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Our industry is poorer for the lack of Die Hard Game Fan
- Thread starter WarPig
- Start date
FortNinety
Member
FnordChan said:
My favorite quote has to be either "Donkey Kong Country 2 is the best 16 bit game ever" or something about Knuckles Chaotix being the best 32-bit game (ha!) or Sonic game or some other nonsense.
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
BlackClouds said:
Now this is a balanced and perceptive observation about Gamefan, compared to "circle-jerking" or just-as-bad anti-circle-jerking hate. Something the hate of GF isn't taking into account as well is that Gamefan was a creature of a different era. This was before mainstream Internet for one thing. Screenshots can tell a million words, but virtually all publications back in the day at most gave you a handful of shots that frequently were just the publicity shots given to them by the publisher. Gamefan was the precursor of websites like Gamespot which archive massive amounts of media. You could really get a feel for many games thanks to Gamefan's total visual blowout.
Also, for all the venom spewed at Gamefan for being "fanboy" (and this is somehow less fanboy than -other- nerds who sit on forums flaming the Gamefan nerds for liking stuff too much?)... I'm not sure if that's a huge step down from modern reviewing practices, where it's suspect that many reviewers didn't even come near to finishing the game, and give ratings that frequently are called pure bullshit for different reasons. Which would you rather have? A wildly enthusiastic and amusing to read fan of a game where you can just turn down the hype a bit in your head, or post-cynical, pseudo-professional Game Journalists who, in my view, increasingly say very little about the games they review that doesn't fit into a predictable formula?
Something the Gamefan staff said more than once, was that they always kept in mind they were writing about videogames, and they did not delude themselves that they were journalists. (Damning accusations of their fanboy nature fall flat to my ears when GF itself readily admitted this.) Also, in my opinion, modern Internet Fanboy Pundits are not nearly so entertaining to read as the GF writers were
Unless you're reading for pure schadenfruede to chuckle over how superior you are to them (Which in itself, often denotes a different kind of fanboy.)God, I miss Gamefan... nice, huge screenshots and reviews of super obscure import games... their reviews were pretty over-the-top, but game reviews sucked then and they suck just the same now Though, me listening to their hype caused me to buy Landstalker and Gunstar Heroes, can't say I regret that!!!
Oh, I think out of all the PSX games, I liked 7 the best... I thought 8 was one of my least favorite FF's, story and gameplay-wise (well, except for X2), and 9 was extremely dry... the story never grasped me, the dungeons sucked (most had what, like 4 or 5 rooms in them?), soundtrack was repetitive and boring (FF8 probably has the best of the 3), and it was loaded with random encounters. 3 through 6 were my favorite of the FFs... and I actually liked 10 a fair amount.
Though, me listening to their hype caused me to buy Landstalker and Gunstar Heroes, can't say I regret that!!! Oh, I think out of all the PSX games, I liked 7 the best... I thought 8 was one of my least favorite FF's, story and gameplay-wise (well, except for X2), and 9 was extremely dry... the story never grasped me, the dungeons sucked (most had what, like 4 or 5 rooms in them?), soundtrack was repetitive and boring (FF8 probably has the best of the 3), and it was loaded with random encounters. 3 through 6 were my favorite of the FFs... and I actually liked 10 a fair amount.
WarPig said:No, that was some other thread, but any thread could use a healthy injection of Jackal. Especially another fucking FF vs. FF vs. FF dork-o-rama. You know what kicks the fuck out of every fucking Final Fantasy ever?
MOTHERFUCKING JACKAL, MOTHERFUCKER
DFS.
I wouldn't go THAT far, but that game definitely needs a sequel.
Kajima - that's a fantastic post above, I agree completely. I'd much rather listen to Gamefan's fanboy-induced rants (and drool over their nice screenshots) than adlibbed "journalistic" reviews from the likes of EGM, PSM, etc...
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Gamefan ruled. It got you excited about games even if you didnt agree sometimes. You realized to discern rabid love from stg fan didnt mean you going to love that stg game if you find them average at best but still respected their unique amateurish way they got you pumped up for games without blantantly lying, it was just true diehard love.
Heck first time I heard about Landstalker or seen Landstalker was because of GF. Among dozens of others I imported because of them. I actually owe them great deal. They even went so far as having mini import game guides to help you threw games abit, not as much as I would have liked but more then any mag as dared try. Early 90's wouldnt been same without them, like 80s not having he-man or MJ.
Heck first time I heard about Landstalker or seen Landstalker was because of GF. Among dozens of others I imported because of them. I actually owe them great deal. They even went so far as having mini import game guides to help you threw games abit, not as much as I would have liked but more then any mag as dared try. Early 90's wouldnt been same without them, like 80s not having he-man or MJ.
