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Epic Mickey confirmed by epic Game Informer cover

by Griffin McElroy { Oct 5th 2009 at 1:20PM }

Considering the amount of concept art and leaked details we've heard concerning Disney Interactive Studios and Junction Point's upcoming collaboration, this might not come as a shock to you, but the cover of the next issue of Game Informer confirms the existence of Epic Mickey. Details are slim, but we now know that it'll be a Wii-exclusive action title and, based on the paintbrush grasped by the iconic rodent on the cover, we suspect it will incorporate the illustrative elements mentioned by an anonymous informant back in July.

Hopefully more details will surface when Game Informer's interview with Warren Spector goes live later today. For now, revel in the fact that the title is real -- and based on the art seen on the magazine's cover (the full version of which is posted after the jump), it might just deserve its "epic" designation.

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Interview: EGM Now's Steve Harris

by Ben Gilbert { Sep 11th 2009 at 3:25PM }

Following the closure of Electronic Gaming Monthly by parent company Ziff Davis Media earlier this year (after nearly 20 years in the game industry), the magazine's original founder Steve Harris repurchased the rights and promised a rebirth for EGM. We ran into Harris at E3 2009 and cajoled him into speaking with us about his purchase. (He was a bit busy with business at E3, as you might imagine, thus we're talking a few months later.)

Though we're still a little ways off from the mag's December 1 "return," he gave us a few hints of what to expect, his explanation of how EGM Now will succeed financially where "old EGM" failed, and a few of his favorite games on the current-gen systems.

Hit the break for the whole thing.

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Future, Blizzard launch World of Warcraft: The Magazine

by Justin McElroy { Aug 20th 2009 at 12:27PM }

It's a sad fact, World of Warcraft players, but an unavoidable one: You have to go to the bathroom. Though that most private of times was once filled with the WoW player's kryptonite (self-reflection) you can now while away the minutes with World of Warcraft: The Magazine, a joint endeavor from Future and Blizzard. The subscription-only magazine will launch simultaneously in English, French, German, and Spanish.

We're happy to see companies taking a chance on a new publication, and we think there's a shot that this more specialized approach can work. What we're a little bit less sure about is the price: $39.99 for four quarterly issues. Here's hoping the (admittedly advertising-free) content can live up to the premium charge.

Future US president calls it quits

by Griffin McElroy { Jun 18th 2009 at 7:55PM }

Yes, 12-year-old Billy Caruthers, projected winner of the 2036 presidential election has decided to resign from his pending office in order to dodge controversy surrounding his pending extramarital affair. He -- oh, wait. We totally misread that headline. The president of magazine publisher Future US, Jonathan Simpson-Bint, is stepping down August 31 in order to start up his own business. Simpson-Bint has been working with the company for 18 years, and oversaw the launch of PSM, IGN.com and DailyRadar.com.

Future is currently looking for Simpson-Bint's replacement -- if you've got experience managing humongous publishing companies, yet find yourself working as a lowly fry cook at your local Carl's Jr., perhaps its time you gained some upward mobility.

EGM sold to original founder, resumes publication this year

by Jem Alexander { May 29th 2009 at 10:00PM }

Electronic Gaming Monthly, which died when UGO bought out the 1UP brand in January, is being resurrected by its original founder, Steve Harris. Harris, who started EGM in 1989, has regained the print and online publishing rights from Ziff Davis Media as part of an undisclosed agreement. Harris intends to relaunch the magazine in the second half of 2009 and says he has "exciting plans for the evolution of what will once again be a leading independent voice for the gaming community."

There's no word yet on whether ex-EGM staff will be making a return to the magazine, or if Harris is in talks with UGO to re-establish a partnership with 1UP, but more details are due to be revealed during E3 next week. We guess in this case print really isn't dead.

Game Informer larger than Time, Playboy and Maxim ... even Oprah

by Alexander Sliwinski { Apr 1st 2009 at 5:50PM }

Wow, we knew Game Informer was doing well, but we had no idea it was beating out the big boys of publishing with a +3 Hammer of Smackdown. BurrellesLuce has released its list of top media outlets in 2009 for PR professionals and the performance of Game Informer either speaks to the power of its bundling with the GameStop Edge card, or the utter collapse of the rest of the magazine industry. The gaming magazine has a "paid and verified circulation" of 3,517,598 -- that's better than several marquee magazines, including Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, Cosmo and TV Guide.

In the blog category, Joystiq took the #19 spot. We're apparently doing well against the "Queen of all Media," Perez Hilton, according to Technorati's Authority Figures, so we thank all of you -- our loyal readership -- for that. Cheers!

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Two GamePro executives leave amid news that everything is great

by JC Fletcher { Feb 9th 2009 at 5:31PM }

Two top executives at GamePro magazine, President and CEO Daniel Orum and SVP and Publisher Bob Huseby, have left the company. GameDaily reports that Huseby will be joining Wikia, and Orum's next position is unknown. Concurrent with these departures is the arrival of Ziff Davis's Marci Yamaguchi Hughes as executive vice president and general manager.

GamePro Senior Vice President and Executive Creative Director George Jones told GameDaily that the shifts were a "weird confluence of events that aren't related at all." He said that the publication is "in a really good place now," especially since the loss of major multiplatform competitor Electronic Gaming Monthly.

Remember when Ziff Davis went bankrupt last year, and said it wasn't actually bad news for its magazines? We're hoping that this isn't a similar situation, and that those two executives really did leave at the same time for basically no reason.

'Would you like a subscription to Cosmo with your Wii Fit today?'

by David Hinkle { Jan 6th 2009 at 12:58PM }

We've all likely been accosted by a Gamestop employee, at one time or another, about a subscription to Game Informer or a strategy guide to go along with the title we were planning to pick up or something. Well, it would seem that Gamestop is perfecting their craft, targeting folks with a need for exergaming with subscriptions to mags such as Cosmo and Redbook.

