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Our industry is poorer for the lack of Die Hard Game Fan

W

WarPig

Member
So I'm writing this thing about Tony Hawk, and I find the ancient archive of promo pages on the Neversoft webpage. Complete with quotes about their first game:

"Neversoft's groundbreaking new title of disbelief, Skeleton Warriors."
-- DIEHARD GAMEFAN, October 1995

Our business has lost something, when there's no longer a major publication that will say things like "groundbreaking new title of disbelief."

DFS.
 
S

Soul4ger

Member
Property of Microsoft said:
Was Gamefan headed by ECM? It it was that mag was awesome. A bit too much love of the schumps but it was really entertaining.
Click to expand...

ECM took over EIC position in the latter years, but Dave Halverson helmed it originally.

And by the way, warpig was being sarcastic about its quality...
 
S

Slo

Member
Yeah, there aren't enough overly enthusiastic magazines that worship fruity Japanese culture.
 
D

drohne

hyperbolically metafictive
:lol that game sucked too. i remember halverson losing his shit over the prerendered graphics and tallarico soundtrack.

well, gamefan's linguistic innovations live on. you still see game journalists say "godly" to mean "really good."
 
P

Property of Jumpship

Banned
drohne said:
:lol that game sucked too. i remember halverson losing his shit over the prerendered graphics and tallarico soundtrack.

well, gamefan's linguistic innovations live on. you still see game journalists say "godly" to mean "really good."
Click to expand...


Halverson does Play Magazine as well right? THAT magazine fucking sucks. Glossy pages do not shine up bad journalism and piss poor writing.
 
S

Slo

Member
Mr_Furious said:
Gamefan haterz BE GONE!
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong, if anybody wants to send me the issues I still haven't gotten from my subscription, I'll take em. Anybody?
 
B

BenT

Member
Property of Microsoft said:
Halverson does Play Magazine as well right? THAT magazine fucking sucks. Glossy pages do not shine up bad journalism and piss poor writing.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that was kinda the problem with GameFan, too, but most of us were too young to notice it.

I can say this: I certainly learned a lot from reading it.
 
C

Crazymoogle

Member
WarPig said:
Our business has lost something, when there's no longer a major publication that will say things like "groundbreaking new title of disbelief."
Click to expand...

Yeah. What the hell happened to take us from "groundbreaking new title of disbelief" to "frothing demand"?
 
B

belgurdo

Banned
I'm still pissed over that shit FFVIII review. futuristic buildings and a lack of bullshit fantasy-medieval crap means that the game has no "soul?" The fuck?
 
S

Soul4ger

Member
belgurdo said:
I'm still pissed over that shit FFVIII review. futuristic buildings and a lack of bullshit fantasy-medieval crap means that the game has no "soul?" The fuck?
Click to expand...

It probably had something to do with the worthless characters and assanine plot twists, too.

I like FFVIII... But I can understand why some people don't. That card game rules!
 
B

bionic77

Member
WarPig said:
So I'm writing this thing about Tony Hawk, and I find the ancient archive of promo pages on the Neversoft webpage. Complete with quotes about their first game:

"Neversoft's groundbreaking new title of disbelief, Skeleton Warriors."
-- DIEHARD GAMEFAN, October 1995

Our business has lost something, when there's no longer a major publication that will say things like "groundbreaking new title of disbelief."

DFS.
Click to expand...

Ask and you may recieve.

Dango might be interested in reviving Gamefan or something similar. I don't know the likelihood of it happening, but I know that he is interested in making it happen. Hopefully he does, gaming media blows these days.
 
A

AfroLuffy

Member
I'm still pissed over that shit FFVIII review. futuristic buildings and a lack of bullshit fantasy-medieval crap means that the game has no "soul?" The fuck?
Click to expand...

I remember they gave it scores around the 50-60 mark in viewpoint. Never quite agreed with them on that, but I really loved casey loe's ffvii review with the quote about ffvii being a milestone in human achievement, on par with the discovery of penicillin :D
 
F

Fatghost

Gas Guzzler
I loved GameFan. What it lacked in journalistic and grammatical polish, it more than made up for with the genuine love of games and enthusiasm for the industry the staff had.
 
R

Ranger X

Member
Gamefan maybe was biased, but it has a soul. It was written with the heart.
They definetely had a style there and great mags like Gamefan just plain don't exist anymore. Very sad. All cold $$$-oriented journalism nowadays.
 
