PC Gamers Downfall - November 10, 2006 -

Ashwin | Gaming, Perspective

I’ve been playing PC games since my teenage years starting in the early 90s. Back in the day, the variety of games that were available catered to every players genre. With each year, there was a general progression towards specific genres that were really popular.

Today, the FPS and RPG genres have taken the forefront in PC gaming while RTS, adventure and simulation are largely ignored. I’ve tried my hand at essentially all of these genres and had found simulation and adventure games to be the most engaging.

But, I found that to continue gaming, I had to learn to like FPS and RPG games as well. Now there are indeed a handful of games within these two classifications that I’ve liked. I’m currently playing Guild Wars and have enjoyed it. I find that any game that requires me to worry about the minutia of character management or game play is just a turn off.

Now, to the point of my post. I recently received the latest PC Gamer magazine at my house. I’ve been a subscriber for a long period of time and have enjoyed being kept abreast of all the new and upcoming gaming news. The latest installment of the magazine is downright disgraceful. The editorial content has nothing to do with games or the gaming industry. The reviews squarely focus on a couple of FPS and RPG games. Everything else is relegated to the Gamut section.

The worst part of all is that about 10 pages of the magazine are devoted to wireless (cell phone) gaming. If I wanted to read about gaming on my cell phone, I would find a magazine that catered to that. This magazine has just descended in it’s quality of content and it’s focus.

I think I’ll stick to my EGM!

Cheers