Dead on Arrival: Games For Windows (GFW) Magazine

[hyp]

http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=8693249&publicUserId=5380367

CGW/GFW 1981-2008
Well, goddamn. Here's a post I hoped I'd never have to write. As you no doubt know by now, we're closing Games for Windows magazine. We will get to the "positive" to be gleaned from all this in a moment. Because there actually is some to be had, and it's not even just "spin." But, that said, you will all have to forgive me if I first take a moment to express what I know many of you are feeling right now: This blows. This is tough. This is just not in any way "good news."

For me personally, the closing of Games for Windows: The Official Magazine is not just a business decision (though, obviously it?s exactly that in reality), but feels more akin, in fact, to the passing of a loved one. Drama much? Well, you can scoff if you want, but the fact of the matter is that I have poured my heart and soul into this magazine, month after month after month, for over 10 years now. Every four weeks for 10 years I have done my best to get a quality magazine out the door, and the fact that I don't have that deadline now is not in any way, despite the temptation to go for gallows humor, a source of relief. It feels like a giant gaping hole in my life.

GFW itself made it through 17 great issues of which I am very proud. I think, in fact, that we were getting better every month, and what has turned out to be our final issue, the April/May Sims 3 issue, ranks with (in my humble opinion, of course) the best issues of my entire magazine career. So, hey, we went out on a high note. But beyond these 17 issues, it would be a disservice to this magazine's legacy and impact, a lack of respect of the seriousness of what this closing represents and to the many talented writers, artists and editors over the years, if we did not also acknowledge here that this is also the end of the line, in print anyway, for the magazine that began life as Computer Gaming World way back in 1981. That's 27 years, friends--a great run for a gaming magazine. What began life as a fairly humble, black-and-white, pamphlet-sized 'zine under Russell Sipe and Johnny Wilson grew over the years into an industry titan, the game magazine by which all others both modeled themselves and were judged. Times changed, winds shifted, editors moved, on, but I can tell you that in all these 27 years, the magazine known first as CGW and then GFW was always known for its integrity, for its intelligence, for neither talking down to the readers nor to the hobby itself. Yes, we had our ups and downs (I don't think I'll ever hear the end of the vampire cover), but the one constant, over all these years, regardless of who was on the staff or what we were called, was a total passion and commitment and belief in what we did, a desire to make sure that every four weeks, when you opened that magazine, you were going to get the best we had to offer. When the name changed to Games for Windows: The Official Magazine, we rightly and understandably faced a lot of skepticism: Would we maintain our independence? Would we still put out a BS-free magazine, with no outside influence or compromise? Of all the mail I've received over the past 17 issues, the ones I'm most happy about and proud of are the ones from folks who said they thought there was no way we could pull it off, that they had written us off as sellouts, only to find, as soon as they read the "new" magazine, that it was just what we promised it would be.

So, here we are. The end of an era. The Internet age marches forward. And here?s where we get to the good part. Because there really is a good part, and I can say this to you honestly without having to feel I'm "spinning" it for you. First, all the editors that you have come to know at GFW are staying on here at 1up.com. Sean Molloy, Shawn Elliott, Ryan Scott, and myself have already, even before this closing, been working more and more over the past few months with the online team to beef up 1up.com's PC gaming content, and now we'll be doing this full time. All the writers you've been familiar with, the columns and features you've come to love, will still be around. What's changing, of course, is that it's all online instead of in print, which means we now can bring it all to you in a quicker and more timely manner, and, hey--for free. In some ways, this change will both liberate and, uh, empower (sorry, I was trying to avoid that word) us to drill down into certain key aspects of PC gaming in the 21st century--modding, patches, MMO updates--that were always challenging for us in print. For the past couple months we've been taking baby steps in beefing up this site's PC coverage, but now we will be doing it full time, doing our best, with the same commitment and creative energy we poured into the magazine. And, yes, that podcast of ours, the thing that started as something we were cajoled into doing against our will but has since grown into something we truly love, is still going to be there--same cast of morons, same erratic weekly schedule. (We will be podcasting this week, so stay tuned for that.) On the downside, we do sadly have to say goodbye to our incredibly talented and dedicated art team, Michael Jennings and Rosemary Pinkham, who worked tirelessly throughout often ridiculously egregious circumstances to make this magazine every month. There is no positive spin to put on such a loss. I wouldn't dare do it. I am going to miss the two of them dearly, and wish them nothing but the best. They both deserve better than a day like today.

