Get Edge in the U.S. cheap(er)
by Kyle Orland 
{ Aug 31st 2006 at 2:25PM }
Among video game magazines, Britain's Edge stands head and shoulders above all competitors. The magazine's intelligent editorial voice, interesting features, and excellent layout/presentation made it well worth tracking down every month at your local bookstore. Subscribing was never really in the cards for us Yanks, though, as the exorbitant international direct subscription price of roughly $118 (62.02 pounds) per year was actually more expensive than the roughly $9/issue they charge on the U.S. newsstands (Amazon is charging an even more ridiculous $153.05 for a year-long subscription).American fans of good game journalism can rest easy, though, as Edge has now set up a new subscription system especially for the U.S., complete with a lower subscription price of $75 per year. That's still a bit steep (especially considering mags like EGM practically give their subscriptions away) but at least now there's a pricing incentive to reserve a year's worth of issues (getting two years for $135 is an even better deal). All this and subscribers get a free T-shirt! Score!
Read - Edge Magazine Special Offer
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
deafblind @ Aug 31st 2006 2:44PM
This is welcome - since moving to the US I've plumped for the more expensive option of getting Edge sent to me, mostly because US based gaming magazines seem to be written by 3 year olds (WOAH DUDE L33T! CHECK THESE SCREENSHOTZ!) and frequently don't cover aspects of the industry/technology to sufficient depth. When my current subscription expires I'll be swapping ;)
Daniel D @ Aug 31st 2006 2:42PM
Edge more like "omg lets give games low scores and be controversial and stuff"
or something like that
skullivan @ Sep 3rd 2006 5:31PM
It is a great mag but I'll stick with leafing through an issue at Borders when I happen to see one. Just like their box art the European ads are so much better than America's also...
Print mags are just becoming more and more useless by the month. It's awkward to even read them when their breaking news is a month or two out of date...
I've subscribed to Play for the last year which is probably the closest US equivalent to Edge but I find I leaf through it in 10 minutes and then it gets piled with the other issues. Needless to say I won't be renewing my subscription for even the meager $20 fee.
Paul Mac Aoidh @ Aug 31st 2006 2:46PM
Edge is very well written (stunning editorials), however the reviews are often hit and miss (ranging from the sublime to the appalling).
A magazine which I think doesn't get enough credit is Pc Gamer (the original Uk edition of course!). In my opinion this is the most consistently well written magazine of any kind (I do buy a lot of magazines, though primarily music and game mags). On top of that, who can deny a double dvd (8 and a half gigs) each issue?
Sometimes friends have bought the US Pc Gamer by accident when I ask, and its 80 pages of ads pale in comparison. This brings up my opinion that I feel US magazines as a whole are largely inferior to Uk contemporaries (given what I have seen from import copies and from american trips). Anyone care to challenge me?
Ps:Picture shown is from the issue when they playtested Twilight Princess a month before e3 05. Course it didn't hit shelves until a couple of days after e3...
Jay @ Aug 31st 2006 2:50PM
Ah, Edge. classic magazine. the only game magazine I buy these days. I picked it up in Manchester for cheap a week ago ;)
clay @ Aug 31st 2006 2:50PM
paying for month old news, no thanks. it would be even older news by the time it actually arrives in my snail mail box. i would pay nothing over a single dollar.
whalemenace @ Aug 31st 2006 2:55PM
I stumbled onto EDGE a few years back while in Greece, it was the E3 issue covering when MGS2 was premeired. I really enjoyed it, I even had a subscription for a while. It's expensive as hell though, possibly because the paper its printed on is thicker than cardboard and 2 issues weigh 100 pounds.
But eh... print game news is on the way out. Hail Jostiq!
B33 @ Aug 31st 2006 2:56PM
Not a bad magazine... Considering EGM is extremely bias... I wouldn't pay $75 for a magazine subscription though. $30-$40 is the highest I go.
Jaded @ Aug 31st 2006 3:17PM
"Considering EGM is extremely bias" ???
I always hear that. And it's always a different thing that their biased towards/against. I've actually always liked EGM editorially, though I think that their formating/article focus could use some work. The redesign they did a couple of years back was almost a regression visually.
Ryan @ Aug 31st 2006 3:07PM
@ Clay
When you subscribe, you get it right around the same time it hits newstands across the pond.
dsub @ Aug 31st 2006 3:11PM
I don't get my Gaming Mags to pretend like I'm an english teacher and critique the writing. It's not as if I have trouble understanding the writing in EGM/Game Informer. Info is info to me, I could care less how well the grammar and wording is, as long as I'm picking up what they are putting down.
With that said, who in god's name would pay $75 a year for a magazine? Were talking about stuff I read while sitting on the crapper here people...I don't well written journalism for that.
