What started as simply thinking about a score from one site turned into thoughts about various, and then comparing their the scale they base ratings on, the spectrum of ratings they're known for and what that means, and so forth. Which then led to thinking about various magazines over the years. Almost wrote the topic in my head by this point and I was no longer tired, so I got out of bed to jot down my own thoughts.

This isn't too serious of a topic, I didn't do a rough draft, I doubt I'll give it a solid proof read. Just my own random thoughts and some curiousity on what everyone else thinks of various sources over the years.

WEB SITES

-IGN

Obviously as a subscriber, one of my prefered sources. What I like are the reviews. Generally they're longer that the other two big sites. Which in some ways, makes me skim through them more on games I don't care as much about. But for those that matter most to me, I enjoy the reviews. I like their closing comments more than others as well, which is good for the games I less about, I can just skip to that last page.

Their reviews always feel like they're on a scale of 5-10 though. Which isn't bad per se. In some regards, it may be a testament to the games. If 5 is litterally average, it means there are so few really bad games out? I like their 6-9/10 spectrum of scores a lot. Because there is a potential of 100 points (since its 0.1-10.0 technically though, it puts so much emphasis on the score itself and is more prone to controversy, ranking, etc.

-GameSpy

In regards to the score, they're the opposite. Instead of a potential 100 points, there's 10. Simply 1-5 with potential half stars. With a great game, those no need to bicker or worry or ignore such about how one got 9.6 and the other got 9.7. It's just a simply 5/5 score. Everyone accepts both are "Great", and more emphasis is put on the review itself. The more detailed the scoring system, the more people will concentrate on it, IMO.

Onto the review itself, they're like IGN, my other trusted online source. They're the only 2 I check regularly. They have my favorite lay-out, I love how the news items are presented on the front page and their color scheme. I also respect their opinions a lot as they're a very PC heavy site

-GameSpot

I mainly just check these guys for notable games, to see how they rank top games from 9-10. Almost any good or average game, I don't care of their opinion too much. It's usually another 7 or 8. I've never cared for their reviews much either, some of their guys have got a lot of attention and mention, and I've never understood why.

I do have a bit of a sweet tooth for them though as back in the the very start of 2000 they had an awesome first preview of Warcraft III. I remember it so vividly, it told a store about a orc camp, all the details, how they took the small squad up into a small snowy mountain peak to relay with a troll headhunter, who was scouting on a human camp. Back then the game was still a Role Playing Strategy, with a more personal camera system. Trolls had a heat-seeing tracking system too. It was an utter dream for me, as a fantasy and battle fan. I'd kill to get my hands on that build with that demo campaign.

MAGAZINES (based on from around 1990~ to 1998)

-GamePro

These guys are old school to me, even when I hear about them today. I got some darn old magazines, though I don't think I have any from the NES days (though I do have some others with names I can't even remember, just recall a GIJoe cover since I bought it because of that). I never took their scores super seriously but I did enjoy them casual. The magazine as a whole always had a classic sense about it, like just laying back at the arcades. I loved those Blockbuster tournaments they always talked about back then.

When I did like was their scoring system. Just a completely basic 1-5 that was fun. I liked how fun factor had its own category. Over the years I lost interest in them as they became more mainstream. They became weak as a RPG source too, after they cut off the RPG Corner.

Game Players/Ultra Game Players

These guys are like Game Pro to me too, but I respected them more. What I love the most is the names I've known for so long. Both Chris Slate and Bill Donahue worked on the magazine for ages, before they moved to PSM (Bill did a stint with PC Gamer IIRC). These guys I loved for actual game info. I don't remember ever caring about their reviews or previews, but for pure strategies, guides, fan mail, etc. They were great. All I played back then was console RPGs, literally exclusively. And I looked forward to each new magazine for new tips and secrets for the latest games. GamePlayers is where I found out about the Pink Tail for FF2!

EGM

I loved these guys from about issue #50 to... somewhere in the #100s I think. They used to have such massive magazines. I have one with the SNES FF3 preview and it had over 400 pages. Tons of adds but geez, EGM magazines lasted a loooong time. I loved it, I really was a big fan. I liked how they reviewed too. Basically they gave each game a tower with 3 or so games per page. Each tower had 4 floors, each with one editors thoughts and score overlayed. It worked very well IMO, well laid out and even though the reviews weren't massive per person, when read together they always covered the games well. Sushi-X rocked, and I loved all their envenlope art.

Somewhere in the mid-late 90s, around the time of the PS1, I lost interest in EGM and fell in love with my old time favorite.

Game Fan

The undisputed king IMO. So many reasons why. Before you even read the magazine, you see and feel it. They printed on such high quality paper, I loved it. Solid, awesome color, great sheen. Next, I love their personas. They had a ton, there must of been 10-15 different guys, from a samurai, a Ken lookalike, an african GIJoe, this crazy doctor, and of course the insane Postmeister. GamePro had personos too, but theirs were goofy, GameFan had cool ones. They did comics for a while, and they were great. Next, the have my most beloved rumor section. EGM had a great one but something about GF's I liked more.

Beyond that, they had a review layout similar to EGM, which I loved. Packed into just a few pages, they gave each game a column, and split that column up into 3 or 4 squares for each reviewer, who gave the game 1 score, out of 100. I liked their reviews mainly because of the personas.

