Game Informer
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The July 2011 issue cover | |
| Editor-in-Chief | Andy McNamara |
|---|---|
| Categories | Video game |
| Frequency | Monthly (12 per year) |
| Publisher | GameStop |
| Total circulation (2014) | 6,723,581[1] |
| First issue | August 1991 |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Language | English |
| Website |
www |
| ISSN | 1067-6392 |
Game Informer (GI) is an American monthly video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and associated consoles. As of December 2014, over 6.7 million copies are sold each month, making it the fourth-largest magazine in the United States by circulation.[1] Game Informer debuted in August 1991 when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine.[2] It is owned and published by GameStop Corp., the parent company of the video game retailer of the same name, who bought FuncoLand in 2000. Due to this, a large amount of promotion is done in-store.[3] Purchasing a subscription to the magazine also gets the subscriber access to special content on the official website.
History
Magazine
Game Informer debuted in August 1991 as a six-page magazine. It was published every two months until November 1994, when the magazine began to be released monthly.[4]
In April each year, Game Informer includes Game Infarcer, an annual spin-off of the normal magazine, as an April Fool's joke.
Game Informer has included three "Sacred Cow Barbecues". Similar in style to a celebrity roast, the occasion is meant to "knock some of gaming's most revered icons off their high and mighty pedestals."[5]
Website
Game Informer Online was originally launched in August 1996, and featured daily news updates as well as articles. Justin Leeper and Matthew Kato were hired on in November 1999 as full-time web editors. As part of the GameStop purchase of the magazine, the site was closed around January 2001.[6] Both Leeper and Kato were eventually placed on the editorial staff of the magazine.
GI Online was revived in September 2003, with a full redesign and many additional features, such as a review database, frequent news updates, and exclusive "Unlimited" content for subscribers. It was managed by Billy Berghammer, creator of PlanetGameCube.com (now known as NintendoWorldReport.com).[7] Berghammer is currently the editor in chief of the EGM Media group [8]
On March 2009, the online staff began creating the code for what would be the latest redesign to date. The redesign was to release hand-in-hand with the magazine's own redesign. On October 1, 2009, the newly redesigned website was live, with a welcome message from Editor-In-Chief Andy McNamara. Many new features were introduced, including a rebuilt media player, a feed highlighting the site activity of the website's users, and the ability to create user reviews.[9]
In February (sometimes January), Game Informer's editors round up to count and judge the "Top 50 Games of last year". The games are sorted in order of release date. They do not have rankings, but they do commemorate special games with awards like Game of the Year and other examples. They also have mini top 10 charts of differing categories, both in the Top 50 games section of the website and in the regular magazine.
In August each year, Game Informer includes a "E3 Hot 50", a special section that reviews the year's E3 and most to all of its games, which also temporarily replaces the "previews" section.
Australian edition
In November 2009, Game Informer was launched in Australia by former Australian GamePro, Gameplayer and Official PlayStation Magazine editor Chris Stead.[10] By June 2010, Game Informer Australia had become the first local games publication to pass 10,000 subscribers. By August 18, 2010, it had become Australia's biggest selling video games publication.[11]
Game Informer Australia has picked up three Australian Magazine Awards for best in category, multiple nominations in the Lizzie awards and the 2013 MCV award for Print Publication of the Year. Chris Stead also received the 2013 Journalist of the Year gong at the MCV awards.[12]
Reviews
Game Informer currently reviews games on the Wii, Wii U, PlayStation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita consoles. Older games, three per issue, were given brief reviews in the magazine's Classic GI section (compared with the game's original review score, if one exists). This was discontinued in 2009, months before the redesign of the magazine. The magazine's staff rate games on a scale of 1 to 10 with quarter point intervals. A score of 1 is considered worse than terrible; 10 is a rare, "outstanding", nearly perfect game; and 7 is "average", a decently playable (but flawed) game. A running gag in every issue is that in the review table (the magazine defines what each score means), the 1 score is always changed to a different joke.
To this date, 26 games have received a perfect "10":
Some games have even received scores of 1 or below by Game Informer: Batman: Dark Tomorrow received a 0.75,[13] Shrek: Fairy Tale Freakdown for Game Boy Color got a 0.5,[14] and the Xbox fighting game Kabuki Warriors scored a 0.5.[15] In the latter review, editor-in-chief Andy McNamara stated that "I literally won a match just by bashing the controller against my ass. I wish I was joking, but the score is seriously Kabuki Warriors zero, my ass one." This was confirmed by his fellow editors. Another game reviewed for Classic GI – Marky Mark: Make My Video for Sega CD – was given a 0, making it the lowest-rated game by Game Informer. A score of 1 was handed out to the Kinect game Hulk Hogan's Main Event in the December 2011 issue. A score of 1 was handed to Postal III, which was cited for its glitches and bad gameplay. In 2009, editor Bryan Vore handed a score of 1 to the Wii game Ready 2 Rumble: Revolution, calling it "Terrible in Every Conceivable Way". A score of 1 was given to Fighter Within.
