What Magazines Do You Read?

[Joe]

One of the blogs I read was sending around a trackback chain letter, asking people to list the magazines they read, and why. We're a pretty literate bunch over here, so I figured, hey, why not make it a message board 30 second review thread.

Here's what I read, or at least try to.

The Escapist - Duh. You should see what happens when I don't read it.
GQ - Good mix of funny and informative. Also, it's nice to know what I should wear once we're the rulers of a giant web media empire.
Vanity Fair - Similar to GQ, but appeals to a broader market. Their political articles are a bit better, though the starf---ing can be a bit much.
Death+Taxes - Weird indie music rag I picked up on a lark. It's new, but their style is a lot more prosey than stuff like Rolling Stone.
ESPN's Page 2 [http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/index] - It's not really a magazine - they're a daily web stream, but it's easily got the best sports editorial around, even if they're all RedSox fans.

Deadpool:
InQuest - It used to be the funniest tabletop mag in the world. Now it talks about Pokemon CCG and, uhh, yeah.
Modern Drunkard - Web mag gone the way of the dodo.

 

[Shannon Drake]

Page 2 and the Escapist, we share. Add in The New York Review of Books and the occasional bizarre British humo(u)r mag from Spanner, and you have my magazine consumption.

 

[Russ Pitts]

My magazine consumption goes in waves. I'm currently only reading what gets dragged into the house. Among them: Edge, Games, Play, EGM, Game Informer and Wired. And The Escapist, although if I tried to list every webzine and/or blog I read on a daily basis I'd be here all week.

 

[Ajar]

I don't read magazines nearly as much as I used to. Time was that I would read MacWorld, MacAddict, The Duelist, and Harper's; now Harper's is it, and even then I'm a few months behind my subscription in my reading. I considered subscribing to the Economist, which I've also been known to read on occasion, but I figure that if I'm months behind on my Harper's it would be even worse with a paper weekly periodical.

The upshot of it all is that I do most of my reading online. I read the Escapist, of course, and a number of other websites (e.g. Ars Technica), plus Google News and my RSS aggregator (primarily for web comics).

 

[Archon]

I read: The Escapist, PC Gamer, Game Informer, Business Week, Business 2.0, Wired, Time, Wall Street Journal.

 

[Andy Chalk]

Pretty thin reading list here: Maclean's and National Geographic are the only magazines I subscribe to. (Although in hindsight, I recall seeing the odd issue of Canadian Geographic popping up around here as well. Let's call it a probable.)

I do spend a little bit of time poking around on the Escapist now and then, but other online stuff is strictly bits-and-pieces. I've honestly never been able to figure out how people who have Things To Do can keep up with regular online reading.

 

[te2rx [deprecated]]

I have a subscription to Game Developer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Developer_%28magazine%29]. Its "postmortem" articles are usually interesting, where developers discuss the trials and tribulations of the production of a certain game. They've been especially fascinating lately as developers are forced to tackle exotic new game systems (PS3, Wii+Wiimote), or emerging distribution formats (e.g. the new episodic Sam & Max games).

So yeah, subscribe yourself to that mag if you can. It should hold a lot of relevance/interest to readers of The Escapist.

 

[Logan Frederick]

Video Game Related Magazines:
-Playstation Magazine
-Official Xbox Magazine
-EGM

Not Video Game Related:
-Inc.
-Fast Company
-The Economist
-Fortune
-Forbes
-New York Times: Upfront

 

[Tarmanydyn]

Video Games Related:
The Escapist
PC Gamer
Games For Windows Magazine
Play (Only because I like some of their covers, lol)

Non-Video Game Related:
Discover
New Scientist
Scientific American
Skeptic Inquirer
Wired

 

[Ian Dorsch]

GFW, EGM, Game Developer, Guitar Player, Keyboard. Wired is pretty cool, I buy that one at the newsstand sometimes.

Oh yeah, and the Escapist.

 

[Tarmanydyn]

Wired is pretty cool, I buy that one at the newsstand sometimes.

Yeah, it's like Digg in magazine form.

 

[Troy Goodfellow]

PCGamer and GFW are pretty much the only "print" game magazines I read regularly. I read just about every major website.

Non-gamer stuff is limited to The New Yorker and the weekend magazines that come with the NYT and WaPo.

 

[svallee]

My three golden favorite:

- Game Informer (for a great overview of everything)
- PC Gamer (for focus on my favorite gaming platform)
- Game Developer (because, well, I'm a game developer)

I also receive EGM, but I *hate* that one, and only get it because it's free. For non-gaming magazine, I receive my beloved Time Magazine every weeks.

