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GamePro

April 10, 2023

Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany[1] and France.[2] The publication, GamePro, was originally launched as an American online and print content video game magazine. The magazine featured content on various video game consoles, PC computers and mobile devices. GamePro Media properties included GamePro magazine and their website. The company was also a part subsidiary of the privately held International Data Group (IDG), a media, events and research technology group. The magazine and its parent publication printing the magazine went defunct in 2011, but is outlasted by Gamepro.com.

GamePro
Vice President, ContentJulian Rignall
CategoriesVideo game journalism
FrequencyMonthly
First issueMagazine: April 1989; 34 years ago (1989-04)
Website: 1998; 25 years ago (1998)
Final issueMagazine: Winter 2011
Website: 2011
CompanyIDG
CountryUnited States
Based inOakland, California
LanguageEnglish
WebsiteGamepro.com (archived)
ISSN1042-8658
OCLC19231826

Originally published in 1989, GamePro magazine provided feature articles, news, previews and reviews on various video games, video game hardware and the entertainment video game industry. The magazine was published monthly (most recently from its headquarters in Oakland, California) with October 2011 being its last issue, after over 22 years of publication. GamePro's February 2010 issue introduced a redesigned layout and a new editorial direction focused on the people and culture of its gaming.[3]

GamePro.com was officially launched in 1998. Updated daily, the website's content included feature articles, news, previews, reviews, screenshots and videos covering video games, video game hardware and the entertainment gaming industry. The website also included user content such as forums, reviews and blogs. In January 2010, the website was redesigned to reflect the same new editorial changes being made in the print magazine.[3] The website was based at Gamepro's headquarters in San Francisco from 1998 to 2002 and then in Oakland, California from 2002 to 2011.

History and establishment

 
First issue (April 1989)

Gamepro was first established in late 1988 by Patrick Ferrell, his sister-in-law Leeanne McDermott, and the husband-wife design team of Michael and Lynne Kavish. They worked out of their houses throughout the San Francisco Bay Area before leasing their first office in Redwood City, California at the end of 1989.[4] Lacking the cashflow to be able to sustain growth after publishing the first issue, the founding management team sought a major publisher and in 1989 found one with IDG Peterborough, a New Hampshire-based division of the global giant IDG. Led by a merger and acquisition team comprising IDG Peterborough President Roger Murphy and two other [5] executives, Jim McBrian and Roger Strukhoff, the magazine was acquired, then a few months later spun off as an independent business unit of IDG, under the leadership of Ferrell as president/CEO. The later addition of John Rousseau as publisher and editor-in-chief Wes Nihei, as well as renowned artist Francis Mao, established Gamepro as a large, profitable worldwide publication.[6] Francis Mao, acting in his role as art director for the nascent GamePro, contracted game illustrator Marc Ericksen to create the premiere cover for the first edition of the magazine. Ericksen would go on to produce five of the first ten covers for GamePro, eventually creating eight in total, and would continue a secondary role creating a number of the double page spreads for the very popular monthly Pro Tips section. The magazine had a monthly circulation of 300,000[7]

Over the years, the Gamepro offices have moved from Redwood City (1989–1991) to San Mateo (1991-1998) to San Francisco (1998-2002) and lastly Oakland. In 1993, the company was renamed from Gamepro Inc. to Infotainment World in reflection of its growing and diverse publication lines.

The magazine was known for its editors using comic book-like avatars and monikers when reviewing games. As of January 2004, however, Gamepro ceased to use the avatars due to a change in the overall design and layout of the magazine. Meanwhile, editorial voices carried over to the community on its online sister publication, www.gamepro.com.

Gamepro was also most widely famous for its ProTips, small pieces of gameplay tips and advice depicted with game screenshot captions. It also features a special corner section known as Code Vault (formerly Strategies Weapons and Tactics or S.W.A.T. Pro), where secret codes are all posted. These particular features have since gradually vanished. Code Vault was also published in print format and sold as a quarterly cheats and strategy magazine on newsstands.

There was also a TV show called GamePro TV. The show was hosted by J. D. Roth and Brennan Howard. The show was nationally syndicated for one year, then moved to cable (USA and Sci-Fi) for a second year.

