Gamepro shuts down.

[Mikezilla]

I just found this out yesterday. I was kind of bummed about it, when I was a kid I had a lot of good memories of going into a book store and reading Gamepro for all the S.W.A.T. articles, game tips etc. I bought some of course but Im just saying. I even had this one fat book that had the ninja turtles on the cover, and it pretty much had all the cheat codes and secrets and tips made for NES SNES Genesis, and even some Turbo grafix 16. I still use it sometimes!

Even though Im only 29, I feel as though I wasnt meant for the digital age. I prefer something tangible to read. My eyes dont freak out on me if I read a book for 3 hours either...  I dont like having to rely on the computer screen as the only means to read about video games. I prefer CDs as opposed to digital music too.

I think I was born in the wrong time period. 

[DaveMMR]

I don't know, I never particularly liked Gamepro. I guess I was so used to EGM and their brutal honest that Gamepro seemed really soft in their reviews. It seemed like everything got a 4.0 or 5.0 (out of 5).  Then again, I haven't really read it since the 16-bit days so it could have changed or I could have remembered it wrong.

Still kind of sucks to lose them though. Can't fight the convenience and price of the internet I suppose.

[SavannahLion]

Like DaveMMR, I preferred EGM over GamePro, and like DaveMMR, I quit my subscriptions after the 16-bit heyday (right around the time the PSX was introduced). I also liked EGM for the far more brutal honestly in pointing out craptastic games. And EGM did do a better job of finding some diamonds in the rough (their review on Kid Chameleon comes to mind). And hands down, I doubt any print magazine can ever top the SFII April Fool's joke.

To its credit Gamepro did have its place in the gaming world, I remember GamePro had a really good section "Buyers Beware" which featured crappy peripherals, games or whatever. The "Hot at the Arcades" and the 16-bit survival guides were pretty decent. EGM rarely covered arcade games.

I'm kind of sad to see them go.

Obligatory "I didn't know that was still being published" post

They shafted me ~18 years ago.  I got in really, really early like around issue #2 and bought several years worth of subscriptions at around $8/year and they just randomly cut me off around the time they ratcheted it up to $30-40/yr. 

Nothing like pissing off a 13 year old to never be forgiven.

I feel you, I subscribed to the Atarian.

[SNAAKE]

gamepro reviews were nice before the internetz made life easier

[Ginsu Victim]

I still remember buying the first issue. Good thing the Internet came along, because GamePro, EGM, and Nintendo Power were my main sources of game info for the longest time.

[Howard_Casto]

The only gaming magazine I ever liked was Nintendo Power.  The quality of the printing always made it feel like a real magazine, as opposed to EGM and GamePro, who looked more like comic books or a cheap circular ad.  Back in the NES and even SNES days it was the magaine to buy... afterall, it isn't like you were playing games on a non-nintendo system.  After that I found it pretty hard to justify my subscription and I ditched it.

That being said, the instant that people started having internet connections was the instant that all gaming magazines became obsolete.  The same thing happened to tv guide, and other publications.  Basically any magazine that is information based is now worthless because it is a month out of date by the time you get it as opposed to the net, which is always current.

[Malenko]

I always liked their covers, like when they had their artist draw stuff like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. EGM had better writers though. Nintendo power was terrible except for the howard and nester comics, and people did play non nintendo systems back then.

[SavannahLion]

Wow, fanboyism twenty years after the fact? Kind of thought you would have risen above that by now Castro. 

NP was OK, but I really don't recall much of anything that put Nintendo games of any generation into a negative light. EGM was a little better about that. Especially comparison reviews between the same game on console X and Y of which NP nothing about. When you own more than one console and a budget of a 14 year old, that becomes important.

NP walkthrough spreads and maps were unequaled though.

[DaveMMR]

Nintendo Power was a marketing tool to move Nintendo product.  Yes it was well done and had some great features; but it's not the type of magazine you'd use to make purchasing decisions.  That'd be true even if all I played was Nintendo. 

[Howard_Casto]

Nintendo Power was a marketing tool to move Nintendo product.  Yes it was well done and had some great features; but it's not the type of magazine you'd use to make purchasing decisions.  That'd be true even if all I played was Nintendo. 

Why the hell would you read a magazine to determine your purchases? 

