The gaming industry is a huge industry that consumes as much news space as any other widely known business. It's so big, in fact, that if you walk down the aisle of any store that sells magazines, you'll find at least two or three gaming magazines to choose from—and that includes stores where you'd least expect them, like Walgreens for Pete's Drugstore.
Even better, no matter what your gaming skill level is, you can take advantage of this intelligence and use what you learn to improve your knowledge, gear, and gameplay. You can also learn about game events that you can participate in or even participate in.
To get started, take a trip to your local game store. Game Crazy and Game Stop are two popular game stores that regularly publish related magazines (although you may find that your local game store only carries one). One of the things you'll want to do when browsing these magazines is to compare the prices of games and gaming systems. Gamer Informer magazine shows no preferences and provides critiques of the latest stuff one to two inches thick. Inside this resource you will find reviews for Wii, EA games, PS3, Xbox 360, PC games, PS2, PSP and DS system.
As a no-nonsense manual for what's hot and what's not, gaming magazines show you how news in mainstream media affects game production and how it can affect not only your purchasing decisions, but also the type of games you play. It's not unusual for a game to see an increase in sales just because of a mention on the 5 o'clock news.
You can find out what's going on with new and competing gaming companies before you invest in their products, but if you dig a little deeper, you can even find out what's influencing the market you're a part of.
Here's an example of what we mean:
Professional gaming today has taken a giant leap forward. DirecTV, Inc., the nation's leading digital service provider and key partners, are taking the professional gaming industry to the next level by creating a new professional video game sports league that will set the standard for the industry and redefine the consumer gaming experience. "1
You can also find out how the news affects international gaming:
"The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has today announced that its 2007 British Academy Video Games Awards will take place on the evening of Tuesday 23 October at Battersea Evolution in London."2
Interested in information about a specific console? How about Nintendo:
"Nintendo Plans to Increase Wii Production (AP via Yahoo! News) Nintendo's president on Friday acknowledged that the shortage of the hit Wii gaming machine is 'abnormal' and promised that production will be ramped up to increase shipments by next month."3
Of course, there's always the possibility that you'll find out things you weren't supposed to find in the first place:
"Halo 3 Gameplay Leaked Online (The Inquirer) A VIDEO has surfaced online showing seven minutes of crisp, crisp Halo 3 gameplay."4
From these few small examples, you've learned about the creation of a new professional video game sports league, the Academy of Video Games Awards, Wii production boosts, and the leaking of a "certain" video from a "certain" game. . Just imagine what you would discover with a monthly subscription to Game Pro (www.gamepro.com), Computer Games Magazine (www.cgonline.com) or GameS lice (www.gameslice.com)!
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