GFW Magazine Goes Online Only

Games For Windows Magazine (previously known as Computer Gaming World) has come to an end in print form. GFW will continue in an online format only. The GFW podcasts (I really enjoy them) will continue as usual.

It's too bad I think. I looked forward to getting the magazine as it was a nice break from the computer for a few hours. Which is ironic since one statement on the 1UP site says that GFW wanted to get closer to where the gamers spend most of their time which is at the computer.

I'd give a direct link for more info but my work's Websense prevents me from doing so (damn filters!). You can check out www.1up.com. There's no word on the parent company's site, www.ziffdavis.com, yet.

 

I guess that ends my free subscription? Ah, PCGamer was better anyways.

 

I really like the Podcasts also, but I almost want to say that this is inevitable any information that you can read in a magazine can be found online, and if a magazine has an exclusive there is always a leak or a scan on the internet within minutes.

Podcasts and Video Podcast are the new books well there are eBooks but those havent taken off they may since Amazon released there new eBook reader with alot of Buzz.

 

Punk.

The GFW and PCGamer Podcasts are really fun (though GFW is probably funnier).

ZiffDavis Media recently filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy (I think), so something had to go in the restructuring.

This really is a shame, though now we get magazines in a more timely manner and I can save some shelf space.

I'll always be a CGW/GFW and PCGamer fan, it makes me sad to see either group go down (Considering they were the only two popular PCGaming magazines, so now PCG is all alone).

SEMI-DESPAIR!

 

I am greatly disturbed by the fact that this has only three (four) posts and is on the second page. GFW was the most ground-breaking gaming magazine around, its loss will reverberate throughout the entire industry.

I don't know about you guys, but I like my editorial written by EDITORS and not ROBOTS like on the rest of the advertiser controlled internet.

And to close, my feelings:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

I loved CGW, and didn't like the fact that they went to "GFW". But I still enjoyed the magazine. I like magazines because I have very restricted internet access at work and at home with the baby can't really sit at the PC all the time. It's good to have a mag handy to browse in the few free minutes I get here and there.

I never got a notification from GFW though, unless this was just announced?

 

The blurb on the 1up page advised subscribers to watch for an important email soon about procedures to handle their existing accounts.

 

Hrm, I wasn't a huge fan of their mags, but I hardly ever read printed magazines. Unless I get them free.

Still, my favorite PC gaming mag was canceled around '99. Forgot what it was called, but it was so damn funny. They always made fun of people writing in...

But still kinda sad that GFW is having to move to online only. Guess that shows how bad magazine publications are doing (especially gaming ones).

 

Was it called Game Star?

 

Nope.

they ended up getting canceled because people were complaining.

It was kinda like a mix between a mens magazine and a gaming mag. They'd have random pics of models in lingerie.

PcAccelerator maybe?

 

Yup, I remember that one. PCXL, as it was commonly known, was hilarious but very crass (crude).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_Accelerator

 

Oh, you mean CGW?

 

Yup... that was it. Such a funny magazine.

And you're right, the humor was very crude. But effective.

lol... there was much worse peppered throughout PCXL. To the point if it was out now, you'd have to be 18 to buy it like you do Maxim.

 

I was a big fan of CGW back when they were called CGW, they had a good staff and Jeff Green was funny. After it was renamed to GFW, it kinda tanked. I remember they had a big section each month on hardware, mostly top of the line. After the name change, that section shrank to like a few paragraphs. Such an ashame. It just wasn't the same anymore after the name change. Some really good people left.

 

If you had read the last three issues of GFW, you would have entirely different perspective. They were really taking game journalism in an entirely new direction. They were writing what we wanted to read and not what the advertisers told them. And it was also so much more than just about games...


Yeah, they were sort of crud around the name change, but they had JUST gotten their momentum and pride back (seriously, it was getting great) and BAMN! MAGAZINE CLOSED!

 

Maybe thats why my next issue of EGM never came.

 

The entire bankruptcy issue was overblown and misunderstood by everyone but the higher-ups at Ziff and their creditors.

Ziff-Davis really isn't in much financial trouble, they processed into chapter 11 in order to turn their creditors into stock holders so they could just stop paying back money and focus on making it. It was a thought-out business decision, not one of desperation.

No, I honestly feel that GFW was canceled for two reasons:
1. It makes more sence to have journalists writing about PC Gaming pushing their content out on the PC platform (internet).
2. There just weren't all that many subscribers anymore, at least not compared to PC Gamer, which has had more subscribers for awhile.

If you read the press releases, Ziff really makes a bigger deal about the first point, they just think it makes better sence, and while I prefer having a hardcopy I can read around the house, it is hard to argue with their logic.