OF COURSE NP was a marketing tool.. it had NINTENDO  right in the title!  But If you happened to have the games in the magazine it had the most in-depth coverage of the title hands-down.  It's maps were always the best, and that was my main reason for purchase for quite some time.  The only thing gamepro/egm had going for them were game genie codes. Also I got a ton of goodies with my subscription, including a free NES game from it.  Did you get a free game from those other two magazine?  No, you did not.   

I used both, but I only had a subscription to NP, because the quality of the physical books were better... you could actually keep them and they wouldn't fall apart.

SL:  No "R"  in my last name!  I'm calling people out on it now.  It's Casto, NOT Castro

[SavannahLion]

SL:  No "R"  in my last name!  I'm calling people out on it now.  It's Casto, NOT Castro

I'll tell that to my Android when I get around to it.

[DaveMMR]

Nintendo Power was a marketing tool to move Nintendo product.  Yes it was well done and had some great features; but it's not the type of magazine you'd use to make purchasing decisions.  That'd be true even if all I played was Nintendo.  

Why the hell would you read a magazine to determine your purchases?  

I guess Consumer Reports was just a big scam then?  

Howard, I imagine you just had so much disposable income that you can just buy games on a whim and it didn't sting when your $50 investment turned out to be a turd, but some of us needed to be more careful with our gaming funds (especially since someone like me was buying games with allowance money, being too young to work full time). We learned fairly quick that Nintendo "every-game-is-awesome!" Power was not going to steer us away from the crap.

[abrannan]

13 posts and not a single "Protip:" joke? 

[Howard_Casto]

Nintendo Power was a marketing tool to move Nintendo product.  Yes it was well done and had some great features; but it's not the type of magazine you'd use to make purchasing decisions.  That'd be true even if all I played was Nintendo.  

Why the hell would you read a magazine to determine your purchases?  

I guess Consumer Reports was just a big scam then?  

Howard, I imagine you just had so much disposable income that you can just buy games on a whim and it didn't sting when your $50 investment turned out to be a turd, but some of us needed to be more careful with our gaming funds (especially since someone like me was buying games with allowance money, being too young to work full time). We learned fairly quick that Nintendo "every-game-is-awesome!" Power was not going to steer us away from the crap.

Well I won't go into consumer reports here, but that is different,  It lets you know if a product is defective, not if it's any good, but I digress.

Umm no... it was the late 80's/early 90's.... I rented the games for like a dollar and decided if they were any good by playing them.  You do understand that when I sing the praises of Nintendo Power I'm talking about my childhood and NOT now don't you?  I cancelled my subscription in the late 90's.    Also refresh your memory a bit.....  NES games were around 70-80 bucks, not 50. 

I guess you guys bought the magazines for the wrong reasons.  They are supposed to be strategy guides, not reviews.  The other magazines had a lot of reviews in them for filler, because their maps and such often weren't as detailed. 

[DaveMMR]

Also refresh your memory a bit.....  NES games were around 70-80 bucks, not 50.  

I think you were getting ripped off.  I don't remember many games retailing for $80 except possibly Star Fox 64 (came with Rumble Pack) and Virtua Racer (Sega was out of its mind around that time - oh and the whole 3D polygon thing that required extra chips.)  For as far as I can remember, games were in the average $50 range (and I remember them being $30 pre-crash.)  Maybe it was a regional price difference?

And I suppose to each his own on the use of a magazine.  Yes Nintendo Power was second-to-none for strategy and maps and tips and previews. But it's Sega Genesis coverage was pretty horrible.    

Also rentals cost me a lot more than a buck - and it's spending a weekend with a crappy game that still made reviews fairly important for me.

By the way:

Well I won't go into consumer reports here, but that is different,  It lets you know if a product is defective, not if it's any good, but I digress.

Type "Consumer Reports" into your local Google-brand search engine and see the first hit's page title: "Consumer Reports: Expert product reviews and product Ratings". Just to clear their good name is all. But, to be fair, their strategy guides are horrible.  

[yotsuya]

I paid $79.99 to get "Jurassic Park" for the SNES for my little brother for Christmas. Yes, I felt ripped off.

[DaveMMR]

Here is a thread on digital press regarding general game prices:

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-85707.html

[SavannahLion]

I paid $79.99 to get "Jurassic Park" for the SNES for my little brother for Christmas. Yes, I felt ripped off.

