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PRINT IS DEAD. ORLY?

Print is dead. You hear it all over the place in regards to gaming magazines. EGM is no longer (thought it was wasting away and THANKS FOR MY REFUND ZIFF DAVIS YOU PARASITIC SCUM!) and it seems the biggest selling platform agnostic title is sponsored by Gamestop. So print is dead. Well EDGE is alive and kicking and apart from the fact the online entity just experienced a mass-exodus, it seems as though the rather expensive print version is going from strength to strength.

My wife buys lots of magazine each month. Her zine collection rivals my DVD collection and we both have had to make hard choices as to what we display and what we “consolidate” in order to make room for new zines and DVD’s. But Oprah magazine (which is filled with Wii ads each month) is going from strength to strength. Why do I mention that? Well Oprah is published by Hearst (owners of UGO and now 1up.com) and when they stopped Oprah at Home they gave my wife credit for the Oprah Magazine (WHY THE FUCK COULDN’T YOU AT LEAST DO THAT YOU FUCKS, ZIFF DAVIS. NOT OPRAH BBUT SOMETHING, ANYTHING, YOU LEECHING FUCKS!)
Anyhoo, Famitsu in Japan is still going well as are the slew of platform specific “Official” magazines. Even though the exclusive demoes are now available on PSN and XB Marketplace, these platform evangelist mags still do ok. Is it because everyone in America has a computer at home and the “kids” use the net to get this stuff of Kotaku and blogs (like this one)? Or is it something else?
Print still has its place. Yes, and for magazines like you and I read, its the toilet. The toilet is the best place to catch up with 2-month old news, previews of cinema releases just about to be released on DVD (yet I still buy Empire) and advertorials about how to look slick whilst holding a DSi. So you can download mags digitally from some websites, but I ain’t taking the laptop in the toilet. That’s just gross. You might as well lick the floor of a men’s room. Ewww.
Another use for Print is a place trip. Yes, because all though we have iPhones, PSP’s and laptops when we travel, we can’t use them for between 30-60 around take off and 30 minutes during the descent. So a mag is perfect here. And conveniently, places provide a place to dispose of your casually flicked through copy of PC Gamer once your done with it.
That’s really the thing though. With so many ways to distract us in the modern world, there are limited opportunities for picking up a zine and staring at the screenshots. Waiting rooms in surgeries and dentists rarely have anything to read for switched on types. A really old copy of Wired if you’re really lucky (or really unlucky, perhaps) is about the best you’ll hope for along with lots of celebrity mags and maybe a really old Time.
Will we shed a tear for the loss of gaming mags? Well if you haven’t already maybe you should think of drowning puppies to get the waterworks going because gaming zines have gone the way of the 3DO-3DO. The future is electronic, baby, and the magazines that are suffering most are those that, surprise surprise, cover Electronic hobbies such as gaming.
The people who buy the Wii and a copy of EA Sports Active, will read a magazine. They won’t however buy Nintendo Power, it’ll be Conde Naste Traveller.