In 1993, Patrick Ferrell sent Debra Vernon, VP of marketing, to a meeting between the games industry and the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Realizing an opportunity, the team at the now-entitled Infotainment World launched E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo. The industry backed E3 and Ferrell partnered with the IDSA to produce the event. It was one of the biggest trade show launches in history.

Early in its lifespan, the magazine also included comic book 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. In 2003, Joyride Studios produced limited-edition action figures of some of the Gamepro editorial characters.

Gamepro also appeared in several international editions, including France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Turkey, Australia, Brazil and Greece. Some of these publications share the North American content, while some others share only the name and logo but do feature different content.

Early in 2006, IDG Entertainment began to change internally and shift operational focus from a "Print to Online" to "Online to Print" publishing mentality. The first steps; build a large online network of web sites and rebuild the editorial team. Enter: George Jones, industry veteran.

In February 2006, 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.

In August 2006, the Gamepro online team spun off a new cheats site, GamerHelp.com. It was shortly followed by a video game information aggregation site, Games.net, and a dedicated gaming downloads site, GameDownloads.com.

Under the new leadership of George Jones, Gamepro magazine underwent a massive overhaul in the March 2007 issue. While losing some of the more dated elements of the magazine, the new arrangement focused on five main insertions: HD game images, more reviews and previews per issue, www.gamepro.com community showcase, user contributions and insider news. However the German Gamepro website is still run, however this time, by "GameStar" as their partner, as that website have a message at the top of the screen saying "Partner of GameStar" (Note: This is written in German)

In 2009, Gamepro's 20th anniversary coincided with 20-year industry veteran John Davison joining the newly named Gamepro Media team in October 2009 as executive vice president of content.[8] Under Davison's direction, the magazine and website were redesigned in early 2010 with an editorial shift toward focusing on the people and culture of gaming. The redesigned magazine and website were met with an enthusiastic audience response.[3]

In addition to announcing the hire of Davison in October 2009, the company also announced an "aggressive growth plan throughout 2009 and beyond, with numerous online media initiatives to deepen consumer engagement and create new opportunities for advertisers." Plans included partnering with sister company IDG TechNetwork to build a "boutique online network of sites."[8] The result was the introduction of the .

In September 2010, Gamepro Media announced a new alliance with online magazine The Escapist offering marketers joint advertising programs for reaching an unduplicated male audience.[9] The partnership was named the Gamepro Escapist Media Group.

In November 2010, Julian Rignall joined Gamepro Media as its new vice-president of content, replacing John Davison, who resigned in September 2010.[10]

Gamepro ended monthly publication after over 22 years with its October 2011 issue. Shortly after that issue, the magazine changed to Gamepro Quarterly, which was a quarterly publication using higher quality paper stock as well as being larger and thicker than all of the previous standard magazine issues. Gamepro Quarterly hit newsstands within the first half of November 2011.[11] The quarterly endeavor lasted for only one issue before being scrapped. On November 30, it was announced that Gamepro as a magazine and a website would be shutting down on December 5, 2011. Gamepro then became part of the PC World website as a small section of the site covering the latest video games, run by the PC World staff.[12]