I too have seen prices for SNES games in the $80 range.

DaveMMR is correct though. Most games usually aren't over $55ish. $50 is considered the sweet spot for most games with $20 being the budget range and anything over $80 starts into the high end/collector stuff. I do, however, have some store receipts for Atari XEGS games and those were rarely over $40.

For a long time, the only places I've seen games in the $80 were the local stores in my town. My friend shelled out nearly $90 ($80 + hold deposit) for Castlevania(sp?) and spent the better part of six weeks paying it off with his allowance. Just as he managed to pay it off, my father drove us to Reno and I bought Super R-Type for a measly $30-ish, where he saw his Castlevania selling for half of what he just paid.  

The stores that ripped us off were those that knew they had a "captive" buyer. Little kids with no real means of transportation to the larger stores in the city and, more importantly, not enough patience for that transportation to come around. This was all before most of us had access to the Tubes so it wasn't like we could check Amazon and compare prices. Now, not a single store in my old town sells video games (barring the rental store and their used game collection) because the kids are a little bit more savvy.

The link DaveMMR pointed out does point out that it does depend on the specific game title. What was that game with the MONSTER full blown dashboard? Battletech or something? That cost a pretty penny.

[shmokes]

I'm proud that even as a kid I only cared about gaming magazines for editorials and reviews. I had no interest in strategy guides and game genie codes. Those things just ruined games. The whole point of buying the game in the first place was to have fun figuring out how to solve it. Why would I want someone else to figure it out beforehand and then tell me how to do it?

[Mikezilla]

I'm proud that even as a kid I only cared about gaming magazines for editorials and reviews. I had no interest in strategy guides and game genie codes. Those things just ruined games. The whole point of buying the game in the first place was to have fun figuring out how to solve it. Why would I want someone else to figure it out beforehand and then tell me how to do it?

This is the same reason I read it as a kid. I grew up in a single mother household, and buying a game was a huge deal, even if it was for Xmas or a birthday, because where I live, all the games were 49.99. Back in the late 80's early 90's that was a lot of money, especially for a single mom with 2 kids. Like Shmokes said, I liked it for the reviews, so I could have some idea how the game was before I asked for it. I dont know, its just one of those things from your childhood that goes and dies off, kind of bummed, cause my kids will never even know what it was. I guess that happens with all generations, but still. 

The only game I ever saw when I was a kid that was astronomical in price was Chrono Trigger. It retailed for 79.99 at Toys R Us. Remember when you used to have to get the tag that was in the video game aisle, then take it to the cashier, pay for it, then they would give you your receipt and you would have to go turn it in to get the game? I remember doing that for Super Metroid, seems like it took ages to get the game so I could tear it open and read the manual. When was the last time you read a manual for a game?!

[Vigo]

I remember doing that for Super Metroid, seems like it took ages to get the game so I could tear it open and read the manual. When was the last time you read a manual for a game?!

I used to read the manuals cover to cover. I remember the Legend of Zelda manual warned me that if I played the dungeons out of order, something terrible might be at the end of the dungeon. I the second time I played through the game, I tried to beat the levels as out of order as possible to try to find the monster assumed would destroy me for not heeding the warning. Needless to say I never found anything. It took me years to realize that it was just an idle threat to get people to play the levels in sequence.

I'm proud that even as a kid I only cared about gaming magazines for editorials and reviews. I had no interest in strategy guides and game genie codes.

I got a super game genie at a garage sale, and it only added to my enjoyment. I just had to follow 1 rule, only use it on games I already had beaten and was done playing. It was good for games where the part that I wanted to play was 3/4ths into the game. I would just cruise through on a code until I got to that part, then flipped the game genie off.

[Hoopz]

I remember doing that for Super Metroid, seems like it took ages to get the game so I could tear it open and read the manual. When was the last time you read a manual for a game?!

I used to read the manuals cover to cover. I remember the Legend of Zelda manual warned me that if I played the dungeons out of order, something terrible might be at the end of the dungeon. I the second time I played through the game, I tried to beat the levels as out of order as possible to try to find the monster assumed would destroy me for not heeding the warning. Needless to say I never found anything. It took me years to realize that it was just an idle threat to get people to play the levels in sequence.

