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| Publisher: Fusion Publishing
Category: Magazine
Buy New: $19.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 1209
Format: Magazine Subscription
Type: Trade magazine
Subscription Issues: 12
Subscription Length: 12 Months
Issues Per Year: 12
First Issue Lead Time: 6-10 Weeks
ASIN: B0000AFQQY
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 1 to 3 months
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 11-13 of 13 | | « PREV | | |
 For the love of the game October 23, 2005
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Play magazine is consistently one of the best, if not the best, in its field. Well produced and always well written, it covers gaming and Anime as serious art with the respect they deserve.
PLAYed out July 23, 2005
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
--Updated December 30, 2007--Almost three years ago, tired and frustrated with the standard of video game magazines, I picked up this magazine and was immediately floored.Finally, I thought, a magazine that is for gamers who love all types of games. A magazine that doesn't equate your mind to being a child for liking Nintendo games, or lightheartted content. Grand pages filled with reviews and previews were engorged beyond that of competitors--and were better looking and more well written than them. Yes, I thought, PLAY was for gamers, by gamers. I really thought the honeymoon would last... As time has passed, I have noticed more and more bad things coming to light. For one the incessant Wii/Nintendo bashing from the one person I never thought I would lose respect for: Dave Halverson. This mouthpiece of arrogance continues to make no sense in his lambasting of Nintendo and the Wii. Dave has no problem saying that NIntendo is abandoning true fans for the casual crowd, that the Wii is mostly owned by children and casual players--and that he wants third party devs to stop putting out trash. The problem with this is that he then says, when a promising game comes to the Wii, that the game belongs on another system, such as Soul Calibur Legends. He said he rethought this after Super Mario Galaxy showed the system was more capable, but then he does it again regarding the upcoming Wii game No More Heroes in an interview. The problem is that if you continue on the path of ridiculous and self absorbed rambling, you're gonna get a very different response and crowd than you wish. While you're up there on your soapbox, Dave, you might want to hang a sign around your neck saying the world is ending, as you just might get more believers than the ones you have now. I for one am now going to skip over anything written by him regarding Nintendo and the Wii (when the Wii is actually covered), as his rambling has become tired and, well, played out. I don't mind criticism, In fact I would like to see more of it--questioning and complaining with intelligence and clear thinking. I do believe there can be intelligent arguments against the Wii and what Nintendo is doing, but without the use of childish words like "dumchuck." (nunchuck) How about the reviews I once thought were great? Well, mostly they are, but with a few missteps. Childishness can also creep into reviews with the odd foul word and reference. When a supposed grown man, Greg Orlando, describes sex as: "taking the skin boat to tuna town" when regarding the game Mass Effect, it does make you question who the hell they are writing for. And while I do respect other people's opinions, the ones at PLAY I find can be beyond my own. I am not knocking them hard for this, as I use their reviews--all reviews really--as a comparison point, but the last level of Halo is trash? The newest Sonic game (for the DS) has a child plot? This game needs to be on another platform? Japanese game reviews can also be kind of jaded as in the one given for Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, where touch controls were lambasted (thankfully there was a counterpoint), but are they are somewhat informative of what we can expect if the game reviewed comes to the States. More and more, though, I'm finding that I have to read between the garbage fill to get to what I want to actually read, especially with Dave's reviews as of late. Another sour point comes in the interviews PLAY gives. While PLAY does manage to get a bountiful selection of devs to speak with, and some information is often given, it often turns out like this:"PLAY: You are so great, everything you do is so great. You can do no wrong and you are wonderful. Please, tell us of more greatness from you. Developer: Thanks! We are great, and you are great for pointing out we are great. PLAY: No problem! Now, tell us more about how you made this great game..." Obviously, not exactly, but you get the picture of what becomes standard and tiring to read. To be fair, this is indicative of the entire gaming community. No indepth reporting and hard questioning from supposed journalists means devs/corporate tools showing up with their propaganda to spew that their game/system is going to be the best game/system ever, mostly without criticism or question. Lovefests take the place of investigative journalism, seems like. PLAY still has great coverage of upcoming games though, and great E3 and Tokyo game show reports that blow the competition away (but with those interviews). Anime is also a favorite of theirs, taking up the back of the magazine if you wish as well (albeit with a lame Girls of Gaming promo somewhere within it). In the end, PLAY is still a magazine worth picking up, for what other magazine allows for cover stories of more niche games. The staff's fondness for retro games is really felt, and they do choose games that are not overly hyped to cover. If you want more coverage of truly mass market games and adoration of them get: EGM, GamePro, and Official Magazines, or go to IGN and GameSpot. For niche games, PLAY still is the one willing to give a games like Odin Sphere its proper perch. I will agree WITH Dave, however, that the staff at PLAY aren't fanboys; they really like games--and that comes through most of the time. Unfortunately, it's also that overt passion that can get the better of them a lot of the time.
Mature gamers rejoice! September 28, 2004
24 out of 25 found this review helpful
I've been playing video games since my Atari 2600 (and my lucky neighbors CalicoVision) and I'm happy to say that someone who grew up around the same time decided to start a magazine. At Play they go out of their way to show games that they think are great but that are never going to get any press anywhere else. Also, since the mid-1990's I've been into anime but have only been able to go by word of mouth or more recently by what I see on TV (thank you anime and cartoon network). Now I have play to read, as it has extensive, 20-30 pages of quality anime reviews.
The reviewers are more than competent and may actually posses brains, unlike the reviewers in most other game magazines. They realize that their reader is not only the thirteen year old Grand-Theft, Tony Hawk player but also people like me who need humor and intelligence in my reading material.
Finally, the quality of printing and lamination on the pages will make you want to keep each one forever and I have reread and consulted past issues over and over.
Thank you Play for giving me something other than Bills to pull out of my mail box.
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