Content

Main sections

In February 2010, the magazine's main sections were:-

  • Inside: A redesigned table of contents page listing the major pieces and games in the issue.
  • From the Editor: A column found at the beginning of the magazine from the editor introducing features or big games covered in that month's issue.
  • Inbox: User feedback and letter of the month.
    • Art Attack: Reader art sent into the magazine. That month's best art would win a game-related prize.
  • Editorials: Articles on varying topics by freelance writers and individuals working in the game industry.
  • Spawn Point: Front of magazine sections featuring behind-the-scenes game news and insights, interviews, game previews and a calendar of "gamer-culture events".
  • The Bonus Level: A short guide to "essential geek gear", including video game releases, books and game-related items for sale at various websites.
  • Features: Any cover stories or featured games/issues that warrant a separate article would be told here.
  • Reviews: This section was initially named "ProViews" and later renamed to "ProReviews". The reviews format changed over the years, although the original basic format remained the same: One reviewer speaks for the entire Gamepro staff about a particular game. The magazine initially began by giving each platform its own section of reviews. Near the end of 2005, Gamepro changed this format to have only one review for any game released on more than one platform, describing any differences that one platform may have over another with that particular game, and giving separate scores for each platform's version of the game. During 2006, another aspect of the reviews debuted, called "Key Moment", in which the reviewer names one particular instance or a standout piece of the game that led them to the decision they made in a short, one sentence description. "Key Moment" was eventually replaced by "Pros" and "Cons", found with the review score, which briefly list any issues that stand out with the game, both good and bad.
  • Parting Shot: With the major overhaul of the magazine in the February 2010 issue, Opening Shots was dropped, and Parting Shot went from being art from a particular game showcased at the back of the magazine, to a look back at the issue of Gamepro that appeared that month 10 years ago.

Retired sections

  • Opening Shots/Parting Shot: Use of higher quality HD images and bigger, more detailed screen shots throughout the magazine. "Opening Shots" is a new screen grab gallery at the front of the magazine, while "Parting Shot" is art from a game showcased at the back of the magazine.
  • The Hub: Section dedicated to the Gamepro.com online community. Back of the magazine highlights of reader reviews, comments, new "Ask the Pros" question of the month, community leaders profile highlights, featured forum threads and the new Head2Head: User feedback and letter of the month. Every week, the Hub gets a new Featured Member.
    • Ask The Pros: Returns from the past in this new, online version of user submitted question (online) and answered by the editor of relative expertise.
    • Head2Head: User feedback and letter of the month return to new subsection in rear of each issue.
  • Previews (formerly known as "Short ProShots" and then "Sneak Previews"): A peek at games in development, telling of the projected release dates of games and what to expect out of them. When this column first appeared, it was in the back of the magazine, with only minuscule information. In 1996, it was moved to the front of the magazine after the features. It was shortly after the rearranging in 1996 that GamePro started a new approach to the previews, labeling previews as either "First Look", where they may have only seen a video and only had information on storyline and features in the game, and "Hands-On", where the editor providing the preview got to play an early build of the game and described any first impressions of the game. Also added for a short time in 1996 was a "percent complete bar" graphic that noted how far along the game was. This graphic was dropped in 1999 during the 10th Anniversary redesign.
  • Games To Go: Reviews and previews of games for portable game systems.
  • The Sports Page: Previews and reviews of sports games. When this section debuted in 1993, each review and preview got its own "headline" to give the section a newspaper feel. By the end of 1996, the newspaper-style headlines were only used for one or two reviews each issue and never for previews, and they were dropped entirely in 1999 for the 10th Anniversary redesign. This section was also the first section to have the "multiplatform game review" tactic described above, in 2003.
  • Role Players Realm: Reviews, previews, and walkthroughs of role playing games (RPGs). Often a walkthrough for a game would be serialized across two or three issues. During slow months for RPGs, the section would be padded with fantasy-themed video games from other genres.
  • Code Vault (formerly "C.S.A.T. Pro"): Video game cheats, strategies, tactics, tips, secrets and easter eggs revealed. Both game companies and readers sent in submissions for this section, with a random prize to the reader who sent in the best tip (usually a game). When this section debuted as C.S.A.T. Pro, C.S.A.T. stood for "Cheats, Strategies and Tactics". In 2002 this feature was renamed "Code Vault" so as to match the name of Gamepro's short-lived cheat-code spinoff magazines.
  • Head-2-Head (formerly known as "The Mail"): A letters to the editor section. They began doing a "Letter Of The Month" special in 2004, with the winning letter's author winning a particular prize. This section had begun to feature a Reader Review from their website on a particular game as a way to entice other readers to visit their site and do the same. Throughout the magazine's lifespan, this section was in the front of the magazine. However, as of April 2007's redesign, the section has been moved to the back of the magazine.
  • Buyers Beware: A consumer advocacy section in which readers send in complaints about defective and malfunctioning games, peripherals, systems, and the like. Gamepro was the only publication to feature such a column.[citation needed] Every once in a while, the column steered away from its usual formula to feature a current widespread issue. Whenever possible, GamePro contacted the relevant game company and a company representative would directly answer the reader's query, sometimes with the editor putting in additional advice or critical comments if he considered the company's response inadequate. This was the only Gamepro column to be authored by the same editor since its debut in 1994: The Watch Dog. This section migrated onto Gamepro.com as of the April 2007 redesign, and was seemingly dropped from the print magazine.
  • ProNews: Gamepro's news section. This section first appeared in the back of the magazine after the reviews, but found its way to the front of the magazine in 1996 to follow suit with other game magazines. This section has shape-shifted over the years to include various "game watches", a random quote generation sidebar called "Static" that seemingly disappeared after 2003. Gamepro Labs, which used to be a separate column, then appeared as a part of this section.
  • Hot At The Arcades: Previews and reviews of cabinet arcade games. This section appeared regularly for about 5 years after the magazine debuted. The section still appeared every now and again, but was absent for the most part since 1997 due to the steady decline of arcades. This section was at times folded into the Pro news section.
  • Overseas Prospects: Import games were featured and sometimes reviewed. This section is still in the magazine, but appears only rarely.
  • Video Game Survival Guide: Originally titled "16-Bit Survival Guide" when the Super NES and Genesis were on the last year of their respective runs, to review those games that were still being released for the systems. This was changed to reflect other game systems that were close to, or even past, the end of their commercial lifespan.
  • Adventures of Gamepro: The Adventures of Gamepro was a comic strip run in the early issues of the magazine detailing the adventures of a superhero named after the magazine. He was a gamer drawn into the realm of video games to fight off evil creatures taking over game after game called the Evil Darklings.

