GameStar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
GameStar is a monthly released PC computer game magazine, published by the IDG Entertainment Verlag in Germany. At the moment (2006) it has an average monthly circulation of 270.000 copies and is therefore the best sold PC computer game magazine in Europe. It is also being published in Hungary, the Czech Republic and China. IDG started it also in Italy, Poland and the USA -- but those issues have folded after a few months, although the corresponding web sites still exist. The US version was, quite differently from the rest, positioned as a magazine for adults, about PC and console games, similar to inCite. In 2005, GameStar spawned a sister mag called /GameStar/dev which is targeted at European Game Developers. Gamestar also has a sister magazine named GamePro, which focuses on console games. Incidentally its headquaters are right next-door to the GameStar office.
Editor-in-Chief at the moment is Gunnar Lott. He succeeded Jörg Langer, who wrote for GameStar from the first issue in November 1997 to October 2004.
A short overview of the content:
- News about the PC game scene
- Previews of PC games, (games which still are in development)
- Tests (reviews) of lately released or to be released PC games
- Hints, cheats and guides (walkthroughs) of recent PC games
- A section about freeware and open source games, mods and E-Sports.
- Articles about recent PC hardware components with regard to computer gaming (e.g. joysticks or computer mice)
- Articles about important events, that influence the gaming community at large (i.e.: E-Sports, Censorship, etc.)
Currently there are 4 different versions of the Magazine available. They include the magazine version (which does not include any DVDs and is thus cheaper), a "normal" edition, which includes one DVD, and a XL Version, which contains 2 DVDs. The fourth version is only distributed to Readers who have a subscription. The subscriber Magazine has less advertisement and shows a larger front-page picture. Until mid-2005 a CD-only version was also available, but it was decided that DVD-readers in Computers had become wide-spread enough, and so the CD-version was deemed unnecessary. Instead the XL version appeared for the first time.
GameStar also holds a well known E-Sports-League, the GameStar Clanliga.