So, yeah. This is tough. This sucks. I'm not going to pretend to be in a good mood. But the editors are still here. You're not rid of us yet. One era has ended. Another one is beginning. We don't have to be happy about what went down here. Not yet, anyway. Not today. But, hey, as we all know, whether we like it or not, change is part of life. You can't fight it. You just gotta roll with it. I know that Sean, Shawn, Ryan, and I?as much as we're bumming-- are all also getting ready for the next round here. And we hope you stick with us, because, you know, we like your company. Here's hoping this next act will be as fun and fruitful and fulfilling as the one that just ended. And before I get all maudlin here again, let's raise our glasses in a toast to the past: It was a good fuckin' run, when all is said and done. Now let's pour another for the future, for Rosie and MJ, who will certainly find bigger and better things now, and for those of us left, who have a whole new reality to face now. Then let's pour another, just for the hell of it. In fact, let's just keep pouring. Today I'm not feeling any need to stop.

Jeff Green

[T234]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Mupepe]

we were cajoled into doing against our will

Those fucking Puerto Ricans don't care when they hurt anyone.  Assholes

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Expected, yet crappy.

This truly is the end of an era.

[demi]

score one for console gaming

[hyp]

they're gonna give you another subscription to EGM as a reconciliation prize.

[Joe Molotov]

I've already got plenty of EGM, maybe they'll switch us to PC Magazine.

[Fragamemnon]

Yeah you get the option of EGM (fuel for the chimney starter, console gaming blows) or PCMag, which you can take into work and leave around for people to read in the breakroom.

It's sort of sad, because GFW recognized the need to move towards more features and editorial content instead of commodity reviews and previews, but even that couldn't save them from the fact that people just don't get PC gaming news from print anymore.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Has Vivendi stock reacted yet to the upcoming dearth of cover stories? Games for WoWdows was a great magazine!

Honestly, I never got the complaints. Uh, WoW has 10 million players worldwide who love it. Guess what, it's news, as much as you or I might like to see Sins of a Solar Empire on the cover.

[TVC15]

Well, now there is an untreated niche in the mag market for a semi-quality PC magazine.  I say we pool our decent financial resources together and start a new mag.  Instead of running Penny Arcade as our comic, we'll run Gil Thorp.  And our first issue's cover story will be "FIRST EXCLUSIVE PICS OF CS PRO WARCOCK'S ANTEATER COCK INSIDE!"  We will be going for an adultish 50s Playboy style demographic, you know, the classy years.

[Smooth Groove]

This is unfortunate but somewhat predictable.  I've listened to their podcasts several times before and was surprised by the negative comments that they make about various companies or projects.  While I admire journalistic honesty, some of the stuff they say border on being unprofessional.  Why would any company want to give you ad money after having you openly mock a high ranking executive of theirs?  PC mag is still around because they're much smarter at keeping their journalistic intergity while not pissing off their advertisers. 

[TVC15]

This is unfortunate but somewhat predictable.  I've listened to their podcasts several times before and was surprised by the negative comments that they make about various companies or projects.  While I admire journalistic honesty, some of the stuff they say border on being unprofessional.  Why would any company want to give you ad money after having you openly mock a high ranking executive of theirs?  PC mag is still around because they're much smarter at keeping their journalistic intergity while not pissing off their advertisers. 

Whatever, Smooth Groove.  My mag won't be afraid to let it all hang out.  I'm all ready to start research on the second issue, where I review the average genital sizes of several big name companies, since there probably won't be any PC games releasing that need to be reviewed.

[trippingmartian]

There certainly was a lot of GFW (brand) shit-talk on the podcast lately. I wonder how long they've known about this...

[Sho Nuff]

Is PC Gamer any good these days

[T234]

Is PC Gamer any good these days

NO