Heh, I've still got all of my PC Gamer magazines going all the way back to 1994, and all of my Computer Gaming World and Computer Games Strategy Plus magazines all the way up until they folded.

I suppose that fits some definitions of a hoarder, although they are all neatly shelved. But the most fun I have sometimes is digging out an old issue and reading it again, cover to cover, just as a reminder of the "good old days." It's fascinating to me, all the crap we used to put up with to get a game to run on the PC, or to get a $200 joystick operational. The days when I just HAD to have a 3-button mouse to play Doom, because WASD hadn't been 'invented' yet, and my far right button was exclusively used as a strafe modifier.

I would at least check that the archive has them uploaded; better to have presented them up than letting data rot kick in.

This is honestly a big question for me too. Why not keep the content up for old time sake? I dont think Game Informer really delved into political points or controversy so having the old articles up shouldnt cause controversy nor impact modern articles on modern games being created while fostering good will.

I guess for many now, magazines have gone the way of the Dodo, and many folks just use their phone, no matter where they are, even on the toilet, to browse the web and just read what they really want to read, rather than some limited magazine selection ... or they just chat on facebook or wherever ... do their banking etc etc.

Like all progress there are losses and benefits, with usually the latter being more.

It is hard to not be nostalgic, and purely operate on logic, because we tend to have an emotional connection with habits that die hard. An example would be album covers & vinyl records. For storage and a bunch of other reasons, CDs or digital variants are an improvement, but looking at a small CD cover versus a large 12" record cover, just doesn't do the picture justice, size wise. It is with good reason we miss things like that. Just as the visual and tactile benefits of browsing through a physical magazine can also be missed ... even when viewing on your PC or a 10" tablet.

Yep, I have so many, it doesn't bare thinking about too closely.
But I guess it is like paying for a meal at a restaurant, you only need to enjoy it once, so you kind of get your money's worth, and if you really want you can try and enjoy it again and again, unlike a meal.

That said, it can be psychologically depressing thinking of all those magazines and discs, just sitting there upon a rare moment of use, if even that now.

Yep, fascinating is a good word, along with nostalgia. I too have mine highly organised on shelves.

I also used to scan each magazine disc into a program called something like 'Broken X Disc Manager' and then categorize everything. I could then search for games and demos and programs etc, rather than go on the web, especially in those slow 56k modem days.

For whatever reason, I just assumed that Game Informer was a thing of the past and was actually shuttered a long time ago. Guess it was still doing something to this day? Was anyone actually going there to get some sort of game news or something? I know I used to get those physical magazines a couple decades back and they were very cool. Now there are about a million sites which do exactly what the magazine did. Not sure if there are any new releases that fly under the radar.

GameStop has been spiraling the drain for a while now. Surprised they didn't pull the plug on Game Informer for this long.

I hope if/when their NDAs expire, they just pop that cork and dunk Cohen and his Cohorts into the mud.

Only fond memory I have of a magazine, was the pack in disc of Resident Evil 2 demo. Forgot who had it up, but one mag had a bunch of gameshark codes to unlock half the actual game from the demo, before release lol

Funny stuff.

Dilettantism and greed commonly go together in these unsavory upper echelons, sure thing.

The more I read about this, the more I'm frustrated by the sheer, sudden loss of the articles archive, and the nuking of a publication that had more than a decade's worth of knowledge, an established industry contact network, passion. To just flip the switch on something like this.

Edit: Saying Goodbye To Game Informer's Office (YouTube)

Surely there must be someone out there with a physical collection of those magazines that could either donate or lend those magazines to someone that was willing to scan it all and make it available. Like they did with CGW several years ago. Actually more than several years ago.

Fan stuff should be preserved and discussed by fans, art stuff by art people, science by scientists, etc.
The interest and proft elements are sane, necessary and sensible to contribute but do not have the same ultimate goals and, more importantly, mid term priorities. So the real ones who feel that this or that topic deserves care and attention as such (not as a mean to success or other ) should retain a healty share of control. If not, they risk being put aside with their activity altogether when it's no more economically feasible. Amateurs, buffs and "pure experts" on something have a function, especially when something goes relatively "out of fashion": to avoid the waste of a scene and to preserve some legacy
This is a mission for Archive...

There would be the stumbling block of legality no doubt ... copyright and all that stuff.

If you are lucky enough and want to spend some time looking, many second hand sellers have such magazines. In fact they often have a glut of them, and so many just end up at the tip or rubbish dump. Places like the Salvos or OP Shops and even some book shops etc.

And I've certainly seen some at the Archive. I saw them earlier in the year when looking for magazine covers for demo discs.