Rating scale

At first, games were rated by five categories: Graphics, Sound, Gameplay, FunFactor, and Challenge.[13] Later the "Challenge" category was dropped and the "Gameplay" category was renamed "Control".[13] The ratings were initially on a scale of 1.0 to 5.0, in increments of 0.5, but a possible 0.5 score was later added. The first game to receive such a score was Battle Arena Toshinden URA for the Sega Saturn. Starting in October 1990, each score was accentuated with a cartoon face (The Gamepro Dude) depicting different expressions for different ratings.[14] The ratings faces remained in use until about 2000. GamePro's reviews became esteemed enough that some games would display their GamePro ratings on their retail boxes.

After 2000, the category system was eliminated in favor of a single overall rating for each game on a scale of 1.0 to 5.0 stars. A graphic of five stars were shown alongside the written review. The number of stars a game earned was indicated by the number of solid stars (e.g., a game's 4-star rating was represented by showing 4 solid stars and one hollow star). No game ever received less than one star. An Editors' Choice Award was given to a game that earned either 4.5 or 5.0 stars.

Role-Player's Realm

GamePro had a "Role-Player's Realm" section dedicated to the coverage and reviews of role-playing video games. In the January 1997 issue, they published a list of "The Top Ten Best RPGs Ever" which consisted of the following games:[15]

  1. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Super NES)
  2. Final Fantasy 3 (Super NES)
  3. Lunar: Eternal Blue / Silver Star (Sega CD)
  4. Breath of Fire II (Super NES)
  5. Phantasy Star IV (Genesis)
  6. Secret of Mana (Super NES)
  7. Chrono Trigger (Super NES)
  8. Super Mario RPG (Super NES)
  9. Might and Magic II (Genesis)
  10. Final Fantasy 2 (Super NES)

Later in 2008, GamePro published another list of "The 26 Best RPGs of the All Time", the top ten of which consisted of the following games:[16]

  1. Final Fantasy VII
  2. World of Warcraft
  3. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
  4. Chrono Trigger
  5. Fallout 3
  6. Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
  7. Ultima series
  8. Xenogears
  9. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
  10. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

ProTips

GamePro is credited with coming up with the concept of "Protip", a short piece of advice as if spoken by an expert usually attached to an image, which was explained by former writer Dan Amrich that as part of their editorial process, they were encouraged to caption the three-to-seven images used in an article with such advice.

