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 Spring 2010 cover, featuringMass Effect 2 | |
| Editorial Director | Josh Harmon[1] |
|---|---|
| Categories | Video game journalism |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Publisher | EGM Media, LLC |
| Founder | Steve Harris |
| Founded | 1988 |
| First issue | March 31, 1989; 36 years ago (1989-03-31) |
| Final issue Number | Summer 2014 Issue 264 |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | Lombard, Illinois |
| Language | English |
| Website | egmnow |
| ISSN | 1058-918X |
Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) was a monthly Americanvideo game magazine.[2][3][4] It offered video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews.
The magazine was founded in 1988 asU.S. National Video Game Team'sElectronic Gaming Monthly under Sendai Publications.[5][6] In 1994,EGM spun offEGM², which focused on expanded cheats and tricks (i.e., with maps and guides). It eventually becameExpert Gamer and finally the defunctGameNOW. After 83 issues (up to June 1996),EGM switched publishers from Sendai Publishing toZiff Davis.[7] Until January 2009,EGM only covered gaming onconsole hardware and software.
In 2002, the magazine's subscription increased by more than 25 percent.[8]
The magazine was discontinued by Ziff Davis in January 2009, following the sale of1UP.com toUGO Networks.[9] The magazine's February 2009 issue was already completed, but was not published.[10]
In May 2009,EGM founder Steve Harris purchased the magazine and its assets from Ziff Davis.[11] The magazine was relaunched in April 2010 by Harris's new company EGM Media, LLC, widening its coverage to the PC and mobile gaming markets.[12][13]
Notable contributors toElectronic Gaming Monthly have included Martin Alessi, Ken Williams (as Sushi-X), Jim Allee, "Trickman" Terry Minnich, Andrew "Cyber-Boy" Baran, Danyon Carpenter, Marc Camron (later Director of Operations), Mark "Candyman" LeFebvre, Todd Rogers, Mike Weigand A.K.A. Major Mike (now Managing Editor atGamePro Magazine), Mike Desmond, Al Manuel, Howard Grossman, Arcade Editor Mark "Mo" Hain, Mike "Virus" Vallas, Jason Streetz, Tim Davis, Ken Badziak, Scott Augustyn, Chris Johnston, Che Chou, Dave Ruchala, Crispin Boyer, Greg Sewart, Jeanne Trais, Jennifer Tsao, artist Jeremy Norm Scott, Game Scholar Leonard Herman, Shawn "Shawnimal" Smith, West Coast Editor Kelly Rickards, Kraig Kujawa, Dean Hager, Jeremy Parish and Mark Macdonald (who later went on to become director of Gamevideos.com before leavingZiff-Davis). Writers who also served stints as editor-in chief include Ed Semrad, Joe Funk, John Davison, James Mielke,[14] artistJeremy "Norm" Scott,Dan "Shoe" Hsu andSeanbaby. In addition, writers ofEGM's various sister publications – includingGameNow,Computer Gaming World/Games for Windows: The Official Magazine,Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine – would regularly contribute toEGM and vice versa.
The magazine is known for makingApril Fools jokes.[15] Its April 1992 issue was the source of theSheng Long hoax inStreet Fighter II: The World Warrior.[16][17]
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In March 2019,EGM announced that it was going to relaunch "later this year" into an outfit that will have "a new look and a focus on long-form features, original reporting, and intelligent critique." It enters under the backronym "Enjoy Games More".[18]
In a letter in April 2020, editor Josh Harmon announced that the site would no longer publish long-form articles, prompting speculation that the publication had shut down.[19] Harmon edited the announcement shortly afterwards to confirm that the site would continue "some form of daily news coverage".[20]
In October 2024,EGM launched aKickstarter campaign for a retrospective book about the history of the magazine, titledThe Electronic Gaming Monthly Compendium.[21] The campaign reached its fundraising goal of $35,000 within less than 24 hours of its launch.[21]
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The magazine includes the following sections:
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EGM's current review scale is based on a letter grade system in which each game receives a grade based on its perceived quality. Games are reviewed by one member (originally a team of four until the year 2000, then a team of three, and finally knocked down to one in 2008), except for "the big games", which were reviewed by one of a pool of editors known as "The Review Crew." They each assign a grade to the game and write a few paragraphs about their opinion of the game. The magazine makes a strong stance that a grade of C is average. Towards the top of the scale, awards are given to games that average a B− or higher from the three individual grade: "Silver" awards for games averaging a grade of B− to B+; "Gold" awards for games averaging a grade of A− or A; and "Platinum" awards for games with three A+ grades. The current letter grade system replaced a long-standing 0–10 scale in the April 2008 issue. In that system, Silver went to a game with an average rating from 8 to 9, Gold to a game reviewed at 9 to 10 and Platinum to a game that received nothing but 10 ratings. Until 1998, as a matter of editorial policy, the reviewers rarely gave scores of 10 and never gave a Platinum Award. That policy changed when the reviewers gaveMetal Gear Solid four 10 ratings in 1998,[48] with an editorial published half a year before announcing the shift.[49]
In addition, they gave the game (or multiple games in the event of a tie, as withGrand Theft Auto: San Andreas for Xbox andNCAA Football 2006) with the highest average score for that issue a "Game of the Month" award. If a "Game of the Month" title receives a port to another console, that version is disqualified from that month's award, such as withResident Evil 4, which won the award for the Nintendo GameCube version and subsequently received the highest scores for the PlayStation 2 port months later andTony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, which won the Platinum award for two separate versions of the game.
