Goodbye, Gamepro

A farewell to an old friend...

Today, Gamepro Magazine is closing its doors to become a part of PCworld.com.  Gamepro Magazine was first published in 1989, providing news, previews, reviews, game tips and codes.  

Personally, I grew up reading Gamepro and couldn’t wait to read their reviews.  I loved their scoring system where they’d give scores with a face associated with the rating.  I’d call the 5.0 “the crazy face” and loved to see games get all "crazies," because that meant the game HAD to be good.  I suppose that’s equivalent today when IGN.com gives a game a score of 10. 

Starfox 64 was well received by Gamepro.  Who could blame them?

What was great about Gamepro in the 90s was that their issues were thick and had plenty of content.  You could spend a whole Sunday afternoon sifting through their magazines and read about countless games coming out.  The only drawback to the size of the magazines was that they were packed with advertisements, but even so, I remember enjoying even the advertisements.  The end of the issue has a mini walkthrough guide of a popular game, and they were usually really in-depth. 

I think the problem with today is that video game magazines might not have the power they once did.  With the internet readily available, you can think of any game and find countless posts about that particular game not only by professionals, but by everyday gamers.  The people have a voice now, and in the world we live in, if someone disagrees with a review from a publication, that publication will definitely hear about it in the comments section or from a social network.

The latest Gamepro issues have fallen in quality.  They are no longer packed with as much content as their issues in the 90s and early 2000s, and the articles themselves are barely articles.  They were just small blips of information or opinions.  Not sure if this is Gamepro’s fault because the internet age made things much more accessible and easy to obtain.  Someone on Twitter that says “man, such and such game really sucks” is sometimes enough of a review for someone to read.

That’s all they may need to know. 

That doesn’t count out video game magazines entirely.  One of my new favorite gaming magazines, Retro Gamer from the UK, is PACKED with quality articles and features, and is truly incredible publishing.  Being a gamer in my late 20s, it’s good to see a magazine that features so much content on older games as well as new ones.  There are great magazines out there, you just have to find them. 

If anything, Gamepro will always live on to those of us that read and enjoyed it.  It was a favorite for 90s kids, and it will live on, although not as prominently, at PCworld.com 

To Gamepro, thank you for all of your years of great gaming coverage.  You deserve four crazies.

-- Goodbye, Gamepro (video script)

by Anthony J. Gomez