Unlike other solicitations from the retail giant, this is actually free, though, which is a big improvement for them. Upon purchasing select exergaming items of $35 or more (semi-full list of qualifying items can be found past the break), Gamestop will toss in a 12-month subscription to either Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Redbook, Good Housekeeping or O Magazine. Head past the break for the products that were mentioned to be part of this promotion.

Gallery: Wii Fit

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GameStop offering Cosmo, O Mag subscriptions to fitness game buyers

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jan 5th 2009 at 12:15PM }

Is the female or effeminate male in your life looking a bit chub after the holidays? Then stop on in at GameStop and get them a fitness game and a free 12-month trial subscription to either Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Redbook, Good Housekeeping or O Magazine. GameStop's "Sharpen the Mind, Shape the Body" promotion emphasizes fitness games and offers magazine trials on select purchases of over $35 until Feb. 22. We've listed a few of the "designated" products that are part of the promotion after the break.

If this casual gaming movement continues to explode, It's only a matter of time before GameStop starts offering scented candles, bath oils and potpourri. Hmm, but that means the stores will smell better. Curses, we're so torn about this trend.

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EGM en Espa�ol est� muerto

by Griffin McElroy { Dec 11th 2008 at 12:46PM }

For our unilingual readers whose loose grasp on the Spanish language sent that headline careening over their heads, the Spanish version of EGM is shutting down, according to editorial director Adrián Carbajal. Their upcoming December issue (the one with the Watchmen game on the cover) will effectively serve as their last installment after a little more than six years of publication.

It should come as no surprise that the main reason Carbajal cited for the collapse of EGM en Español is the seemingly perilous future of the English language version of the mag. Should yesterday's report that UGO is looking to purchase the 1UP network sans the twenty-year-old EGM come to fruition, it's unlikely that we'll see many more issues of the gaming magazine we tucked oh-so-many times into our Junior High textbooks.

[Thanks, Josué]

Nintendo's move 'away from the hardcore' cited in N-Revolution mag's closure

by Randy Nelson { Dec 3rd 2008 at 4:30PM }

MCV reports that Imagine's Nintendo-only UK magazine, N•Revolution, will cease publication. In this day and age, with ad revenue and readership down – not to mention a little thing you're using called the internet – this move doesn't exactly come as a surprise. Its publisher's reasoning for the closure does.

Imagine's managing director, Damian Butt, says that Nintendo's focus is shifting away from the magazine's readership, i.e. core gamers. "It has become increasingly obvious that Nintendo's strategy...has moved increasingly away from the hardcore gaming community that is our specialty," Butt explained.

Still, Butt says that Imagine – which also publishes gamesTM – will continue to work with Nintendo to "drive purchases of Nintendo software." We're sure it will be in an entirely objective, unbiased, above-the-board way ... of working with a company to positively influence software sales through editorial. What could be wrong with that? Oh.

For Famitsu, 428 equals 40

by Chris Greenhough { Nov 26th 2008 at 7:10PM }

The Famitsu 40/40 has lost some of its lustre in recent times. Since 1998, the magazine has awarded nine perfect scores, but three have come in 2008, including one for Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

However, even we found the latest game to receive the honor surprising. 428: The World Doesn't Change Even So is a "visual novel," a graphical text adventure from roguelike kings Chunsoft that keeps player interaction to a minimum. In other words, it's very unlike any other game to receive a flawless Famitsu grade. In fact, it's unlike most other games, period.

We haven't posted a great deal about 428. That's not because we don't find it interesting -- we definitely do. It's because, as Alisha has noted, a game of its ilk is almost entirely impenetrable to our western eyes. Suffice to say, it has now been instantly promoted from "intriguing curio" to "must-own import." Not that a release outside Japan will ever happen.

Gallery: 428

Official Nintendo Magazine launching down under

by Chris Greenhough { Nov 12th 2008 at 9:30PM }

Cheer up, Aussies and Kiwis -- even though your local Club Nintendo appears to have gone completely AWOL (checking ... nope, still nothing), you'll shortly be getting your very own version of Official Nintendo Magazine, basically the UK equivalent of Nintendo Power. That's ... almost as good. Right?

Like its Brit cousin, Official Nintendo Magazine - Australia and New Zealand will be assembled by the talented folks at Future, the same name behind such excellent time-wasting periodicals as N64 Magazine, Amiga Power, and Arcade, and who currently churn out Edge. The first issue, a special edition no less, should be hitting shelves in December for AU$8.95.

[Via press release]

Popular Science names Wii Fit one of this year's best inventions

by David Hinkle { Nov 12th 2008 at 8:04PM }

Popular Science is smitten with the Balance Board and Wii Fit. In their top 100 inventions of 2008 feature, they feature the bundle and talk about the components that comprise the Balance Board. Personally, we've always been big fans of the whole package, aside from the price of the thing, so we're glad to see it get some exposure in an interesting magazine.

Gallery: Wii Fit

Take-Two's Zelnick flexes for Men's Fitness

by James Ransom-Wiley { Oct 21st 2008 at 4:15PM }

On the surface, he has it all. A rad name. The chair of a powerful video game publisher. A chiseled bod cut from the blood, sweat and tears of a grueling 5-day workout week. (Dude has meetings while exercising -- confirmed!) But what harrowing skeletons are dangling in Take-Two chairman Strauss Zelnick's closet? ...

We're pretty certain that's not the focus of the next issue of Men's Fitness (on newsstands November 20th), but we will be treated to such compelling insights as: "When someone asks me to have a drink, I suggest the gym instead." Plus: 896 tummy tightening, calorie counting, GET LAID NOW tips!