Game Informer Magazine

My History with Game Informer:
I work for a tech publishing company, my gaming/computing magazine subscriptions are tax-deductible, so I subscribe to almost all of them. Out of the 6 multi-platform gaming magazines which I subscribe to: Game Informer, Gamer's Republic, EGM, NextGen, GamePro and Gamefan; Game Informer is my least favorite. Why? Read on to find out...

Design/Layout:
This is what happens when you take a small budget, a 2nd rate staff, and then ask them to publish a gaming magazine. The most enjoyable part of this magazine are the ads. I'm a web/graphic designer myself, so aesthetics are important to me. Game Informer's aesthetic appeal is about on the same level as that of my 8th grade yearbook; and let me tell you, it wasn't a pretty sight. Where do I begin? The magazine is printed on very cheap, flimsy, stock paper. You know, the kind they use to print your sister's Victoria's Secrets catalogs with. The kind of paper that creases when you blow on it, and rips when you sit on it. Now this has a double affect on the look of the magazine. First of all, it makes it look and feel cheap. Even worse, the cheap paper muddies up the colors. Screenshots that look razor sharp and bursting with color in NextGen or Gamer's Republic look pixelated and washed out in Game Informer. Dude, bummer...

To make matters worse, the actual illustrations, cover art and layout in the magazine is an eyesore. "Hey, Game Informer! Hiring an art director might help!" At this point, I think they would settle for someone that ISN'T color blind. The head artist at GI seems to think that brown and orange on a dark purple background is an appealing combination, because the October 2000 issue is chock full of it.

However, probably the best example of bad design in GI is in their infatuation with plastering mugshots of their rather unattractive staff members on the bodies of video game characters. "Uh... guys, it wasn't funny the first time, so why do you have to do this in EVERY SINGLE ISSUE?"

Features:
Some of Game Informer's past features include such masterpieces as "Who would win in a fight: Pikachu or Kirby?" and the brilliant "Video Game Mascot Popularity Bar Charts," which consisted of a 3rd grade quality drawing of mascots like Sonic and Mario standing next to a graph that was probably made with magic marker by some staffer trying to beat the deadline.

Reviews:
It's hard to say that a magazine can have reviews that are "wrong." After all, a review is totally qualitative. However, time and time again, I find myself in total disagreement with many of GI's game ratings and explanations.

Value:
$19.99 is the price for a one-year subscription. For that price you can get NextGen or Gamefan AND have $7.99 leftover. Both are far superior. In fact, Game Informer is not even in the same class as any of the other gaming magazines out there. Also this magazine is lucky to ever hit the 100 page barrier. In contrast, EGM and GamePro usually top 150.

Summary:
I'm not sure if it's that GI is geared towards the under-14 crowd, or if it's because the editors never got past 9th grade, but this thing is dumbed down like one of your 5th grade Spanish textbooks. This one is bottom of the barrel, folks! And whatever you do, don't let Funcoland finagle you into buying a subscription! Those guys push this garbage like their jobs depend on it. Oh wait a minute... that's because they do! You see, Funco Inc., owns and runs both Funcoland and Game Informer.