Game Informer
Game Informer (often abbreviated to
GI) is an
American-based monthly
magazine featuring articles, news, strategy and reviews of popular
video games and associated
consoles. Formed in
August 1991, it is the best selling video game magazine in the world (as well as in the top 100 magazines overall) in terms of subscribers, who number around 1.5 million.
It is published by
GameStop Corp., the parent company of the video game retailer of the same name. The magazine is promoted in large part in-store, where customers who subscribe receive a 10% discount card good on used products at any GameStop-owned retail location that lasts for the duration of their subscription.
To date, 160 issues of Game Informer have been published.
Game Informer began as a 6-page
quarterly Funcoland circular, created with the primary intent of providing a price list for the store's used video games; however, the publishers decided to insert industry news briefs and game reviews into the catalog as well. Over time, the used games catalog and
Game Informer publication became separate entities.
Because
Game Informer is still owned by the GameStop Corp., the magazine is featured prominently at GameStop store locations. For this same reason the objectiveness of the magazine may be taken into account.
Game Informer rates XBox 360, Play Station 2, Game Cube, PC, Nintendo DS, Play Station Portable, and old vidoe games. Game Informer rates games 1-10 (1 being terrible, and 10 being super good), however, scores lower than 1 have been given out before (Batman: Dark Tomarrow recieved a 0.75). While most reviews are some what fair, Game Informer tends to be biasis to Play Station 2 games.
Game Informer's website was originally launched in
August 1996, and featured daily news updates as well as humor articles. However, in
February 2000, the site was pulled down as a result of the dot-com crash.
GameInformer.com was revived in
September 2003, with a full redesign and many additional features, such as a review database, frequent news updates, and exclusive "Unlimited" content for subscribers.
The
Game Informer message boards, a staple of the website since the redesign in 2003, has enjoyed moderate success, averaging roughly 100 users online at any given time. Many editors of the magazine have been known to interact with the community at times as well.
* "10 Years of
Game Informer" (August 2001).
Game Informer, p. 42.
* "On the Web" (August 2001).
Game Informer, p. 49.
*
GameInformer.com