JimmyHACK @ Aug 31st 2006 3:16PM
dont get this and then cry about ps3 price :)
tom @ Aug 31st 2006 3:29PM
I love this mag. Every time i have a long journey or flight its the one i look for.. though not a lot of places acrry it, even in the UK.
I love the fact that if a game is completely average they give it a 5. Not a 7.
Plus their graphic designers are frickin gods...
Fischman @ Aug 31st 2006 3:18PM
@1-
Crap games deserve crap scores, good games deserve brilliant scores. I thought that was obvious.
ry @ Aug 31st 2006 3:39PM
Dunno about anyone else, but I never got my free EGM subscription.
Grant @ Aug 31st 2006 3:24PM
5 and 9, people don't (or shouldn't, anyway) read magazines for news and info which is most likely freely available on the internet anyway, they read them for insight and opinion. I'd think that should be abundantly clear by now.
Brinstar @ Aug 31st 2006 3:33PM
Wonderful... Except their free shirts don't come in Small. If they had some sort of alternate gift, perhaps one of those bookshelf slipcases to hold a year's worth of Edge issues... Or, maybe, print shirts in more sizes.
benjamin @ Aug 31st 2006 3:48PM
@#9: Newtype, a magazine about anime, has $80 subscriptions. The articles are pretty well written, the magazine is *huge* like Xbox and it's full of glossy photos.
It's probably the only magazine I'd pay for, though, like Edge, I can find out about new anime series just as easily online.
J.Goodwin @ Aug 31st 2006 4:21PM
Ziff Davis has to pay me to read EGM.
Matt Paprocki @ Aug 31st 2006 4:12PM
"Info is info to me, I could care less how well the grammar and wording is, as long as I'm picking up what they are putting down.
With that said, who in god's name would pay $75 a year for a magazine?"
Because some of us hate the childish rantings of American magazines. Not only does Edge look great, it's written intelligently, and their proffesional in everything they do. They had an article on Silent Hill last year and it was by far the best piece I've read about a video game.
Some people DO care about grammar and proffesinalism. That's why I pay the extra cash.
ProjectGSX @ Aug 31st 2006 4:20PM
I enjoy Edge, personally. However, I can buy copies across the street from my office for $6.40 an issue. Times 12, thats just barely over the cost of their subscription. So, no thanks. Its a nice gesture tho.
Ryan Williams @ Sep 4th 2006 9:07AM
If there's one thing you don't read games magazines for, it's news and information. We're on the internet here, guys. An unparalleled world of information is at your fingertips, long before it hits any magazine (with the exception of rare scoops that hit the web the second the magazine goes out anyway).
What you *do* read a magazine for is opinions and interesting articles. Edge excels in this department in that it has a lot of great writers, the features often look at stuff most magazines don't such as in-depth looks into how classic games were designed (a monthly feature in fact), plus other general gaming culture type articles (eg: girls' roles in games).
In short, a great magazine. Worth at least buying one issue of. :))
Jon K @ Aug 31st 2006 4:25PM
"who in god's name would pay $75 a year for a magazine?"
Well EDGE costs £4 a month, and I've bought it every month for several years, so... I guess that's me then at £48 a year ;)
I look forward to EDGE day for the opportunity to step away from a computer, read some intelligent discussion and articles over a coffee, and pick up the little bits and pieces of game news that I missed during the course of the month. I wouldn't miss it.
dingo @ Aug 31st 2006 4:40PM
Too bad EGM isn't free anymore...
Kroc Camen @ Aug 31st 2006 4:42PM
The only magazine I read, the only one I can trust hasn't been paid to rate every game a 98%, or feels that they have to rate every game 98% to get any readership.
Edge rarely give games a 9/10 and only a handful of games have ever been given 10/10 (often this is a great controvsey) i.e. Super Mario 64. Gran Turismo.
When Edge rate a game a 9, or a 10, you know you can safely put the magazine down, go buy the game, and not be disappointed. The American press has a lot to learn from Edge.
Chris Taran @ Aug 31st 2006 4:59PM
Any screenshots of this supposed ungodly good graphic design work?
kevan @ Aug 31st 2006 5:04PM
I am a US subscriber. It is worth every penny, and while Joystiq is a great source for breaking game news, Edge is still the best place for editorial content, reviews and development articles.
A good proportion of the gaming industry regularly reads the magazine, so I think that's a pretty good indicator of quality.
I remember first subscribing following a preview of Wipeout 2097. I wrote a letter to one of the artists involved based on his work shown in the magazine, asking how to get into all that new-fangled computer animationy stuff. He never replied, but I gave him so much crap years later when I started work in the same company as him!