One purported image from a GamePro review of Doom (1993) had a caption for an image of one of the games bosses as "PROTIP: To defeat the Cyberdemon, shoot at it until it dies". The apparent advice, which is common sense and self-evident for players of first-person shooters like Doom, was widely mocked and created a meme of similarly obvious protips added as captions to pictures. However, the image was revealed to be a fake, created as an April's Fool joke for a fansite doomworld.com.[17]

Lamepro

Every April until 2007, as an April Fools' Day prank, Gamepro printed a 2-5 page satirical spoof of the magazine called Lamepro, a parody of Gamepro's own official title. The feature contained humorous game titles and fake news similar to The Onion, though some content, such as ways to get useless game glitches (games getting stuck, reset, or otherwise), was real. The section parodied GamePro itself, as well as other game magazines.

PC Games

What was called a "sister publication" to GamePro, PC Games, was published by IDG until 1999.[18] It was founded in August 1988, but changed its name to Electronic Entertainment in late 1993 and PC Entertainment in early 1996. The title reverted to PC Games in June 1996.[19] Its website was merged with several other IDG properties, including GamePro Online, to form the IDG Games Network in late 1997.[20] The print version of PC Games was the fourth-largest computer game magazine in the United States during 1998, with a circulation of 169,281. In March 1999, it was purchased and closed by Imagine Publishing;[18][21] its April 1999 issue was its last.[22] Following this event, Imagine sent former subscribers of PC Games issues of PC Gamer US and PC Accelerator in its place.[19][22] According to GameDaily, the move came as part of IDG's rebranding effort to lean more heavily on the GamePro name: coverage of computer games was thereafter centralized at PCGamePro.com, and in the "PC GamePro" section of GamePro's print edition.[22]

References

  1. ^ "Das Magazin für PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo und Mobile Gaming". GamePro.de. from the original on 2012-06-14. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
  2. ^ . Gamepro.fr. Archived from the original on 2007-06-03. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
  3. ^ a b c . Archived from the original on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  4. ^ "100 Issues... Over 200 Writers!". GamePro. No. 100. IDG. January 1997. pp. 38–39.
  5. ^ IDG[permanent dead link]
  6. ^ . Business Wire. September 23, 2002. Archived from the original on March 27, 2010. Retrieved 2002-09-23.
  7. ^ "Magazine aimed at video game users". The Boston Globe. January 1, 1990. p. 56. Retrieved January 30, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ a b . Gamepromedia.com. October 6, 2009. Archived from the original on 2011-01-03. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
  9. ^ . Gamepromedia.com. September 8, 2010. Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2010-09-07.
  10. ^ . Gamepromedia.com. November 8, 2010. Archived from the original on 2011-01-03. Retrieved 2010-11-08.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  11. ^ Editor's Letter, Gamepro Issue #267 (erroneously labeled 277 on the cover) October 2011
  12. ^ "Gamepro is Closed".[dead link]
  13. ^ a b "Cart Queries". GamePro. No. 78. IDG. January 1996. p. 17. ... back then the Control category was called Gameplay ...
  14. ^ "The Magazine Biz". GamePro. No. 100. IDG. January 1997. p. 24.
  15. ^ "Role-Players Realm", GamePro, issue 110 (January 1997), page 144
  16. ^ GamePro Staff (November 5, 2008). . GamePro. Archived from the original on 2011-02-15. Retrieved February 14, 2011.
  17. ^ Matulef, Jeffrey (June 27, 2016). "The truth about Doom's "ProTip" meme". Eurogamer. from the original on June 28, 2016. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  18. ^ a b Asher, Mark (March 10, 1999). . CNET Gamecenter. Archived from the original on August 17, 2000. Retrieved August 8, 2018.
  19. ^ a b Gifford, Kevin (January 31, 2010). "COLUMN: 'Game Mag Weaseling': PC Game Mag Obscurity". GameSetWatch. from the original on February 6, 2010.
  20. ^ Brown, Janelle (November 20, 1997). "IDG Prepares Gaming Info Network". Wired. from the original on April 13, 2018.
  21. ^ Fost, Dan (May 20, 1999). "Gaming Magazines Dig In for Showdown in S.F." San Francisco Chronicle. from the original on January 5, 2015.
  22. ^ a b c Staff (March 8, 1999). . GameDaily. Archived from the original on May 25, 2001. Retrieved August 8, 2018.