E

Eggo

GameFan Alumnus
belgurdo said:
I'm still pissed over that shit FFVIII review. futuristic buildings and a lack of bullshit fantasy-medieval crap means that the game has no "soul?" The fuck?
Click to expand...

What problems did you have with my review? I thought the game was the worst Final Fantasy on console, and that view hasn't changed. If you ask around, I think many will even agree with me. I definitely felt something was missing with that game, and the fu fu love story that nobody cared about didn't help. For the record, I think I gave the game an 88, which is a low score for an FF to me. The other editors are the ones who shelled it, but they weren't big FF nuts going in.
 
R

Ranger X

Member
Eggo said:
What problems did you have with my review? I thought the game was the worst Final Fantasy on console, and that view hasn't changed. If you ask around, I think many will even agree with me. I definitely felt something was missing with that game, and the fu fu love story that nobody cared about didn't help. For the record, I think I gave the game an 88, which is a low score for an FF to me. The other editors are the ones who shelled it, but they weren't big FF nuts going in.
Click to expand...

IAWYP
 
SantaC

SantaC

Member
FF9 > FF8

Zidane > Squall
Magic Equip system > junction system.
FF9 ending > FF8 ending
Kuja > Ultimecia

etc.
 
D

Drinky Crow

Banned
If you want mindless enthusiasm unmitigated by professional polish or nuanced insight, YOU HAVE THESE FORUMS. Christ, is olimario not good enough for your folks?
 
B

belgurdo

Banned
Eggo said:
What problems did you have with my review? I thought the game was the worst Final Fantasy on console, and that view hasn't changed. If you ask around, I think many will even agree with me. I definitely felt something was missing with that game, and the fu fu love story that nobody cared about didn't help. For the record, I think I gave the game an 88, which is a low score for an FF to me. The other editors are the ones who shelled it, but they weren't big FF nuts going in.
Click to expand...

I can't really say why I like or defend FFVIII so much (especially since it has been about five years since it's been released, and I've largely moved on from it), but it's probably because I saw that Square was trying to do something different with their series in it, with a stat system that didn't revolve around sitting on the world map powerlevelling, characters that had, although extremely limited, development that didn't revlove around going through a special dungeon and getting personal keepsake X, a "realistic" take on a fantasy world (other than the flying garden I noticed there wasn't a lot of the typical Deux Ex Machina bullshit like Squall busting out planet killing lasers when Rinoa got hurt) and a hero that actually didn't want to "big adventure" or impress someone like FF heroes before him. Then they tossed all that aside for IX and just gave us a tired amalgamation of IV and VI to sate nostalgia freaks, and it kind of bugged me because I wanted to see the series move forward.
 
M

Mr_Furious

Member
If there's one thing I can say about GF is this:

If it weren't for GF, I would not have been exposed to so many of the fantastic quirky import and domestic games I craved and still love to this day. All of today's mags have turned mainstream and won't give the quirky import games a second look. Makes me yearn for the days of old.
 
F

fennec fox

ferrets ferrets ferrets ferrets FERRETS!!!
More like the days of old when import games actually seemed quirky, as opposed to incomplete.
 
M

Mr_Furious

Member
fennec fox said:
More like the days of old when import games actually seemed quirky, as opposed to incomplete.
Click to expand...
There's plenty of good JP games on PS2 and GC that get zero coverage in any of today's mags. Hell, if some of these games got adequate coverage, possibly it would spark interest by one or more budget publisher to pick the game up on the cheap for release in the states.
 
C

Cafeman

Member
soundwave05 said:
I miss Game Players, Game Fan, and Next Generation.
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*Cafeman recalls better days*

Man. Game magazines today are uninteresting shells of older magazines. Gamefan did have heart and soul. So did Game Players and the first few years of NG. Mind you, I go all the way back to Electronic Games and Joystik.

But I still like Play. I'm reading it now.

(_)3
 
F

fennec fox

ferrets ferrets ferrets ferrets FERRETS!!!
Mr_Furious said:
There's plenty of good JP games on PS2 and GC that get zero coverage in any of today's mags. Hell, if some of these games got adequate coverage, possibly it would spark interest by one or more budget publisher to pick the game up on the cheap for release in the states.
Click to expand...
I write a column for EGM that attempts to do just that. I don't think I've heard any reader feedback from it at all, other than ECM types that complain I didn't cover Black Matrix or some other game they like a lot.

