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PC Gamer Magazine with CD

Customer Rating:
Not much to say except it was a great deal! One year of a monthly magazine plus the CD for $5.00! I wish I could get that offer all the time! I'm glad I got lucky and just happened to see the deal when I did as it was only offered for one week and my subscription just happened to be running out about then. Sometimes it pays to be lucky I guess.

Great Magazine, Great Pack-in Disc!

Customer Rating:
PC Gamer is definitely the best magazine out there for PC-centric gaming.

Most other gaming magazines just gloss over the PC side of gaming. Also, the pack-in DVD is always full of good stuff.

Good content for the occasional browse

Customer Rating:
Pros: +Varied content
+Demo discs included with issues

Cons: -I wish they were more in-depth with hardware comparisons
-Not much for just a simple games forecast combined with their ratings so one could quickly see good upcoming games

Overall: 8/10

First read is a disappointment

Customer Rating:
It is shocking that this is the most sold PC gaming magazine in the US. Now I realize why they have it wrapped in plastic at the stores: They don't want anyone to descry the low quality of their product.

The key problem with this mag is its low content. The most sold PC gaming magazine in Germany has over 250 pages per monthly issue, compared to 100 in PC Gamer. There are no bestseller or score charts, broken down by genre - so that the reader may make an informed decision to purchase a game (especially considering that most of the titles that occupy the pages are low-profile titles). The hardware portion of the magazine is four pages long - but length is by far not the only problem. There are not enough tables and charts (for benchmarks, noise, temperature, power consumption comparisons etc.). The PC recommendations are weak (unbalanced component performance, suboptimal cost-effectiveness, inconsistent in objectives), there are no recommendations for particular components, no charts that would compare them quantitatively based on a rating of quality. The verdict score is just a single number; there is no table that breaks down graphics, gameplay etc. -3 Stars for low content.

The second significant problem is the presentation. The color schema looks like something you would find in a daycare center. The use of fonts and other design elements is extremely inconsistent and fickle. When you look at the main title of a game review, you don't see the game's title; I don't like the style decisions of the editors at all. Since presentational style is subjective I will not deduct any stars for this.

Compared to European gaming magazines, PC Gamer displays an over-proportional amount of ads. However, because I got the subscription for a low price, I don't mind skipping ads, and I would actually be interested in buying a custom computer from one of the advertisers, I did not remove any stars for the plethora of displayed ads.

With the performance of this magazine it is no wonder why print media is going to dust.

Magazine Review

Customer Rating:
If you're a person who uses PC's to game then this is the magazine to get. My favorite attribute of this is the unbiased reviews. They don't sugarcoat anything. Recommended!!