Cost of PC game magazines..

iv-tecman

iv-tecman

iv-tecman

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PC Games magazines are rather expensive... Picked one up in a newsagent, it was sealed and couldn't read the contents, but it wasn't very thick, turned it over for the price and was shocked to read £5.99.

Back to reading internet webpages so as I can find PC games news and reviews... Been out of PC Gaming too long, I remember when they used to be £2.99... No wonder the section looked smaller then it did many years ago. Who'd pay that when I bet all the information you need is on the net already?

If you have a fast net connection, the demos can even be downloaded. Slower ADSL or dial up users (any still out there.. :D ) might make use of the DVD included..
 
Yeah i think its ridiculous. DVD cost is like 50p and all the content on the dvd is downloaded from net so the content is free really. No idea why they charge that much for a mag with a dvd on compared to £3.99 without a dvd. Wish they made mags with no dvd/cd on them and price them at £2.99 like they used to do YEARS! ago back when i used to buy nes mags :p.

The only reason i would buy a mag these days is that it saves my eyes from lookin at a screen for a few hours. And most of what you want is in the mag so saves you searching the net for all the games and info. Even get a exclusive once in a while tho only for a day as its posted on net the next day lol.
 
Used to go into town on the weekend to check out the computer mags; havent done that in a long while. I remember reading one a couple of years ago and it was shockingly out of date information for a new magazine, they are lightyears behind in terms of up to date information. I felt I knew more than the person writing the artical himself.
 
PC Gamer magazine used to cost £4.99 and the discs were free. I glady got it monthly as it used to have a lot of content. The discs were packed with mods, demos and trailers at a time when I only had dial up. All in all it was £4.99 well spent.

Alright it's only a quid more or whatever, but the content hasn't stepped up with the times. As far as I know the discs are still freebies but the magazine hasn't got any better (if anything it's gotten worse from what I remember of the reviewers back in the day).
 
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I get PC Zone, have been for a while. I like it as I don't really carry the internet with me on the train, or in the loo, or in bed... so I can't read reviews and news there!

As for demos, I don't do a great deal of surfing these days, and can't be bothered to look around for a site that I can download a game from, that doesn't require a monthly subscription, or my personal details.

But that's just me... horses for courses I guess.

I agree on the cost issue though...they are beeping expensive!
 
Computer Active is the only mag i would buy now. Its only £1.30 or somit. Not really a mag for games as only has 1-3 pages of gaming reviews etc. But hardware wise its not bad for £1.30 ish for a half hour read.
 
I still religously buy PC Gamer (I think I have about 100 copies of it now) but more as a force of habit than anything - I do enjoy the content and reading through it and it's much nicer for me than sitting reading reviews on a screen, as I sit long enough in front of a screen for work and anything that gives me a break from RSI is much appreciated :D

However, I do think the coverdisk is a ripoff and inappropriately jacking up the cost of the mag - hell, most of the time the content is repeats of last months anyway! :mad:
 
I only buy them if im going on holiday and want soemthing to read. I often think there quite nicely writen (or at least PCgamer is). Wouldn't ever buy one otherwise though, not when I have access to the internet.
 
I used to buy Amiga Format and then PC Format every month without fail. Couldn't wait to get my hands on the cover discs as they invariably contained demos, utilities etc. At one time you got full free games with Amiga Format. One...Bombuzal...became one of my favourites of all time but they are no longer worth it with access to the net and all the downloadable content that provides. Would buy again if they reduced their prices to a reasonable level though.
 
Agent_matt said:
I only buy them if im going on holiday and want soemthing to read. I often think there quite nicely writen (or at least PCgamer is). Wouldn't ever buy one otherwise though, not when I have access to the internet.
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Yep, agree on this. Why don't they just scrap the cover disc, I think this is looking like an excuse to jack the price up.

I too remember Amiga format, I used to enjoy reading it, but then there was less access to internet pages that provided nearly all the news and reviews you can get nowadays.

I merely looked as it is nice to sit on the sofa, without a laptop and just enjoy a quiet read, without something making your lap go warm, and making a whizzing noise... Erm, no naughty thoughts on that remark.. :eek:

But you get the idea, if it was £2.99 I'd have purchased it. It was PC Zone BTW.
 
Its a convenient read. The interweb is great, but you have to hunt everything down. Nothing better than crashing on the couch with a mag imo.
 
