The lights are on
Every month I will put up my Letter from the Editor for people to comment on, and so I can address any questions you might have. So, here it is:
Welcome to the new Game Informer
This may sound crazy, but what you hold in your hands is the product of years’ worth of work and research. The journey has not been an easy one, as change never comes easy. You have to examine what you do and how you think for every major and minor decision.
Earlier this year I thought we had found our new direction. I asked you for feedback, and the responses we received in return showed me that we were on the right track. All it took was making it all happen. The magazine couldn’t just be a magazine – that much was clear. It needed to embrace what magazines do best: thoughtful analysis and reporting on the issues and trends that shape the video game industry. But the discussions in the pages you read don’t end here. We needed to add another dimension, which we found with our revamped gameinformer.com.
This isn’t just a magazine redesign and website re-launch. One is not complete without the other. We strove to create a community where people who love games could meet, comment on the magazine, opine on the news and views of the day, interact with the editors, and even become editors themselves.Simply put, we evolved.
The magazine is designed to be clean and easy to read, while still delivering the content you have grown to love: world exclusive cover stories revealing industry-defining games; concise reviews and previews that show where gaming is now and will be in the future; unique features and news that capture our ever-changing industry; and finally, views, humor, and commentary from our experienced staff of writers and critics.
That is, however, just the opening act. Almost every story in the magazine has an added dimension to be found online, but that’s not the only reason to head to gameinformer.com. Online isn’t just a destination to read the latest news, reviews, previews, and features, but a place we hope you call home. Our new web community gives gamers a chance to join us in exploring the culture and games that define our lives.
As you read this new issue, remember – this is just the beginning. We will continue to evolve. But I ask that you come along and help us create a gamer community the likes of which this world has never seen.Enjoy the magazine and I’ll see you on the site. Cheers.
Email the author Andy McNamara, or follow on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, and Game Informer.
awesome.
I've been a subscriber 4 about 2 or 3 years now n I just have 2 say dat this mag is awesome in every way so keep up the good work GI n keep us informed.
so where is this subscriber bonuses like the video downloads?
the mag is hot!
Cool. Though, I do wish that the first cover game was, imo, better. I just don't see the game being one that I'd play, because I hate Mickey Mouse.
Shiny.
The typography is sexy as Hell! I have been with you guys since you guys were stapled together and this is the best the mag has ever looked. Soooo much content too! However, where did the back of the magazine quiz go? Is it completely gone or was it moved?
The relaunch has kind of been bittersweet for me, but for selfish reasons. While GI has always had tons of subscribers, a very small subset of them were active in the GI.com community, creating a sort of small communal vibe. I always found the forums to be among the most thoughtful and reasoned in the realm of gaming, and a welcome refuge from the mindless idiocy of places like the IGN and GameFAQs boards. While I wasn't as active over the past several months as I would have liked to have been, I always felt I could jump on the old site and feel right back at home.
Now the new site means massive growth, and there have been tons of new users signed up in the short time since the launch. On the one hand, this is great for all of you folks at GI who are now seeing your hard work pay off with a much larger community, but for some of us old-timers it's a bit tougher. While I won't generalize and say all new users are inherently awful, the simple fact is that with massive expansion comes an influx of less than reasoned commentary, which sometimes hurts the debate.
So ultimately I'm torn; on the one hand I've met several members of the GI crew in person and you're all terrific people. I'm always happy to see Nick, Reiner or any other GI staffer (even Joe) at an event, and I wish for nothing but success for each of you for the rest of your days. On the other hand, our little Internet safe-haven isn't a secret anymore, and keeping the community participating in a useful way will be harder than ever. So cheers to your success, now let's roll up our sleeves and make sure we keep this new home nice and tidy.
While I am new to the game informer site, I've been subscribing to you guys for a few years now. (By the way good job with that partnership with game stop, ingenious I say) I just have a couple questions; What happened to the quiz in the back with the random facts up top, and to whom do I write an official email to that could possibly make it to the magazine?
I really wish I could've renewed my subscription in time to get the Epic Mickey issue. I've been with GI since '07, and I look only at GI to influence my gaming purchases. If it weren't for GI, I would've never found Bioshock (my favorite game), so even though I can't bask in the greatness of the new design, I still have to give props to the GI crew. Kudos.
I know what you mean Brad because I think all of us members from the old GI feel kind of the same way. Not much can be done except to hope that things start getting better once the newness of everything wears off.
Andy,
I am adjusting to the new format along with everyone else and I am sure that I will enjoy the magazine as much as I always have. That being said, I do have one issue that I feel should really be re-considered. I was a fan of the "STAFF" page. I found that the interest and dislikes of yourself and the reviewers not only entertaining, but inciteful. I found that reading this section first gave me an glimpse at the personalities behind the reviews. Please re-consider bringing back the staff page in full.
I totally agree with Brian Wilson above.
The staff page gave me an insight into the tastes of the reviewers, and also, led me to check out some games and other media that I might have passed over. That to me was the biggest loss in the change over to the new format. Other little things like the loss of the random facts on the last page, and really small text for the picture descriptions kinda threw me off.
That said, the new format is absolutely brilliant. The writing in the magazine is what keeps me hooked, but the new format really pops, visually speaking.
I like what you've done so far, but I'd like to encourage you guys to please remember that sometimes the little things mean a lot. Thanks.
I know the staff page was much loved and trust me it hurt to remove it. but it was very difficult to do with 18 staff members.
My hope is that we make sure we get you that information and more here on the site about the editors. I'll try to make sure the guys do a lot of the same stuff here online.
In regards to Brad's concerns. I believe I can make a rank and an exclusive forum for the old schoolers if you want it. We already have plans for the people that reach lvl 15 to have exclusive forums just to themselves.
Or the old school crowd could make a group and do forum activity there if they want to keep it that way.
Either way, I hope we can moderate and keep these forums as good as they were of even better if possible.
Cheers,
Andy
And please....keep the feedback coming.
I really like the new look of the mag. I miss the GI Community question. Will is becoming back? I also missed the quiz and the secret access at the end. Are those gone for good?
An old school forum would be cool. It seems like all I do now is lock duplicate threads and try and educate new users on the way we like things to work around here. Haven't really had the time to join in any meaningful forum topics.
The new look is awesome, but I must say the old look was awesome, anyway what I'm getting at is this one is an improvement to something that was already great. Keep on going guys, you're doing a great job.
you lieks to say cheers.
As much as I'm coming to love the new site and mag, something about the forums feels a bit wrong. It's by no means barren as it was before, but now the community is unmanageably large and seems (to me) to have lost some of the intimacy that made the old forums so great.
Hopefully as things proceed we'll regain that level of connectivity that had me coming every day of every week.
"It needed to embrace what magazines do best: thoughtful analysis and reporting on the issues and trends that shape the video game industry."
It was this line that re-assured me that you guys are on the right track, and the new magazine/website redesign indicates to me that GI is willing to evolve intelligently. Other magazines have not been so lucky as to have the leverage that GI enjoys (through its Gamestop distribution), and it was a shame to see most of them go. With that said, however, it's nice to see that GI isn't resting on its laurels.
There is always a place for print, as long as it doesn't try to compete with the Internet in terms of news coverage. Focusing on insightful editorials and features is something that print still does best, because time and care (and money) go into making everything come together to form a final product.
It is my hope that Harris' re-launch of EGM will follow suit. Don't worry, I will be subscribing to both. : )
I'm still waiting for my issue!! But I'm excited for the relaunch.