Obviously you like gaming sites (hey, you're on one right now, aren't you?), and they have definitely grown in recent years. But how compared to gamings premier medium, the magazine. You know the drill by now.

Is the internet taking over magazines on the games journalism front? And will it eventually make them obselete?

Javid: An Internet gaming site has many advantages over a magazine, it can up news as and when it happens and it can be updated much easier with the script used behind it than with all the tricky editing required by a magazine. However, I think magazines will always be around and i still buy them because they just feel more professional somehow. They look better too, you can create much more presentable articles in a magazine with it being spread out and can produce more reader friendly articles rather than a straight plain and simple article of paragraphs.

It's often magazines that are invited to exclusive plays and interviews rather than websites too, they recieve advanced copies of games and generally are more involved in the gaming industry. The main big advantage I find for magazines is the fact that they are devoted to gaming journalism, it's their job, internet sites are usually just a hobby and something people do for fun. That's the difference. Of course, C-E is just as devoted ;)

Link: I don't really think that the internet has taken over magazines on the journalism front as (games) magazines are still being sold and are making profits. I don't think that magazine sales have dropped because of the internet (I wouldn't be surprised if they have risen due to advertising on the internet), but what has happened is that sites are getting a lot more recognition. People still like buying magazines to get the official picture on things, but these same people will log on day after day to see if any up dates have been made since the last time a news story came out in their favourite magazine.

As for the quality I would say that the chance of quality on the internet is lower than what you read in magazines because there isn't any censorship on the internet (whether it be moral issues or credibility of content or even the quality of writing in an article). That's not to say, though, that there aren't well written, credible information on the internet, it's just to say that there is a lot of crap on the internet; to find the good stuff you just have too look harder than you would with magazines. For you who are reading this, though, it is obvious that you have already found the credible, high quality source that is cube-europe.

Gualtiero: I don't think we're at the point of calling gaming magazines "obselete" compared to their internet counter-parts. There's just something special about reading a gaming magazine, a feeling you don't get when you're looking at your monitor. As for now, magazines have the large advantage of being accessible pretty much everywhere, even though laptops are getting more and more popular every day.

I hope gaming journalism on paper will live on, even though it's hard to be as updated as an internet site is. The only solution would be to give all those magazine writers a webpage that they could take care of.

Ash: Yes, is the simple answer. With the odd exception such as IGN you can find out gaming info on the internet for free, so what not use it. I do not buy magazines anymore, but I understand how some people would, because of free gifts. Thats probably the only advantage over the ineternet. Magazines often give out free gifts and I think they are the only reason they have survived. But nowaday, you can pick up these gifts in places such as GAME.

So to sum it up, yes magazines will become obsolete and the internet will become the new medium. This will not happen for a few years though, when the internet is more widely accessible.

Conor: Yes, I do think that the internet is slowly taking over magazines. It just offers so much more. Take C-E for example; we have daily news updates, post new screenshots, we've got reviews, previews and great features if I do say so myself, not forgetting the forum you can go onto and talk with the staff and other nintendophiles. And that's just C-E, just think what unique material IGN, Nintendojo, Planet Gamecube, Nintendophiles, N-Sider and countless other games sites offer. And this is compared to a medium that cannot keep up-to-date (with monthly releases and deadline issues) with the gaming world, and can only fit in so much each month.

I think the main appeal of mags is their reputation. I mean, people really do want to know the score EDGE or NGC gives the new big game. Apart from the excellent EDGE I don't really buy mags as often as I used to. With the internet at my disposal, I just don't feel the need anymore. Sites have got reputations now, the scores they give are getting more credible.

With the number of internet users growing and the growth of gaming sites as well, I think the internet will overtake games mags, but won't make them obselete. They'll always have a place, especially ones like EDGE.

Tim:I do not think that internet is taking over the magazines. They both have their positive and negative sides. Internet sites for example can bring you news way faster than a magazine. A magazine however, you can read with a hot cup of chocolate on the couch and show decorate your table with. You can also buy a mag them everywhere and for a website you will need access to a PC.

Maybe in the future magazines will be sold digitally on special digi pads. They will not vanish though I think.