All but one Future publication saw circulation dip in 2009

those UK magazines are awesome. EDGE and Retro Gamer are very expensive but well worth it for what you get.

I think Retro Gamer has a deal right now for a US sub at $80.

What about Games tm? A very good if not better alternative to EDGE. >:(

wow... seeing your subscribers decline in one year by as much as 50% a year must burn...

this must be what Age of Conan felt like.


ZING!

Its true Games TM is superior to all of those magazienes imo.

Where's Nintendo Power? I'm curious on their stats...

Even as a shitty Future publication I'll never give it up! My NP collection goes back two decades!

How did PC Format do?

I'm subscribed to GamesTM and Retro Gamer - the two best magazines on sale IMO. I used to get Edge as well (yes, in addition to GamesTM) but I found them to be a bit arrogant and haughty so I sacked that one off - though I do still pick up the odd copy if it has a feature of particular interest.

I've been a fan of Gamesmaster since 1999. The content isn't as much as it used to be, with the advent of the internet and all. But there is still something special about getting the latest gaming news, reviews etc. from a mag. Can't put it into words, maybe it is a feeling of nostalgia. I can get all the information and more that I want from Joystiq and the like, as soon as it happens and with discussions too. Yet I still love buying gaming mags.

There used to be a quality mag called Playstation Max. Anyone remember that? With the shitting dog mascot :P It had a puzzle page on the last page and one of them was to locate the shits the dog had made over the magazine xD

Also brings to mind the childhood obsession with cheat books. For some that was the sole reason for getting a magazine. PLAY used to do novel sized ones, helped with Tomb Raider a lot!

And finally who can deny that beautiful drug that is new magazine smell? I love flipping those pages and getting my fix, cheat books have it too ^_^

It’s hard to feel sorry for Future Publishing.

On the one hand, they publish Edge Magazine; yes, they’re rather up themselves, the quality of the magazine is ever diminishing due to smaller and smaller freelance budgets, the mag is as thin as a fanzine, their Japanese coverage now resembles ‘Hire Tim Rogers: attribute to pseudonym so the serf readers are none the wiser’, but Edge try, oh so hard, to be elitist. That’s a good thing, especially in this egalitarian age where everything and anything has merit.

But Future also produce rags like Gamesmaster: Gamesmaster is terrible, simple as. Gamesmaster are so terrible that when the big boys come knocking (yes, I’m referring to you Eidos-pre Squaresoft takeover, Konami, Codemasters, Activision) they roll over like the laziest Labrador. Want a nine? Give me a tenner. What a front cover? Well that’ll be a score – but for you, Eidos, how about you sponsor me at the Stringfellows. But moer than that, Gamesmaster don’t publish reviews: Gamesmaster are in the précis business.

Funny story: some games aren’t even played at their offices, oh no. I’m not sure if this is usual practice for a respected publication, if you could call penis jokes and constant insular references to ‘Our Gamer the Core’ respected, Anyway, you never heard it from your friend Bowser, but some games are often accompanied with a highlights reel of footage, similar to what publishers would send to the BBFC for an official rating. What a tawdry rag like Gamesmaster would do is review the footage, just like your hopeless internet commentator. What difference is there between me, you, and a reviewer from Gamesmaster if we all derive the same information from hazy Gamestrailer’s footage? They’re a joke, and there’s a hundred more jokes from those offices – Bath headquarters included.