Staff
Current
- Andy McNamara – Editor-in-Chief: 1991[16]
- Andrew Reiner – Executive Editor: 1994[17]
- Matthew Kato – Senior Editor: 2001[18]
- Joe Juba – Reviews Editor: 2003[19]
- Matt Miller – Previews Editor: 2004[20]
- Matt Bertz – Managing Editor: 2006[21]
- Ben Reeves – Senior Editor: 2006[22]
- Bryan Vore – Digital Editor: 2007[23]
- Jeff Cork – Senior Editor: 2007[24]
- Tim Turi – Senior Associate Editor: 2009[25]
- Jeff Marchiafava – Senior Associate Editor: 2009[25]
- Ben Hanson – Video Producer: 2010[25]
- Kyle Hilliard – Associate Editor: 2011[25]
- Kimberley Wallace – Associate Editor: 2012
- Mike Futter – News Editor: 2013
- Daniel Tack – PC Editor: 2014
- Wade Wojcik – Video Editor: 2014
- Brian Shea – Associate Editor: 2015
Former
- Paul Anderson – (The Pro Player, Game Professor): 1992–2001 (died 2007;[26] a message that reads "In Memory of Paul Anderson" appears in the Staff section of all current issues)
- Elizabeth Olson: – 1991–94
- Rick Petzoldt – (The Video Ranger): 1991–95
- Marianne Morgan – (The Game Master): 1991
- Ed Martínez – (The Video Wizard): 1991
- Erik Reppen – (The PC Jedi): 1996–97, 1999–2001
- Ross van der Schaegen – (The Rebel Gamer): 1991–95
- David "Vinnie" Vinyon – (The Video Vigilante): 1994–96
- Ryan McDonald – (The Arcade Alchemist): 1995–97
- Jon Storm – (The Greedy Gamer): 1996–99
- Robert Stoute – (The Game Cassanova): 1997–99
- Paul Bergren – (The Game Burrito): 1997–99
- Lisa Mason – (La Game Nikita): 2002–06[27]
- Beaux Hawkins – (The Arcade Assassin): 1998–99
- The Vidiot – (Minister of Destruction): 2000–01
- Jay Fitzloff – (The Gonzo Gamer): 1999–02
- Justin Leeper – (The Digital Deviant): 2001–04
- Chet Barber – (The Joystick Jockey, The Chronic Gamer): 2002–03
- Jeremy Zoss – (Gamezilla): 2003–06[28]
- Kristian Brogger – (The Game Dawg, The Video Viking): 2000–03
- Nick Ahrens – Media Editor: 2005–10
- Meagan Marie (formerly VanBurkleo) – Associate Editor: 2008–11[29]
- Annette González – Associate Editor: 2009–11
- Matt Helgeson – Senior Features Editor: 1999-2015 [30]
- Phil Kollar – Associate Editor: 2009–12
- Jim Reilly – News Editor: 2011–12
- Adam Biessener – PC Editor: 2003–13[31]
- Dan Ryckert – Senior Associate Editor: 2009-2014[25]
- Jason Oestreicher – Video Editor: 2011-2014
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "eCirc for Consumer Magazines". Audit Bureau of Circulations. December 31, 2014. Retrieved April 4, 2015.
- ↑ "10 Years of Game Informer" (August 2001). Game Informer, p. 42. "In August 1991, FuncoLand began publishing a six-page circular to be handed out free in all of its retail locations."
- ↑ Vargas, Jose Antonio (April 2005). "A Magazine Whose Lineup Is Always in Play". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 22, 2007.
- ↑ "GameInformer". Gameinformer.com. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ↑ Game Informer Issue 183 inFamous
- ↑ "On the Web" (August 2001). Game Informer, p. 49. "Sadly, this ill-fated site was to last little more that [sic] a year, as gameinformer.com would fall prey to the massive meltdown of the Internet economy in February [of 2001]."
- ↑
- ↑ "EGM Now hires industry vet Billy Berghammer as group EIC". Joystiq. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ↑ "Welcome To The New GameInformer.com". www.GameInformer.com. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ↑ Wildgoose, David. "Game Informer Magazine Launches Aussie Edition". Kotaku. Retrieved November 3, 2009.
- ↑ "Game Informer Officially Australia's #1 Games Magazine". EB Games. Retrieved August 18, 2010.
- ↑ "MCV Pacific Awards: Winners Announced". MCV Pacific. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
- ↑ "Batman: Rize of Sin Tzu review". GameInformer.com. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ↑ "Shrek Fairy Tale Freakdown". GameInformer.com. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ↑ "Kabuki Warriors review". GameInformer.com. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
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- ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 25.4 "Game Informer – Staff Bios". Gameinformer.com. Retrieved 2014-02-17.
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- ↑ "Internet Archives – Game Informer Online.com – Staff – Lisa Mason". Web.archive.org. 2005-11-04. Retrieved 2014-02-17.
- ↑ "Internet Archives – Game Informer Online.com – Staff – Jeremy Zoss". Web.archive.org. 2005-11-04. Retrieved 2014-02-17.
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External links
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