Kleegamefan
K. LEE GAIDEN
IAWTP
spookyfish
Member
I still hate that GameFan was gone before the Xbox and Gamecube launched. I would really have enjoyed their coverage.
My favorite magazine, hands down.
I'm still want to find the issues I never was able to buy. It's the only magazine I go back and read - sometimes for laughs but mostly for nostalgia's sake.
My favorite magazine, hands down.
I'm still want to find the issues I never was able to buy. It's the only magazine I go back and read - sometimes for laughs but mostly for nostalgia's sake.
Mermandala
Member
FINAL FANTASY XIX: EVERYONE LOSES! ! !
The problem is people try to look at the entirety of GameFan and call it "great" when it really only was great until the 32-bit era started going in full swing. It lost some of what made it so freaking cool as soon as games were turning 3D and Playstation became a household word. I have some of those really early issues, the one with the 16-bit Blaster Master 2 on the cover, and from about there on. Honestly, there was absolutely nothing else like it at the time. The people trying to say it's nostalgia are full of it. I pull those issues out today and they are AWESOME to look at.
Every one of them makes me want to play those games they reviewed well because I can see the detail in the screens. The screens always seemed to be handpicked to convey what was so cool about the game they were discussing. As I said though, the further from the start of the mag you go toward the end of its run, the less it resembled what it started out as. It definitely was better early on.
I'm definitely a fan of the mag. I was showing it to people every chance I got when I worked at EB. I wanted people to read it so they knew there was more to gaming than Bart vs. The World because people had no fucking clue what was good back then. GameFan at least championed the winners. They highlighted games that everyone needed to get their hands on because a lot of those games simply made gaming BETTER and more vital. Gunstar Heroes, Aliens vs. Predator and Tempest 2000 on Jag, even smaller titles like the still amazing even today Dashin' Desperadoes and tiny gems like Atomic Runner, both from the always overlooked Data East.
Those Game Fan eds reading this can rest assured they got it right and that people calling it pure nostalgia are simply wrong. Go back and pull out your old Game Fan mags and marvel at those eye blazing layouts. Enjoy the enthusiasm for games on every single page. There really has never been another magazine or website like it since. GAF is the closest we get to those days.
Because dammit, it's fun to be the people who notice the sparks are better in the PS2 version of Burnout 3!
EDIT! - I just thought about this as I'm listening to GamingFM and the ZoE2 theme just came on. Consider if you will, a modern day Game Fan mag that runs a spread on Zone of the Enders 2. Your eyes would melt! People might actually have paid attention to how awesome that game is!
Every one of them makes me want to play those games they reviewed well because I can see the detail in the screens. The screens always seemed to be handpicked to convey what was so cool about the game they were discussing. As I said though, the further from the start of the mag you go toward the end of its run, the less it resembled what it started out as. It definitely was better early on.
I'm definitely a fan of the mag. I was showing it to people every chance I got when I worked at EB. I wanted people to read it so they knew there was more to gaming than Bart vs. The World because people had no fucking clue what was good back then. GameFan at least championed the winners. They highlighted games that everyone needed to get their hands on because a lot of those games simply made gaming BETTER and more vital. Gunstar Heroes, Aliens vs. Predator and Tempest 2000 on Jag, even smaller titles like the still amazing even today Dashin' Desperadoes and tiny gems like Atomic Runner, both from the always overlooked Data East.
Those Game Fan eds reading this can rest assured they got it right and that people calling it pure nostalgia are simply wrong. Go back and pull out your old Game Fan mags and marvel at those eye blazing layouts. Enjoy the enthusiasm for games on every single page. There really has never been another magazine or website like it since. GAF is the closest we get to those days.
Because dammit, it's fun to be the people who notice the sparks are better in the PS2 version of Burnout 3!
EDIT! - I just thought about this as I'm listening to GamingFM and the ZoE2 theme just came on. Consider if you will, a modern day Game Fan mag that runs a spread on Zone of the Enders 2. Your eyes would melt! People might actually have paid attention to how awesome that game is!
Mr_Furious
Member
Although I agree with majority of what you said, I can't say I agree here. IMO, Gamefan was rock solid all the way up to and including the 32-bit era. They did an awesome job covering the SS, PS and even the N64 (import and domestic) and still even devoted pages to the dying 16-bit games releasing well into the 32-bit days. Where GF went south for me is when they had a 'changing of the guard' where the mag went under new management. Although the quality of the mag was relatively consistent with that of the older issues, the staff just couldn't get it together making the mag sporadic, never knowing when or even if a new issue would release. There'd be 2, 3, and even 4 month gaps between issues and then it just died. I have every single issue of GF and go back to read them from time to time and even the latter issues, while slim were still doing the job of covering the games we, the gamers, cared about most.Dave Long said:
RIP GF