Computer Gaming World

OK, let’s get back in the saddle and get this blog moving again.

Having some down time over the past few days, I dug out my backlog of Computer Gaming World magazine and leafed through them. And you know what wisdom came out of that exercise? GIVE IT UP, CGW!!! In fact, why in the heck are we still getting paper computer gaming magazines at all? What’s the point? There’s nothing in this mag that I didn’t already know from the internet. For instance, the April 2003 issue had a review of DAoC: Shrouded Isles. When’d that come out? December, yes?

But speaking specifically of CGW, which was for years a decent rag…all I can say is, ick! The magazine now has the maturity of, I don’t know, EGM or GamePro or something. The Letters to the Editor section illustrates this most clearly. Among the “You guyz suxxors” letters is the odd person trying to get a point across or a question answered. Invariably, rather than addressing the issue, one of the staff just spouts off some rude comment at the letter-writer. That’s nice, eh? You take the time to write a serious letter to these bozos and they lip off at you.

My advice to Ziff: Put CGW out of its misery, once and for all. That, or just punt the current staff and get in some journalists who have a dash of respect for their readership. But even then, with the lag time of printing and distribution, your reviews are going to be horribly outdated, and your news ain’t gonna be new.