OPM, though, does better whenever a random Japanese demo wriggles onto the disc. They got lots of great feedback on Chain Dive and I'm surprised Mastiff didn't come running after that game soon afterwards. (The reaction to Uo was more subdued, though.)
 
D

Dave Long

Banned
fox... no one responds positively to magazines. Only things that piss them off turn into ten page e-mails and hand written letters of hate. So since no one has said anything about what you're writing for EGM, you can assume it's good. :)
 
M

MattKeil

BIGTIME TV MOGUL #2
Ugh. No doubt I'm in the minority here, but the last thing we need in the coming gen is to resurrect the magazine that largely created the retarded fanboy culture that is the dominant mindset in the industry today.
 
D

Drinky Crow

Banned
They didn't create it, they were just symptomatic of it. Fanboys have always been, and always will be. DHGF was just unpleasantly average web forum content (sans funny photoshops, and plus nice screencaps) before web forums existed.
 
V

vireland

Member
Ugh. No doubt I'm in the minority here, but the last thing we need in the coming gen is to resurrect the magazine that largely created the retarded fanboy culture that is the dominant mindset in the industry today.
Click to expand...

Why not? It could be the gaming equivalent of a back fire. Raise a new hyperbreed of fanboy that hits the fanboy spawn of the original vintage head on and burns out both of them.

Then again, it could just backfire.

For the record, I really dug the effort of the jap-bastards, acid tripping Cybermorph, blue shadow counting-era Gamefan. That kind of drama just doesn't play in game media nowadays, and I miss it.
 
M

Mr_Furious

Member
fennec fox said:
I write a column for EGM that attempts to do just that. I don't think I've heard any reader feedback from it at all, other than ECM types that complain I didn't cover Black Matrix or some other game they like a lot.

OPM, though, does better whenever a random Japanese demo wriggles onto the disc. They got lots of great feedback on Chain Dive and I'm surprised Mastiff didn't come running after that game soon afterwards. (The reaction to Uo was more subdued, though.)
Click to expand...
OPM putting JP demos on their discs proves there's definitely import interest and warrants more attention than just 1 whole page. I, too, am surprised Chain Dive hasn't been picked up yet but maybe someday.
 
D

Drinky Crow

Banned
We get that here, plus we can incite and participate in their squared-circle antics. Schizo old-school Sega fans, cognitive dissonance made manifest as Nintendo fans, the MS-Sega hybrid types, Sony teenboys ripe with SOCOM/GTA fetishism, holier-than-thou Japanophiles, hentai dorks determined to hide their desire to buy anything with anime bosoms behind specious claims of taste, PC riceboys, online gaming pulpiteers, catass MMORPG-only nerds, elitist assholes who thrive on controversy and negativity and contribute nothing but smarmy meta-commentary: you won't get that crazy-ass variety with any old magazine, no matter HOW many dorks you sample.
 
E

etiolate

Banned
I'm still pissed over that shit FFVIII review. futuristic buildings and a lack of bullshit fantasy-medieval crap means that the game has no "soul?" The fuck?
Click to expand...

That review is one of the reasons why Gamefan rocked. People mock their journalistic credibility, but overlook the fact they had enough sense to give games like FF8 and Donkey Kong 64 less than stellar reviews. They had the sense to see that these games wouldn't stand up over time, while everyone else was orgasming and ignoring the obvious issues with the games. Not just that they didn't rate the games based on hype, but they didn't trash them for not reaching it. Still respectable reviews.

EGM and that genus often felt like a bunch of suits who hardly enjoyed videogames.

It be nice to have a magazine or site that had the love of games of Gamefan, the videogame culture of Gamfan, but some actual journalistic skills and sensibility.
 
F

fennec fox

ferrets ferrets ferrets ferrets FERRETS!!!
Oh my goodness! I thought we were debating FFVII up there, not FFVIII! Sheesh! Anyway, rock to Gamefan for that one!
 
A

Alex Anderson

Member
I assume the magazine was better than it was in the final six months or so. I got the last six issues and thought it was pretty crappy. The 30-word reviews for most titles and ECM being an elitist prick didn't leave a very good impression. BUT I GOT FREE GAMEPROS WHEN IT WENT UNDER, WOO.
 
DCX

DCX

DCX
There are a few guys on GAF that used to be Gamefan staff members, they should get together and revive it...sponsered by GAF and we shall rule all!!!

DCX
 
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