 

[helfire57 [deprecated]]

I used to read more mags but since I now have three kids, I'm down to:
NewType USA [cover to cover]
Game Informer [cover to cover]
Wired [cover to cover but only 2 - 3 times per year]
Fortune [when on an airplane]
Game Developer [only occational articles]
Escapist [used to be cover to cover but now all the links]

 

[Goofonian]

The last paper gaming magazine I read with any regularity was N64 magazine by future publishing. That must have been 10 years ago now.

Aside from that I usually pick up a copy of ralph or fhm to read on a plane when I go somewhere.

I pretty much get all of my news and articles from the web. And when I'm not near a computer that usually means I don't want to be near news as well.

 

[testbenchdude]

I have or have had subscriptions to all of these mags at some point, and rather than just list them, I thought I'd share my thoughts and get some feedback from the rest of you guys. Let me know how far off-base I am here.

Maximum PC

Used to be a lot better but now appear to be catering to a lower common denominator, trying to be the "Maxim" of computer magazines imho. I have a love/hate relationship with MaxPC; their demo disks used to be chock full of interesting stuff but anymore they are full of shareware flash games and outdated drivers. Also the entire last half of the already thin magazine is all advertising. (Ok that's a slight exaggeration but not that slight.) I used to have a sub but didn't renew last year. I've started buying it again and might start back up as I just can't seem to get away from it... It's just so darn pretty!

CPU (Computer Power User)

The new Maximum PC. In-depth insights and editorials written by Cmdr Taco (Rob Malda, Slashdot), Anand Shimpi (Anandtech), and Rahul Sood (Voodoo Computers), to name but a few. This mag gets really technical at times but is really full of great stuff. Subscribed.

PC Gamer

Standard fanboi mag replete with dick/fart jokes and plenty of snarkiness. Good for a laugh, but I wouldn't go solely by their reviews although they are entertaining to read. Although they say that they don't shill for the industry, it's interesting how they get to "review" games that aren't even out yet (case in point, "Orange Box"--I read the review and then went to the store to buy it thinking it had been released, only to find out it hadn't been and wasn't due for another two weeks! Interesting.) They do get points for listening to their readers (abolished game-currency-cum-gold-farming-sites' ads back in 2006) but then they loose most of those points for ignoring all the game-breaking flaws in any latest EA shooter and giving Postal 2 their only zero rating ever. Another love/hate relationship that I subscribe to.

GFW (Games for Windows, formerly Computer Gaming World)

I tend to trust their reviews a little more than PCG's, but since they have become the flagship mag for Microsoft Gaming their integrity is questionable (regardless of how often they say that it's just a name and they are still as hard-assed as ever). Plus they come with a huge "wireless gaming supplement" that reviews mobile phone apps and games. Great. Just what I want in a computer games magazine. Currently on the last year of a three-year sub that I got for donating money to a charity a while back and will probably renew.

And last but not least:

Computer Games Magazine (on hiatus)

Hands down the best gaming magazine ever written, for adults by adults. Stopped printing earlier this year due to some Myspace spam ruckus (I'm not up to speed on it but you can find out more at Wikipedia), though their website says they are most definitely going to return (as of this writing). If they definitely return I will definitely subscribe.

Addendum: British Mags

PC Format
PC Gamer

Both of these are very very good magazines, but they are pretty expensive ($14-ish at B&N) and it's hard to find them sometimes. In all honesty I'm a bit of an angliophile and I appreciate British humour so I'm a bit biased in this regard.

Cheers~

 

[Ron Mexico [deprecated]]

My taste in magazines has changed over the past few years. Right now, I read the Economist and Scientific American, but in the past I've had subscriptions to Electronic Gaming Monthly, Time Magazine, and National Geographic.

 

[Lance Icarus]

I get EGM in the mail due to a free offer, but I think that offers expired and I'm still getting them. Nothing's coming up on my statements, so I assume they're still free....

The Escapist is fast becoming one of my favorite mags. Very interesting viewpoints with the comedy charisma of Yahtzee to even it all out. Glad I subscribed.

Every so often I'll pick up a Nintendo Power when it has some info on a game I'm waiting for. That or if there's a poster in it I really, really want (or for the girlfriend, thus the case with the Raving Rabbids 2 poster).

I tend to pick up WWE Magazine pretty often. I don't know why, it's not like anything in there matters. I guess I just love wrestling.

And when I'm in the mood for a longer read, I pick up a Time magazine. Always an informative read, but one of the few magazines I've ever put a bookmark in.

That's about it for me.

 

[mranonymous]

NY Times, Harper's Magazine, the occasional article from The New Yorker and New York Review of Books, and The Escapist, natch.

 

[Habilis [deprecated]]

The New Yorker, the Week, TIME, and Harpers. Also, sometimes "Parenting" but I get pissed off by their tagline: "What Matters to Moms..." I mean, hey, c'mon, many parents are not moms!