In 2002,EGM began giving games that earned unanimously bad scores a "Shame of the Month" award. As there is not always such a game in each issue, this award is only given out when a game qualifies.
Originally, a team of four editors reviewed all the games. This process was eventually dropped in favor of a system that added more reviewers to the staff so that no one person reviewed all the games for the month.
Though the scores ranged from 0–10 on the previous numerical scale, the score of zero was almost never utilized, with exceptions beingMortal Kombat Advance,The Guy Game andPing Pals.
At the very end of every single magazine made during the Hsu period there is a funny/random message after the absolute last text (copyright/disclaimer text) on the last page.
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EGM en Español was released inMexico in November 2002. It was published by Editorial Televisa and is edited by a different staff. Sometimes the content was more focused to the Latin American gaming crowd (e.g. soccer games were paid more attention thanNASCAR orAmerican football games), as well as the humor and other features. Sometimes it featured jokes among the Mexican community and sometimes supported the production with a poster. Adrián Carbajal “Carqui”, with a long experience in Mexican gaming magazines (prior toEGM en Español, he worked in now competitor publicationsClub Nintendo andAtomix), was the editor-in-chief through the entire run. There was a weekly official podcast called "Playtime!" hosted by most of the editorial staff.EGM en Español has beencancelled as of December 2008 due to Ziff Davis Media's economical problems.
EGM Italia was published inItaly by Edizioni Star Comics S.r.l. from 2001 to 2003.EGM was also published inBrazil asEGM Brasil byConrad Editora since April 2002. Since the last quarter of 2005,EGM Brasil was being published by Futuro Comunicação. With the suspension of U.S. sales of the EGM, the Brazilian EGM was rebranded to EGW (Entertainment + Game World).
In 2006 three other editions ofEGM were published around the world.EGMThailand is published by Future Gamer Company Ltd.,EGMSingapore is published by MediaCorp Publishing andEGMTurkey is published by Merkez Dergi.
EGMTurkey got closed in January 2009 for financial crisis.
In 1995,EGM's first online website was nuke.com. It merged withGameSpot in 1996 afterZiff-Davis purchased Sendai Media Group. In 2003,EGM created a new website,1UP.com, afterGameSpot was sold toCNET Networks.[50] Since the magazine's relaunch in 2010,[51] the affiliated website has been egmnow.com.[52]
EGM Live* was apodcast hosted every Monday by the editors ofEGM on 1UP.com. The podcast was available for download at 1UP.com or theiTunes music store. Much like other podcasts on the 1UP network, the program could include discussion of various message board topics, an analysis of new games being reviewed, a mailbag section, a deeper look into the most recent issue of the magazine, or interviews with special guests such as Marcus Henderson and Ted Lange fromHarmonix andCliff Bleszinski fromEpic Games. The "*" at the end of the name was to denote that the podcast was not actually "live" in the general media sense. It was later replaced by1UPFM, another weekly Monday podcast where 1UP crew members Nick Suttner and Phil Kollar hosted the show, along with other 1UP members.[citation needed]
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 Cover of the first issue ofEGM2 (July 1994):Super Street Fighter II vs.Mortal Kombat II | |
| Publisher | Sendai |
|---|---|
| First issue | July 1994; 31 years ago (1994-07) |
| Final issue | July 1998 (1998-07) |
| Country | U.S. |
| Language | English |
EGM2 (stylized asEGM2) was avideo game magazine published by Sendai Publishing from July 1994 to July 1998 as a spin-off ofElectronic Gaming Monthly. UnlikeEGM, however,EGM2 lacked a reviews section and had a greater emphasis on import games.
Starting in August 1998,EGM2 becameExpert Gamer (often abbreviated asXG). Although with a different name,XG continuedEGM2's numbering system.XG lasted for 39 issues until October 2001 (with the last issue beingXG #88).
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The first issue ofEGM2 was in July 1994. The magazine lasted 49 issues with the last issue under the original name coming out in July 1998. The change of name prompted a cleaner looking redesign although the content of the magazine would remain the same.
In a 2014 retrospective,Polygon said: "For two decades,EGM maintained a focal position in the games media landscape. In the time before the internet, the periodical was a vital conduit for American readers interested in the hobby."[53]
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