GAME INFORMER

'''Game Informer''' (often abbreviated to '''GI''') is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. Formed in August 1991,"10 Years of ''Game Informer''" (August 2001). ''Game Informer'', p. 42. "In August of 1991, Funcoland began publishing a six-page circular to be handed out free in all of its retail locations." the magazine has nearly 3 million subscribers according to Andrew Reiner, making it the highest circulation video game magazine, Game Informer Announces Rate Base Increase and as of the first quarter of 2007, It is listed as the 23rd largest overall magazine, Game Informer is now ranked among the top four magazines for reaching males 18 to 34. Game Informer is one of the top 25 magazines by subscriptions
It is owned and published by GameStop Corp., the parent company of the video game retailer of the same name. Due to this, a large amount of promotion is done in-store, which has contributed heavily to its large subscription base.^[1]
As of July 2007, 171 issues of ''Game Informer'' have been published.

Contents

GI Staff

Reviews

Criticism

Website

References

External link

GI Staff

There have been many different members on the GI team through the years. Handles are in parenthesis, current GI staff members are listed at the top, and members no longer active are below.

'Andy McNamara' (The Game Hombre): 1991-present

'Andrew Reiner' (The Raging Gamer): 1994-present

'Matt Helgeson' (The Original Gamer): 1999-present

'Matthew Kato' (The Gaming Katana): 2001-present

'Adam Biessener' (The Alpha Gamer): 2003-present

'Joe Juba' (The Real American Gamer): 2003-present

'Matt Miller' (The Once And Future Gamer): 2004-present

'Matt Bertz' (Lord Gamington III): 2006-present

'Bryan Vore' (The Gamer's Advocate): 2007-present

'Ben Reeves' (Your Friendly Neighborhood Gamer): 2006-present

'Paul Anderson' (The Pro Player, Game Professor): 1992-2001

'Elizabeth Olson:' 1991-1994

'Rick Petzoldt' (The Video Ranger): 1991-1995

'Marianne Morgan' (The Game Master): 1991

'Ed Martinez' (The Video Wizard): 1991

'Erik Reppen' (The PC Jedi): 1996-1997, 1999-2001

'Ross VanDerSchaegen' (The Rebel Gamer): 1991-1995

'David "Vinnie" Vinyon' (The Video Vigilante): 1994-1996

'Ryan McDonald' (The Arcade Alchemist): 1995-1997

'Jon Storm' (The Greedy Gamer): 1996-1999

'Robert Stoute' (The Game Cassanova): 1997-1999

'Paul Bergren' (The Game Burrito): 1997-1999

'Lisa Mason' (La Game Nikita): 2002-2006

'Beaux Hawkins' (The Arcade Assassin): 1998-1999

'The Vidiot' (Minister of Destruction): 2000-2001

'Jay Fitzloff' (The Gonzo Gamer): 1999-2002

'Justin Leeper' (The Digital Deviant): 2001-2004

'Chet Barber' (The Joystick Jockey): 2002-2003

'Jeremy Zoss' (Gamezilla): 2003-2006

'Kristian Brogger' (The Game Dawg, The Video Viking): ???-2004

Reviews

''Game Informer'' reviews games on the Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, PC, Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, and PlayStation Portable consoles. Older games are given brief reviews in the magazine's Classic GI section (compared with the game's original review score, if one exists). The magazine's staff rate games on a scale of 1 to 10 with quarter point intervals. A score of 1 is considered worse then terrible; 10 is a rare, "outstanding", nearly perfect game; and 7 is average.
Some games have dipped even lower, however, receiving sub-1 scores: '' received a 0.75, Batman: Dark Tomorrow review on GameInformer.com '' for Game Boy Color got a 0.5, Shrek Fairy Tale Freakdown review on GameInformer.com and the Xbox launch title ''Kabuki Warriors'' scored a 0.5. Kabuki Warriors review on GameInformer.com In the latter review, editor-in-chief Andy McNamara said, "I literally won a match just bashing the controller against my ass." This was confirmed by his fellow editors. One game reviewed for Classic GI -- ''Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch: Make My Video for Sega CD'' -- was given a 0.

Criticism

Game Informer rated '' for the GameCube a 6.75/10 in its November 2004^[2] issue stating that despite being entertaining "the art and combat are killed in their tracks by the game's downright shameful dialogue."^[3] This sparked a controversy concerning the grading system. A member of the ''Game Informer'' staff named Jeremy Zoss defended the score on the magazine's forum, stating that while they found it well-made, they had to take into account how well a game will appeal to the masses in their score. This message generated even more controversy, causing Jeremy to post a rebuttal to complaints.

Website

GI Online was originally launched in August 1996, and featured daily news updates as well as humorous articles. The magazine editors updated it as a labor of love, with what little spare time they had. 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."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]." 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, former creator of PlanetGameCube.com.
The GI Online message boards, a staple of the website since the redesign in 2003, has enjoyed moderate success, averaging roughly 100 users online at any given time. Many editors of the magazine have been known to interact with the community at times as well. The boards feature separate sections for each major console company (Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft), PC gaming, a General Gaming and Classic Gaming sections as well as Reader Reviews, Ask GI (where one can communicate directly with the magazine's staff), an off-topic section which includes the "Social Thread", in which forum members talk about inane things or whatever is on their minds, "Game Informer Online Suggestion Box", where readers can suggest additions or subtractions from the site, and a recently added Technology where users can talk about what they play their games on (TVs, surround sound, and so on).

References

1. A Magazine Whose Lineup Is Always in Play Vargas, Jose Antonio
2. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
3. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door

External link

★ GameInformer.com