I'll say it again , the cover disc with PC Gamer used to be a freebie. I don't know if this has changed but I haven't heard anything to the contrary.
 
well to be honest you dont need to troll the internet and hunt stuff to read...

i find readon these boards has mroe than enough information on games, reviews and the odd freebee link.

i did used to read games mags but as you say.. too expensive and as i work with computers i spend most of the day on them... so hunting stuff down on the net is almost no effort at all.

as said above maybe if they did them without the silly priced DVD/CD.
 
I agree that they're overpriced - it's not just PC mags, though. Console gaming mags are as expensive too, even the ones without the cover discs.

Like others, I used to enjoy getting magazines in the pre-internet era - ST Format was my mag of choice, and I had absolutely loads of them. The cover disks were worth it in those days. In particular, I remember Llamatron and TCB Tracker getting a lot of use.

TBH, I think that magazines haven't really kept up with the times... they've remained monthly whereas we're all used to getting info on a daily basis. They should make them more like the weekly car magazines such as Auto Express, less info per issue but produced much more quickly so more current.

They also should ditch the glossy format as this would be an unnecessary expense for a weekly games mag. Then they could sell them for £1.50 p/week - I'd buy that, but I won't spend £6 p/month on outdated info I've already known for weeks.

Maybe this is the problem... as the number of subscribers has decreased, the publishers have increased the price to try and compensate for the smaller revenue - only it's a vicious circle as increased prices leads to smaller audiences which itself leads to yet more increased prices that leads to yet smaller audiences, ad infinitum.
 
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Only thing i dont like is that nowadays they are all sealed in a foil cover. So either you rip it open to check to see if you think its worth buying or just mindlessly buy it anyway.... Great choice there eh.. No it doesnt seal back down ive tried :o Why should i pay for smt without checking to see if its actually worth paying for.
 
Surfer said:
Only thing i dont like is that nowadays they are all sealed in a foil cover. So either you rip it open to check to see if you think its worth buying or just mindlessly buy it anyway.... Great choice there eh.. No it doesnt seal back down ive tried :o Why should i pay for smt without checking to see if its actually worth paying for.
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Everyone reads them at the supermarkets thats why they seal em.
 
Surfer said:
Only thing i dont like is that nowadays they are all sealed in a foil cover. So either you rip it open to check to see if you think its worth buying or just mindlessly buy it anyway.... Great choice there eh.. No it doesnt seal back down ive tried :o Why should i pay for smt without checking to see if its actually worth paying for.
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And...

......thats the reason I never purchased it, I mean asking £5.99 for a publication, I want to sample it first, not give 6 notes over for something that might be old news. If, and if, something was in it that was a MUST read I'd perhaps have handed the notes over, but not being able to read a few bits or see the whole contents before purchasing is a bit naughty.

Sealed bag to stop those reading and not buying, also stops those who want to have a quick look to see if its worth it from buying as well. I think magazines are being killed off by the internet. Some sites are now asking for subscription to see some contents, how long before you need passes to read hot news and recent reviews I wonder? It is already crammed with ads, even firefox with adblock struggles to block them all...

I totally agree about the weekly mag idea, that would be good. Ditch the high gloss prints, ditch the DVD and just make it a weekly gaming news mag, something I can read where I can't take my laptop, or just read in bed etc... Perfect. At £1.50 or even £2 max I'd buy that, and they'd even make £8 per month instead of £6 per customer if said customer purchased every week.

Do they still do 13 issues a month? Last month, December providing xmas special etc?
 
yeah i can certainly do without the dvd if it brings prices down. Why dont they have extra space devoted to DEMOS, Movies, mods and other content as an extra part of the preview/review etc. What i mean is; after the end of the preview/review there would be a large box which showed where you could get extra stuff about the game from e.g. gameplay demos worth watching etc. Generally atm there is the publisher and dev website and system specs but not much more. Actually they prolly do do this kinda of thing and i just dont remember....got the memory of a goldfish meh.

Aside from that instead of having the dvd they should just have a page which says "here is where the dvd page would be if we still had it :D " - and show all the online links to demos and stuff which are normally on the dvd.

Then slash £2 from the cover price get rid of the sealed magazines and there you go everyones happy. I still prefer to read a mag than look at a monitor screen for info.
 
I've got a sub to PC Zone. It wraps up what I want to know about games quite nicely, and generally I'll go by their reviews.

Saves digging through ad-filled games websites. However I do chuck away the DVD the instant I get it

Personal Computer World is a pretty good read for the businessy / techy side of things - I've just setup a sub on subscriptions.co.uk for £24 for a year (no coverdisk version)
 
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I go into gamestation and ask for last months, :D they give them out for free. keeps me sorta up to date, but I still think the internet has much more information than these mags
 
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