| Gamepro |
Articles about Gamepro |
Information AboutGamepro |
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| american magazines | |
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| publications established in 1989 | |
| video game magazines | |
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''GamePro'' is a United States -based Video Game Magazine published monthly. First established in Redwood City, California in 1989 , it has since moved its headquarters to San Mateo and then to San Francisco before finally settling in Oakland . The magazine was known for its editors using Comic Book -like Avatars and monikers when reviewing games. This led to some accusations within the gaming community that its content is aimed more so at younger and more casual gamers than its competition. As of January 2004 , however, ''GamePro'' has ceased to use the avatars due to a change in the overall design and layout of the magazine. Another thing ''GamePro'' is known for is its Protips, or its tips scattered throughout its reviews (they are usually placed under screenshots). It also has a section known as Code Vault (formerly S.W.A.T.Pro), where Secret Codes are posted. There was also a TV Show called '' GamePro TV ''. The show was hosted by J.D. Roth . The show was short lived due to competition with a similar program entitled ''Video Power''. Early in its lifespan the magazine also included comic pages about the adventures of a superhero named Gamepro who was a video game player from the real world brought into a dimension where video games were real to save it from creatures called the Evil Darklings. The strip seems designed to cash in on the popularity of Captain N . There is also a Greek version of ''GamePro'', which is known to be the exactly opposite as the American ''GamePro'', because ''GamePro GR'' targets mostly to the hardcore gamers. In February, GamePro's online video channel, Games.net, launched a series of video-game related shows. The extensive online programming is geared towards an older and more mature audience. It has already gained (possibly unwanted) attention for featuring adult-content including scantily-clad women, graphic shooting scenes, and suggestive homoerotica. CRITICISM ''GamePro'' has been heavily criticized by hardcore gamers, who often see the magazine as one for casual gamers that pretends to be otherwise. They do not like the layout, the writing, the poor reviews, and the reviewers themselves. Many feel that the reviewers write their reviews based on their first impressions from playing the game. ''GamePro'' was also highly criticized for running an early review of '' Half-Life '' for the Sega Dreamcast off of a near final, but not complete build. The review was printed, even though the game was not released, and was eventually cancelled altogether. The magazine only recently stated they would be more of a casual gamer's magazine. LAMEPRO Every April as an April Fools day prank, Gamepro prints a 2-5 page satiristic spoof of their magazine named Lamepro, whose title is a play on Gamepro's title. The spoof contains humorous prank game titles and fake news, not unlike The Onion . It seems that no one is safe from the Lamepro satiristic arm, even themselves. Many other game magazines have been the butt of the joke of Lamepro. Lamepro, however, is not without its own controversy. While some game magazines have taken Lamepro as a chance to laugh at themselves and each other, other have been very offended at the types of jokes that it prints. In 1997, a spoof ad in the satire made reference to a then newer (and short-lived) game magazine called "Video Game Incite". In the ad, the game magazine was used as bird-cage lining, with the white-background ad saying "you get what you paid for," making reference to the first Incite issue costing 99 cents on newsstands. Just one month later after the spoof ran, Incite fought fire with fire in their Letters To The Editor section, spouting off in their subwords "Get it, GamePROSE," and many supposed fans of their magazine defending them against the spoof ad. During the remander of their short lifespan, Incite ran the "GamePROSE" quote in every issue. In 2005, another spoof ad had a similar effect, and also had an even greater controversy. The spoof was on account of gaming supersite IGN.com . Once again, on a white background, the ad showed a phony game site screenshot, with a logo similar to IGN's, spelling out "GNO.com" and the phrase "You can't spell ignorance without GNO." This sparked a letter to one of IGN's staff members who does a weekly feedback column on the site, and, in answering to one's e-mail concerning the spoof, mentioned that Gamepro wasn't mature at all for taking such a shot at IGN (the columnist, by the way, happened to be an editor at Incite when Gamepro did the Incite spoof ad, as well, and also mentioned the Incite episode in his response to the IGN letter). However, that wasn't the biggest concern in the 2005 ad. Just a few weeks after the issue hit newsstands, word came out that there was an actual site on the internet that had the aaddress GNO.com. The site was actually an internet publishing site, and Gamepro a few months later ran an apology in their letters section, saying that they had no prior knowledge about the site existing before the issue had been released. GAMEPRO'S MAIN SECTIONS (CURRENT AS OF APRIL 2006)
Also, near the end of 2005, the Head-2-Head, Buyers Beware, and Pro-News sections were grouped as subsections, still separate, under a main heading called "Loading". Retired Sections
WELL-KNOWN EDITOR ALIASES When Gamepro began, the magazine only had a limited amount of editors to review games or write articles about them. Therefore, they created fake names for the editors and allowed them to have more than one in order to create the mirage that there were more editors writing for the magazine than there actually were. The monikers were received so well that Gamepro kept using them, as during the time of the launch of the magazine, the video game industry's demographic were much younger. Gamepro has yet to cease using these monikers, mostly as a reminder of their grassroots beginnings. Many of the names, according to Gamepro, are a play on the personalities, interests, and/or past jobs that the real person behind the persona has, and the editors choose their own name (while some they have admitted to being just "bad puns"). A lot of the Gamepro editors, as stated, also had either more than one name, or retired a name in favor of another name they had chosen. Many editor names have came and gone. However, there have been many names in the magazine's bylines that many longtime readers remember. Some of these names:
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