RIP CGW/GFW

This is apparently old news (it was announced back in April 2008), but somehow I missed it.  The reason I found out about it is that a suddenly received 2 issues of PC Gamer in the mail the other day.  One issue came with a letter explaining what I guessed: Games for Windows magazine was no longer publishing and my subscription had been switched to PC Gamer.

This was not unexpected as GFW (the rebranded Computer Gaming World magazine) had been going downhill for a while.  I started reading CGW back in the early 90’s, subscribing since the mid-90’s.  Back then, an issue could be 200, 300, or once even 400 pages thick with reviews, hints, and game coverage.  Obviously, Internet coverage has been eating into print magazine coverage for the last several years, but I still really liked the magazine because it was made up of mature, older, hard-core gamers.

I tried PC Gamer several years ago, but I did not like what I saw as the opposite of CGW: young, immature writers who did not present what I was looking for in a game magazine, namely good coverage of games with good writing, not immature dribble.  Fortunately, this trend seems to have changed at PC Gamer.  I have been reading the September and October issues and find them well-written and to the point.  The staff seems to be a respectable lot, consisting of Kristen Salvatore as EIC (a former editor at CGW) and Logan Decker as Senior Editor (a former editor at Maximum PC, another favorite magazine of mine) as well some other writers who I have enjoyed reading so far.  I am very pleased with this situation and plan on continuing my subscription.

In summary, I’m sorry to see CGW/GFW go (you can still find the editors at 1up.com), but I am excited to continue reading a good gaming magazine (especially since I think PC Gamer is the last U.S. print PC gaming magazine in publication at this time).

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