Death of EGM and what happened to EGM Philippines

Jan 08 2009 Published by Joey Alarilla under Gaming

I’m still saddened by the death of Electronic Gaming Monthly, but I’m coming to terms with it. Ironically, a few years back, I was involved with plans to bring EGM to the Philippines. 

Here’s an excerpt from my CNET Asia blog post.

It was my online platforms manager Kevin Codamon who broke the bad news to me yesterday when I walked into our office, and it was definitely staggering to those like us who were weaned on the magazine. I read Kevin’s blog post to know more about how Ziff Davis sold its 1UP online network of gaming sites, which include the online version of EGM, to their competitor, Hearst-owned UGO Entertainment.

What’s more shocking is that Ziff Davis has decided to discontinue EGM, meaning this January issue is the iconic print magazine’s last. The irony is that the magazine is just one month away from its 20th anniversary, but no one knows yet what will happen to the unpublished February 2009 20th anniversary issue.

I didn’t want to blog about it here yesterday till I’d digested everything, but many of us were Plurking, twittering, and basically lamenting the death of EGM all throughout the day. In retrospect, it’s not so shocking given how many high-profile magazines have been dying lately–in fact, Mike Abundo, who blogged about the demise of EGM yesterday, firmly believes that magazines are doomed and has been saying that for some time. Print publications have been suffering for years now, and with the global economic slowdown, we have to face the reality that they’ll confront even more challenges.

It’s really an emotional reaction to the death of EGM because it’s been synonymous with video games for generations of gamers. The reality is that many younger gamers may not even be that familiar with EGM or that attached to it, in the same manner that, say, Sesame Street may still be around but is no longer a must-watch show for today’s kids as it was for those of us who grew up on it. (Did I just compare EGM to Sesame Street? I’ll burn in video game hell for this!)

Read the blog entry for the story behind EGM Philippines.

How about you, do you still read print magazines?

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Missend, missed call

Dec 10 2008 Published by Joey Alarilla under Uncategorized

Here’s an excerpt from my latest CNET Asia blog post :)

Do you answer text messages (SMS) that get missent to your mobile phone? Just to inform the person that he or she sent the message to the wrong person?

I used to, particularly when the message seemed important. No, nothing as dramatic yet as a life-and-death situation–and seriously, wouldn’t you call rather than text if it’s an emergency–but stuff like someone asking the recipient if he or she has already arrived at the meeting place, or why he or she hasn’t called.

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Life without tech (sort of)

Dec 02 2008 Published by Joey Alarilla under Uncategorized

I had a great time in Santa Rosa, Nueva Ecija — we went on a roadtrip there Friday night and came home Sunday morning. Thanks again to my kumpare Joel Pinaroc, his brother Jay, and their Tito Dan and his family for their warm hospitality.

I blogged about our “escape from urban life” for CNET Asia. Here’s an excerpt:

I’m not sure how many of you have been to or grew up in a rural area, but we’re talking a house (though a modern one) surrounded by ricefields, with a stream, piggery, carabaos (water buffalo) ducks, chickens–the works. It’s a different kind of experience, particularly for someone like me who lived his whole life in the city, and I always welcome opportunities like this to get away from it all and forget about my complete immersion in the digital world, at work and at play.

In a world where many of our friends and colleagues are people we’ve only interacted with online, it’s good to just spend time talking (well, OK, drinking and talking–we arrived there at 11:30 pm and proceeded to drink a lot of brandy and beer until 4 am) with friends and meeting new people whose lives don’t revolve around technology.

Oh, and if you haven’t tried bulalong kalabaw yet, trust me, it’s better than bulalong baka! :)

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