PC Powerplay

In a move which is not really going to concern anyone I have decided not to renew my subscription of PC PowerPlay which runs out at the end of the year. My main reason for reading a magazine like PC PowerPlay is for the game reviews. The game updates and previews are generally a month old when they go to print and you can find more up-to-date information on the internet. Game reviews I don't like reading online and would prefer to read in a magazine format. However, the standard of the reviews in PC PowerPlay are just getting worse. A part of the problem comes from the ego of the reviewer itself. They cannot distance themselves from the personal to make an honest and impartial judgement on a game (while every review is subjective it is up to the reviewer to approach a title with as much impartiality as possible). Some of the single page reviews just aren't worth the paper they are printed on where the reviewer gets on their high horse and craps on about one single facet which has tickled their fancy and forgotten about the whole game.

I have read PC/Commodore and Console magazines for twenty years and I believe that the quality of the content is getting worse. Reviewers seem to have their heads stuck so far up their own arses that they have forgotten what game reviewing is all about and would prefer to tickle their own egos from the inside out.

I just can't be bothered wasting my hard earned money on a magazine which is going down the toilet. I've got better things to spend it on like upgrading my PC or buying a next generation console and actually playing games rather than read about someone else's biased opinion on them.

The good thing about PC gaming is that more often than not a game demo is released for a PC game giving the gamer an opportunity to try before they buy. While this is not always a guaranteed way to assess a game it is, at least, possible to sample the software and make a somewhat educated decision on the purchase.