Computer Games Magazine

I regularly read all three US magazines that focus on computer gaming. They each have unique qualities to recommmend them, but my favorite by far is Computer Games Magazine (edited by Steve Bauman).

It's the only one of the three to have embraced an adult sensibility. Which is not to say they're stuffy; they have a healthy sense of humor. Rather, their articles, reviews, and numerous columns all seem more concerned with content over hype. Most pages have more space devoted to words than to screenshots. The general tone is of adult gamers talking to each other about what they find fun, rather than trying (futilely) to sound hip in front of some teenagers.

They have a regular column co-written by Henry Jenkins and Kurt Squire, looking at the gaming world from an academic perspective. They have a regular column (and many featured reviews each issue) by Tom Chick, the best writer in the gaming biz today. (His work appears in practically every review venue out there, print or on-line, but there seems to be more of it in CGM than elsewhere.)

They devote some space to board games and console games as well. This is something that I might have objected to in another magazine; but my tastes are close enough to theirs that I have found these to be really interesting alerting me to cool games that I would otherwise have missed.

Although it is far and away my favorite of the three, it also has the lowest circulation -- by a large margin. The latest issue's editorial had a paragraph at the end asking fans of the magazine to tell their friends about it. That's a reasonable request, given how much pleasure they've given me over the years. If you like computer gaming enough to want to read a magazine, I can't recommend this one highly enough.

Computer Games Magazine

I regularly read all three US magazines that focus on computer gaming. They each have unique qualities to recommmend them, but my favorite by far is Computer Games Magazine (edited by Steve Bauman).

It's the only one of the three to have embraced an adult sensibility. Which is not to say they're stuffy; they have a healthy sense of humor. Rather, their articles, reviews, and numerous columns all seem more concerned with content over hype. Most pages have more space devoted to words than to screenshots. The general tone is of adult gamers talking to each other about what they find fun, rather than trying (futilely) to sound hip in front of some teenagers.

They have a regular column co-written by Henry Jenkins and Kurt Squire, looking at the gaming world from an academic perspective. They have a regular column (and many featured reviews each issue) by Tom Chick, the best writer in the gaming biz today. (His work appears in practically every review venue out there, print or on-line, but there seems to be more of it in CGM than elsewhere.)

They devote some space to board games and console games as well. This is something that I might have objected to in another magazine; but my tastes are close enough to theirs that I have found these to be really interesting alerting me to cool games that I would otherwise have missed.

Although it is far and away my favorite of the three, it also has the lowest circulation -- by a large margin. The latest issue's editorial had a paragraph at the end asking fans of the magazine to tell their friends about it. That's a reasonable request, given how much pleasure they've given me over the years. If you like computer gaming enough to want to read a magazine, I can't recommend this one highly enough.