He still apologises for his silence, to this day.
Heh.
Whitster @ Aug 31st 2006 5:14PM
Whilst Edge is way above any of its competitors in how maturely it is written it can never seem to shake off the "up its on arse" agenda. It would be a great magazine to read but it far too often full of itself and having "elite" status that its painful to read.
Next best thing is Games TM which has a mature approach(not always as mature as Edge, agreed) and also dosent mess around when rating games. It too follows the: "if a games average it gets a 5 not a 7" approach. Which I think is great. And again when a game gets a 9/10 you know its going to be quality title which you wont be wasting your money on. Plus the articles, features and interviews they do on superb. Its those that make it worth buying when you consider all the news can be gotten off the internet weeks prior to its release.
Xorphite @ Aug 31st 2006 5:40PM
I've only read one issue of "Edge". It is very well-written, but I don't believe any magazine is worth that kind of price, let alone a gaming one.
Stephen Eddy @ Aug 31st 2006 6:10PM
I second the recommendation of GamesTM. I have subscribed to Edge ever since issue one, but GamesTM is a very similar magazine with great features and fair reviews, and doesn't seem quite as much up its own ass.
More info including Magazine samples here:
http://www.totalgames.net/flashindex.html
Steddyman
TeddyN @ Aug 31st 2006 6:47PM
Why are UK games magazines so much more mature and intelligent then US ones?
Now that I've moved back to the US though, even $75 isn't cheap enough when I can get the US PC gamer for a year @ 15 dollars. Still, I love all the UK publications and will miss them, and I strongly advise anyone with the money available to opt for the UK ones: they are 100% worth it.
clay @ Aug 31st 2006 9:14PM
official dreamcast magazine. best. mag. ever.
Chango @ Sep 5th 2006 7:04PM
I've been in the states for 6 years and I've been reading Edge since they previewed the original Gran Tourismo. I pretty much concur with what evrybody has said so far, except I think the price is somewhat justified, if you actually want a monthly magazine that is extremely well-crafted from cover to cover. Since I got here I have subscribed to PCGamer (US) and once I realized there were more adds than pages with copy on them I cancelled the sub and instead switched to Official XBOX magazine. That was ok for a while but now it seems they have run out of space within the magazine to put in ads, so they're gluing them over the top of the actual magazine cover. Oh, and they stopped providing coverdisks in printed cardboard packets (with actual edition numbers and contents, etc) and now we just get a disc in a plain old white envelope. I think I'm going to ditch that subscription too.
I'll gladly pay $75 for a magazine that is written by adults, with adult sensibilities, but still a vivd passion for the subject matter. Killer graphic design and composition. Excellent features. The Jobs in Gaming Classifieds section (try finding that in Ult1M4te PS2 Cod3z monthly).
As for Games TM - my local Borders stopped carrying it for some ungodly reason. They're RETRO section almost brings me to tears with the Zzap!64/Crash! design.
flyguy @ Aug 31st 2006 11:53PM
Why are UK games magazines so much more mature and intelligent then US ones?
I really don't think US mags really get the idea that THEY should be as mature as their respective readers. I've been reading EGM since '91, and while they have gotten smarter and more creative since then, they are just as immature as ever. Moving to San Fran didn't help, and it shows with the off-subject political humor.
Also, with ALL US mags, they are part of large, corporate publications....and last time I checked, corporate america is almost as out of touch with the younger crowd (18-35, maybe 40) as with politics.
I'm not anti-corporate, it's just the way it is...
Kasumi-Astra @ Sep 1st 2006 4:07AM
I never buy Edge for the news. The news section is tiny because they know that most of their readership will either get their news from the internet or from industry publication MCV.
Edge covers current events and issues through editorials, which are decidedly the best I have seen in any gaming magazine. A shout has to go out to rival mag GamesTM for their articles and especially their retro section, although I find Edge's style and structure more accessible.
Edge does lack in their game reviews however. I've read some reviews in the magazine that will pick out every flaw in the game as if they ruined the game and then sumarise the game at the end as "yeah, but you'll like it anyway. 9/10!". It's here that Edge tends to get a bit up-it's-own-arse.
Mr Biffo's weekly collumn is, as always, inspiring, although I sorely miss the monthly contribution from Nagoshi-san (of Amusement Vision fame).
Speaking of Mr Biffo and reviews, it's a shame that Digitiser and Teletext couldn't resolve their differences. Digitiser had some of the best reviews in the industry, and I'd read it every day (or in the dark days every Monday-Wednesday-Friday) just for it's sarcastic but honest opinion. Fat Sow may have been childish and silly, but the articles "she" wrote were often very scathing and had little tollerence for the stupidity to be seen in gaming.
Moc-moc-a-moc!