MCV (the gaming industry’s trade mag) is becoming less and less relevant to the industry. The editorial does little more than state the obvious at the best of times, while letting soulless suits masturbate their companies across their pages.
A series of editorials from Future Publishing mag journalists turned into an embarrassing set of mishaps, kicked off by Official UK PlayStation Magazine editor Stephen Pierce slagging off his entire readership. This was followed up nicely by PSM2 Magazine’s Andrew Kelly short-sightedly, and unnecessarily aggressively, writing off the retro market and anyone who has an interest in it (in other words, anyone who’s played games for more than five minutes, thus making them more qualified to comment on games than Andrew Kelly).
The odd interesting interaction between industry knowns (and unknowns) does occasionally pop up though. Recently, Eurogamer.net editor Kristan Reed had a moan in MCV’s less than hallowed pages about Future Publishing effectively monopolising the games magazine market. Racing to slip on his company-bitch suit, PC Zone editor Dave Woods was quick to respond in a letter published the following week entitled, “We’re still fiercely independent at Future.”
After accusing Kristan Reed of behaving unprofessionally, Woods announces, “There hasn’t been a single attempt to interfere in the editorial side of the magazine.”
Considering this was published shortly after Future Publishing had ordered the author of the magazine’s monthly column on games emulation, Stuart Campbell, to no longer be used because of a disagreement that took place in the past over payment, the RAM Raider can only assume that Woods must have been suffering from some sort of temporary amnesia. Either that, or he was acting on orders from above.
The odd interesting interaction between industry knowns (and unknowns) does occasionally pop up though. Recently, Eurogamer.net editor Kristan Reed had a moan in MCV’s less than hallowed pages about Future Publishing effectively monopolising the games magazine market. Racing to slip on his company-bitch suit, PC Zone editor Dave Woods was quick to respond in a letter published the following week entitled, “We’re still fiercely independent at Future.”
After accusing Kristan Reed of behaving unprofessionally, Woods announces, “There hasn’t been a single attempt to interfere in the editorial side of the magazine.”
Considering this was published shortly after Future Publishing had ordered the author of the magazine’s monthly column on games emulation, Stuart Campbell, to no longer be used because of a disagreement that took place in the past over payment, the RAM Raider can only assume that Woods must have been suffering from some sort of temporary amnesia. Either that, or he was acting on orders from above.
Hi RAM Raider. My name's Dave Roberts, I work on MCV; have done since it was launched, in fact. And before that, about 84 years service on good ol' CTW.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear you're not enjoying the mag particularly at the moment.
I'm guessing, however, that you're a journo. So, with that in mind, and in the belief that a mag's only as good as its writers (yeah, yeah, designers; fuck designers) maybe you'd like to chuck us some feature ideas and maybe do a bit of writing?
Contact details are in the mag.
Stay angry,
Dave