External links

  • Gamepro.com: Official Gamepro website at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
  • . Archived from the original on 2010-07-22. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
  • . Archived from the original on 2010-03-17. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  • . Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  • Gamepro RetroMags Wiki article
  • Archived Gamepro Magazines on the Internet Archive
  • Archived Gamepro PDF scans on Retro CDN

GamePro Media international websites

  • Gamepro Germany
  • Gamestar Germany
  • . Archived from the original on 2007-06-03. Retrieved 2017-06-01.
  • Gamepro TV Spain
  • "Gamez Netherlands". Archived from the original on 2002-09-13. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
  • . Archived from the original on 2010-02-08. Retrieved 2017-09-09.
  • Gamestar Hungary

April 10, 2023
gamepro, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, march, 2018, learn. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources GamePro news newspapers books scholar JSTOR March 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message Gamepro com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany 1 and France 2 The publication GamePro was originally launched as an American online and print content video game magazine The magazine featured content on various video game consoles PC computers and mobile devices GamePro Media properties included GamePro magazine and their website The company was also a part subsidiary of the privately held International Data Group IDG a media events and research technology group The magazine and its parent publication printing the magazine went defunct in 2011 but is outlasted by Gamepro com GameProMay 2010 issue cover Tom Clancy s Splinter Cell ConvictionVice President ContentJulian RignallCategoriesVideo game journalismFrequencyMonthlyFirst issueMagazine April 1989 34 years ago 1989 04 Website 1998 25 years ago 1998 Final issueMagazine Winter 2011Website 2011CompanyIDGCountryUnited StatesBased inOakland CaliforniaLanguageEnglishWebsiteGamepro com archived ISSN1042 8658OCLC19231826Originally published in 1989 GamePro magazine provided feature articles news previews and reviews on various video games video game hardware and the entertainment video game industry The magazine was published monthly most recently from its headquarters in Oakland California with October 2011 being its last issue after over 22 years of publication GamePro s February 2010 issue introduced a redesigned layout and a new editorial direction focused on the people and culture of its gaming 3 GamePro com was officially launched in 1998 Updated daily the website s content included feature articles news previews reviews screenshots and videos covering video games video game hardware and the entertainment gaming industry The website also included user content such as forums reviews and blogs In January 2010 the website was redesigned to reflect the same new editorial changes being made in the print magazine 3 The website was based at Gamepro s headquarters in San Francisco from 1998 to 2002 and then in Oakland California from 2002 to 2011 Contents 1 History and establishment 2 Content 2 1 Main sections 2 2 Retired sections 2 3 Rating scale 2 4 Role Player s Realm 2 5 ProTips 2 6 Lamepro 3 PC Games 4 References 5 External links 5 1 GamePro Media international websitesHistory and establishment Edit First issue April 1989 Gamepro was first established in late 1988 by Patrick Ferrell his sister in law Leeanne McDermott and the husband wife design team of Michael and Lynne Kavish They worked out of their houses throughout the San Francisco Bay Area before leasing their first office in Redwood City California at the end of 1989 4 Lacking the cashflow to be able to sustain growth after publishing the first issue the founding management team sought a major publisher and in 1989 found one with IDG Peterborough a New Hampshire based division of the global giant IDG Led by a merger and acquisition team comprising IDG Peterborough President Roger Murphy and two other 5 executives Jim McBrian and Roger Strukhoff the magazine was acquired then a few months later spun off as an independent business unit of IDG under the leadership of Ferrell as president CEO The later addition of John Rousseau as publisher and editor in chief Wes Nihei as well as renowned artist Francis Mao established Gamepro as a large profitable worldwide publication 6 Francis Mao acting in his role as art director for the nascent GamePro contracted game illustrator Marc Ericksen to create the premiere cover for the first edition of the magazine Ericksen would go on to produce five of the first ten covers for GamePro eventually creating eight in total and would continue a secondary role creating a number of the double page spreads for the very popular monthly Pro Tips section The magazine had a monthly