I would buy my Intellivision games for $29.99 and read the entire manual in the car on the way home.  It was usually mom driving so I'm sure she was glad for a few minutes of peace while I figured out how to play the game.  Unlike crappy Atari games, the Intellivision had enough different buttons to allow for real game play so read the instructions was important. 

[Donkbaca]

yeah, the whole, "what would it look like if my tv remote and ipod had a baby" controller

[Hoopz]

Looks perfect doesn't it?   

[Donkbaca]

amazed it wasn't imitated, I mean doesn't it look like it would be comfortable to play with for hours?

[Hoopz]

amazed it wasn't imitated, I mean doesn't it look like it would be comfortable to play with for hours?

Colecovision tried but that one really didn't work as well.

And yes, I'm picking up the sarcasm but I found it was fine to play on for hours.   

[Malenko]

amazed it wasn't imitated, I mean doesn't it look like it would be comfortable to play with for hours?

Jaguar had a number pad

[Donkbaca]

I stand corrected.

Did anyone here ever own a Jaguar?

[shmokes]

My girlfriend's little brother had one. I played it once.

[Mikezilla]

I remember doing that for Super Metroid, seems like it took ages to get the game so I could tear it open and read the manual. When was the last time you read a manual for a game?!

I used to read the manuals cover to cover. I remember the Legend of Zelda manual warned me that if I played the dungeons out of order, something terrible might be at the end of the dungeon. I the second time I played through the game, I tried to beat the levels as out of order as possible to try to find the monster assumed would destroy me for not heeding the warning. Needless to say I never found anything. It took me years to realize that it was just an idle threat to get people to play the levels in sequence.

I would buy my Intellivision games for $29.99 and read the entire manual in the car on the way home.  It was usually mom driving so I'm sure she was glad for a few minutes of peace while I figured out how to play the game.  Unlike crappy Atari games, the Intellivision had enough different buttons to allow for real game play so read the instructions was important. 

I had to wait to read the manual til I got home, I cant read in the car, I get carsick almost instantly. 

[Mikezilla]

My girlfriend's little brother had one. I played it once.

The only game I ever wanted to play for Jaguar was Alien Vs Predator. I read a Gamepro review( ) and they said it was awesome. For the time of course, now it is garbage, but man, nobody I knew had one. That or a 3DO. Never played that either.

[Malenko]

Ive had 2 or 3 different 3DOs now. Road Rash was epic on it. The Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo port was pretty swell too.

[spoot]

I stand corrected.

Did anyone here ever own a Jaguar?

Mine is sitting in my garage collecting much warrented dust.  yetch.   

[Malenko]

Mine is sitting in my garage collecting much warrented dust.  yetch.   

so youre saying I can have it for the cost of shipping to 19702? I'll take it, PM me a paypal address

[Donkbaca]

Wasn't primal rage the marquee launch title on it?

[Donkbaca]

Aren't the sticks on that analog for some reason in the arcade version?  Man that game was horrible...

[dre-w]

Dang, so Gamepros really gone..  sad.  I think I only bought one issue b/c they were doing an interview with one of my favorite video game bands.  I was always more of a Tips n Tricks kid, not so much for the cheats, but just the random and unique stuff they covered.  They had an arcade section, v.g. tokens of the month, japan report, v.g. comics, game tournaments.. but still, rip GP.  I loved to just loiter at the bookstore and look through their mags.

Now the only mags I have left is Retro Gamer and Nintendo Power..  and I'm gettin kinda worried about RG because I haven't seen a new issue at the stand for a couple weeks now...

[natsuto]

I'm not interested in the strategic guidance and cheat codes. These things ruin the game. The whole point of buying the game in the first place, there is fun to figure out how to solve it.

[adidas1984x]

I still have all my 90's gampro magazines esp the ones with mortal kombat and killer instinct on the cover. Does anyone remember the magazine ultra gameplayers and gamefan mags I still have a few of those magazines.

[dre-w]

yeh I just picked up a September '93 issue at the swapmeet las weekend for a buck.  Sweet poster inside and also coverage/pics of a couple consoles that never came out.  Still has a Kay Bee Toy Store coupon in it, $10 off on Mortal Kombat!

I used to have a whole drawer full of vg magazines but then in high school I threw away all the older issues, like an idiot.  Now I'm trying to buy them all again