Waiting for the "Next" Issue?
Written: Mar 07 '01
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Pros: Very informative, takes a more mature approach to gaming
Cons: Sometimes too mature, can be heavy-handed and condescending...
The Bottom Line: A magazine cut from an entirely different mold than the mass market code and graphic-based magazines, for the serious news-conscious gamer.
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| Paneless's Full Review: NextGen Magazine |
I still remember signing up for a premier copy of Next Generation magazine more than five years ago. At the time I wasn't looking for much more than pictures and codes, and I was quite unpleasantly surprised by what I found in Next Generation.
The magazine has never in its history has a codes or cheats and strategies section, and has no plans to ever begin one. It focuses on the news in the industry, and the people behind the games, instead of just dumping hundreds of screen shots onto each page.
While I am barely a casual gamer now, NextGen (the magazine's name has been shortened, probably to add street cred and a hipper image) has made me appreciate the struggles that independent developers go through with their labors of love and the mighty (yet ignorant) publishers, who often have the final say about a product they understand very little about.
Also a big pain to developers is a marketing department or advertising agency that is often only given early screenshots and a bare bones version of the premise of the game to create an advertising campaign, which many times very little resembles the finished product.
NextGen has a talented stable of editors, and will always give its opinion on issues and the state of the industry, whether you want it or not.
The only problems with NextGen is its often confusing review process (I really don't think that 1 to 5 stars has enough leeway for those games that fit somewhere in between...Epinions, are you listening?), its poor interviewing skills (read a couple of them, they're pretty bad!), and tendency to get a little condescending with its editorials and news articles.
Next Generation: B-
Recommended:
Yes
Primary Reason for Buying: News/Current Events
Recommended For: Hobbyists/Enthusiasts
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Epinions.com ID:
Paneless
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Member: Warren Dugan
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Reviews written: 266
Trusted by: 14 members
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