What I loved the most were their previews. Their FF7 previews will always hold a special place in my gaming history. They were awesome, they had such high quality shots all all the pre-launch CG. I remember one specific preview that started with a 2 page shot of that classic 'Aeris by the airship' CG that was just a render (never used in-game). They really had wicked previews, loaded with facts and high quality shots.

The other reason they'll always have such a strong place in my memory is their import previews. I don't think I ever anticipated a magazine or a specific section as much as those. The three page preview of Seiken Densetsu 3 (Secret of Mana 2), Tactics Ogre, Front Mission, or of Chrono Trigger. It's because of GameFan I put so much work into tracking down those first 3 games. I remember drooling over those high quality previews for weeks. Great memories.

Lastly, they always had a big (2-4 page) section at the back for the gaming speciality shop GameCave. After drooling over import reviews, I'd just sit in awe at all the cool Japanese RPG covers, action figures, sound tracks, etc that were spread out of those pages.

Nintendo Power

I subscribed these guys for something pretty cheap, because they were giving away a free Chrono Trigger guide too. I loved them at first, thanks to an issue with a FF3 piece. And for atleast a year, maybe two, I did like these guys a lot. Only because of their RPG section though. I never paid much attention to the rest of the magazine. After the PS1 and N64 genre came, Nintendo Power became useless. They eventually scrapped their RPG section (lol) since they just never had any. It was nothing but a fanboy magazine, I continued to recieve the issues for atleast a year longer. Sometimes I never even read the mag for days after I got it. Just a bunch of blind reviews and bitter comments about the PS1 (though never directly).

PSM

I loved these guys, and subscribed to them as well. They were a big reason I got into Suikoden, I was impressed by the Suikoden 2 review. After that, I thought certian features sounded familiar, and dug up an old GameFan that had the Suikoden 1 review. I had though the game sounded pretty neat but I never did get it, and I had totally forgot the name. There were a lot of new titles back then that I remember previews of but can't put names to... various on the Saturn, various on the PS1, some imports. It was really such a wicked time to love RPGs.

Anyhow, I got myself Suikoden 2 because of those two pieces. The game actually arrived when I was working on the final dungeon of FF8. I beat it and got started on Suiko2. Damn that was a big change, going from FF8 graphics to Suiko2. Before long though, none of that mattered, as Suiko2 became and still remains easily in my Top 3 games ever. Even today I love to play it so much. The setting, the armies, the pacing, the characters, all so superb and appealed to my own personal preferences (which so few current gen RPGs do sadly).

PSM anyhow was my big magazine after GameFan, and my last real magazine too. They were great for PS1, got into a lot of games because of them (Suiko2, Tenchu, MGS, Parrapa the Rappa). Then the PS2 hype machine hit. I loved it so much back then. But as the year and next passed, we realized so much of it never came to pass. So much talk of online potential. Virtual online markets for car games (buying and selling parts), major competitive fighting tournaments, buying RPG stuff with real life money. I remember one article that was real neat back then, but in hindsight it's a little silly to look back on since almost none of it came to pass.

Still though, I enjoyed the magazine. Beyond their reviews, I loved the visual aspect of the magazine. The original drawn/painted/etc covers were awesome. I definitely enjoyed them. By the time my last subscription ended though, I had discovered IGN. I remember the turning point, I was on a network with a T1 (had 56k at home then) and I was watching videos of ATV Fury, my first true love of this current-gen. I was in awe of the massive enviroments (and would be even more so when I first played it).

I wouldn't actually subscribe until 2001 when I got my first broadband, but 00/01 is definitely when I slowly stopped by any gaming magazine and moved online. I stopped buying a plethora of magazines around... 1997, maybe very late 1996. 1990-1995, I bought a GamePro, EGM, and GamePlayers every month from my corner store. Then moved onto GameFan, then PSM, and then IGN/GameSpy/GameSpot.


Final Thoughts

One thing I kind of just realized with all this considered is my interest in previews. In the 90s, before online gaming sites were popular, or there simply was no streamlined news source - we'd get our 1 update once a month. It was some basic back then. But I looked forward to previews and news so much. Now, since we get info at such a fast and constant pace, I really pay far less attention to previews. I just don't care as much.

Kind of applies to gaming as a whole. The experience back then was so different. Anticipate a game for a long time by yourself, with monthly updates, beat it, and then try master it. Nowadays it's almost common for people to play with a GameFAQs print out in hand. There's so much more global hype too, obviously, because of forums. It used to be just myself and the reviews, with an opinion about a game. Now there's those 2 and thousand of other people thanks to polls, etc.

Today, people care more about what other people think. It seems some people spend as much time hyping a game, caring whether or not other people like it, arguing over GOTY, why a different game got 0.1 higher, how long their hype thread is staying on Page 1, etc. "Game Hype and Popularity" almost totally overshadows the games itself.

None of that existed back then. It was just you and the game. That's all that mattered, as that was all that there was.

None of this is a complaint, as I'm obviously not forced to frequent forums. The pros greatly outweight the cons.

But there's definitely a classicness and innocence... simpleness even, that I miss from gaming in the 90s.