Currently the best selling (and in my opinion, the best) PC games magazine in the United Kingdom. Comes out about 13 times a year, either with 2 CDs (£4.99) or a DVD (£5.99). Published by Future Publishing, who publish literally hundreds of mags in the UK. The magazine is currently on issue 115 (116's out on Friday!) and still going strong. It posts it's ABC circulation figures each issue just to prove how much it sells. The magazine deals with the latest games releases (both original and budget), a little on the hardware side of things, and has a large section for online gaming. The magazine has a lively forum at http://futureforums.co.uk/pcgamer and a not so lively website at www.pcgamer.co.uk. Parts of the magazine (with this month's offering included, to give an idea of content) are as follows:
- Planet gamer: The editorial page, which usually features the editor Matt Pierce's head photoshopped onto some poor unsuspecting game character. This month: some person out of UT2003.
- Scoop!: Large news stories on the latest games. This month: Broken Sword 3, Enclave, and Warrior Kings Battles.
- Eyewitness: The main news section, dealing with the latest announced PC games/expositions, such as E3, and some of the usual lame competitions. This is usually where the Stop Press stuff goes. This month: story on the Games Developers Conference Europe.
- Features: a few in depthe articles about the up and coming games. This month: Delta Force Black Hawk Down, The Great Escape.
- Latest on: some smaller previews. This month: Rollercoaster Tycoon 2, Simcity 4.
- Non game specific feature: something to do with gaming in general. This month: Wanted: Cheating the System, an article about wall hacks, aimbots, no cd cracks etc. At the top of the page it says Warez Wally. Heh.
- Reviews: Every big game, usually before it hits the shelf. In the case of GTA3 however, Rockstar refused to give review code to magazines which weren't having the game on the cover. PCG wanted Doom 3 on the cover. Therefore, the review came about a month after the game hit the shelf.
- They're Back!: Consistently the funniest two pages of the magazine, always written by the long suffering John Walker, who constantly moans about the fact that just because he is a freelance writer, PCG only give him French adventure games and budget games to review. He remedies this situation by not so much reviewing games as rambling mindlessly. He recently reviewed Tribes 2 on budget by comparing the division of the nation between Broadband users and 56K modem users to the division of the nation between people who fold their toilet paper and people who scrunch their toilet paper. At the end he mentioned something vaguely related to the game, slapped a score on it and moved on to the next piece of entertaining/disturbing wordplay. John has become enough of a legend to get himself an appreciation society on the PC Gamer Forum.
- Net Gamer: The online gaming section. Deals with MMORPGs, mods, and usually has an interview with a clan or two.
- The Server: Contains:
- Cables: Letters page. Free geForce 4 for the star letter.
- Best of the Forum: Funny or otherwise quotes from the forum.
- Uncensored: A reader's review page, where people attempt to correct where the mag has gone wrong.
- Q&A: A tips page where readers can write in to help others.
- Gamer snap, which usually involves Kieron Gillen's head photoshopped onto game characters. Usually dead ones.
- Hardware: Q&A for people with Hardware problems, information on latest hardware releases/research. Reviews of peripherals.
- CD Gamer: lists the contents of the demo discs on the front. Generally includes latest demos, patches, level editors, mods, etc.
PC Gamer is currently staffed by:
If all that sounds painfully ordinary to you, well, I suggest you find yourself a copy and read it. You might be surprised at how information and humour have been mixed so well, to create something which is well worth a fiver. Oh, and for any established readers who have the DOOM 3 issue: that idiot who got a crappy poem printed about CobbWeb? That was me. Heh.
RPGeek says "You should perhaps emphasise that this is not the same 'PC Gamer' as is published in North America, which has gone horribly downhill recently."
Sources: PC Gamer issues 92 -115. |
