, which really doesn't save you all that much when you don't buy games often.
R.Kneyber @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
I read Edge.. it's not as fast as the internet, but it has beter critiques... and the reviews.... the reviews
Boris @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
Well, the Edge being translated into German and released here, it's my first choice now. Great magazine, great direction, great reviews, great writers.
Peter @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
11 -- yeah but it's hard (and dangerous) to read the internets on the can.
Dylan @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
When I was 7 or 8 I had the Nintendo Power mag, but now I've read a lot of EGM and OXM. I get PSM for free so I have it but its only good for the demos.
Mad @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
There's no point in reading gaming magazines anymore ( unless your on the move ), most of the articles are about 6 weeks out of date. I prefer to get my information daily online and without the needless felling of thousands of tree's!
blankwave @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
While reading online gets you the news faster, I have to say PLAY is an amazing magazine. They write like real gamers who care about quality and have a true passion for gaming, so even when the news is a little old, it's captivating. Plus, most of their reviews are not online and they review the best of any magazine or site out there. In depth reviews from people very in love with (good) gaming. Also, the layout is so gorgeous, it's a must have. Just renewed my subscription for another 2 years.
I also get OXM for the disc and to find odd pictures to cut out and use on covers for mixtapes.
cyberfelon @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
I used to grab a magazine here and there, but I've become a total tech/gaming news whore of late and one magazine a month doesn't fit the bill anymore. Sure, there's a lot of content in a magazine, but I don't necessarily want to read it all. I read Digg, Joystiq and Kotaku mainly. I find that these three sources give me so much new stuff to read about on a daily basis, and being able to directly comment on news as it happens is well worth it.
nod @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
I just got the holiday issue of OXM. That new layout they've got... yikes! Guys turn the lights on next time, ok? It's fugly and hard to read. I'm sure they'll tweak it, but for now, there's no continuity, etc.
Jeramy @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
yeah, that subscription number is about to go down. most people just buy it to get the demo discs. now they're available on the marketplace. plus, all of the info in the mag is always a week or two outdated because of the monthly printing. and, it's not really funny. dreamcast magazine was a hoot, this is just mediocre.
Mintz @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
Xbox Nation was a very mature, well-written publication (they also printed one of my letters!) up until the point they cancelled it. Fortunately for me, GameInformer came along at just the right time to show there IS still mature writing in the world. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Electronic Gaming Monthly, but GameInformer is the "Time Magazine" amongst gaming publications.
ogvor @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
First poster, unless your parents or someone else pay for your internet (mine parents pay for mine, but not for long) , it is not free. Now granted, it can be used for so much more than a gaming magazize, but it is not free. I read PSM, mainly because unlike the internet, it completley portable, I can read it anywhere, including school, and i don't have to worry about a wi fi hot spot, a laptops battery, or being mugged for my magazine.
EzPz @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
I get EGM, Maximum PC, and Nintendo Power (which I don't like, but hey it's coming free for registering games). I think I will continue to get EGM and Maximum PC mainly for their editorial content, not their news. Also, I feel lost without them while on the can. Gaming magazines are perfect in the bathroom cause you can read a couple reviews at a time or a whole cover article.
Bryce @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
I just got the Xbox magizine in the mail, and the issue before that like a week ago. And I never got a subscrition to it(and it was adressed to my house/mom's name, and she didin't buy it either)
So, somehow I got a free Xbox subscription.
Useally I use the Internet because magizines only come monthly. Sometimes I buy the occasional magizine because theres something specific I want to read
AssemblyLineHuman @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
Game Informer skews their reviews to cater to their readers' preconceived opinions (which they've both admitted to in the case of Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door and has made it obvious in various instances through ratings for certain types of games (mainly Nintendo games) that are much lower than almost ALL other rating sites/magazines.
ktbrooks @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
game informer all the way.
you can not beat their magazine. plus the benefits you get with gamestop. man it's awesome. it's the cheapest there is too. they are gamers with a sense of humor.
Pedro @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
I totally miss Next Generation; it was so well-written with such good reviews. They had a website called Daily Radar that was really good. Then it died too.
Now I like Play very much and I subscribe to it, but the reviews are all so glowing that it can be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. Edge is also gorgeous and I pick up a copy whenever I can. I've subscribed to EGM since issue 4 or something and it's for a younger crew but still has good news and excellent reviews. I liked Game Informer as well. I think I will re-subscribe. As for the web, it's awesome (especially joystiq and 1up.com, as well as Metacritic for reviews) but the mags give you such nice depth in the articles whereas the blogs tend to write shorter bits o'news.
Andre Cylla @ Dec 18th 2005 10:03PM
If you read the last paragraph of this piece on betting exchanges, it would seem that the notion of person to person gambling through the Xbox is not as far fetched as some might imagine - over 18's only, of course!
http://www.bettingmarket.com/bettingexchanges