circulation of 300 000 7 Over the years the Gamepro offices have moved from Redwood City 1989 1991 to San Mateo 1991 1998 to San Francisco 1998 2002 and lastly Oakland In 1993 the company was renamed from Gamepro Inc to Infotainment World in reflection of its growing and diverse publication lines The magazine was known for its editors using comic book like avatars and monikers when reviewing games As of January 2004 however Gamepro ceased to use the avatars due to a change in the overall design and layout of the magazine Meanwhile editorial voices carried over to the community on its online sister publication www gamepro com Gamepro was also most widely famous for its ProTips small pieces of gameplay tips and advice depicted with game screenshot captions It also features a special corner section known as Code Vault formerly Strategies Weapons and Tactics or S W A T Pro where secret codes are all posted These particular features have since gradually vanished Code Vault was also published in print format and sold as a quarterly cheats and strategy magazine on newsstands There was also a TV show called GamePro TV The show was hosted by J D Roth and Brennan Howard The show was nationally syndicated for one year then moved to cable USA and Sci Fi for a second year In 1993 Patrick Ferrell sent Debra Vernon VP of marketing to a meeting between the games industry and the Consumer Electronics Show CES Realizing an opportunity the team at the now entitled Infotainment World launched E3 the Electronic Entertainment Expo The industry backed E3 and Ferrell partnered with the IDSA to produce the event It was one of the biggest trade show launches in history Early in its lifespan the magazine also included comic book 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 In 2003 Joyride Studios produced limited edition action figures of some of the Gamepro editorial characters Gamepro also appeared in several international editions including France Germany Spain Portugal Italy Turkey Australia Brazil and Greece Some of these publications share the North American content while some others share only the name and logo but do feature different content Early in 2006 IDG Entertainment began to change internally and shift operational focus from a Print to Online to Online to Print publishing mentality The first steps build a large online network of web sites and rebuild the editorial team Enter George Jones industry veteran In February 2006 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 In August 2006 the Gamepro online team spun off a new cheats site GamerHelp com It was shortly followed by a video game information aggregation site Games net and a dedicated gaming downloads site GameDownloads com Under the new leadership of George Jones Gamepro magazine underwent a massive overhaul in the March 2007 issue While losing some of the more dated elements of the magazine the new arrangement focused on five main insertions HD game images more reviews and previews per issue www gamepro com community showcase user contributions and insider news However the German Gamepro website is still run however this time by GameStar as their partner as that website have a message at the top of the screen saying Partner of GameStar Note This is written in German In 2009 Gamepro s 20th anniversary coincided with 20 year industry veteran John Davison joining the newly named Gamepro Media team in October 2009 as executive vice president of content 8 Under Davison s direction the magazine and website were redesigned in early 2010 with an editorial shift toward focusing on the people and culture of gaming The redesigned magazine and website were met with an enthusiastic audience response 3 In addition to announcing the hire of Davison in October 2009 the company also announced an aggressive growth plan throughout 2009 and beyond with numerous online media initiatives to deepen consumer engagement and create new opportunities for advertisers Plans included partnering with sister company IDG TechNetwork to build a boutique online network of sites 8 The result was the introduction of the Gamepro Media Network In September 2010 Gamepro Media announced a new alliance with online magazine The Escapist offering marketers joint advertising programs for reaching an unduplicated male audience 9 The partnership was named the Gamepro Escapist Media Group In November 2010 Julian Rignall joined Gamepro Media as its new vice president of content replacing John Davison who resigned in September 2010 10 Gamepro ended monthly publication after over 22 years with its October 2011 issue Shortly after that issue the magazine changed to Gamepro Quarterly which was a quarterly publication using higher quality paper stock as well as being larger and thicker than all of the previous standard magazine issues Gamepro Quarterly hit newsstands within the first half of November 2011 11 The quarterly endeavor lasted for only one issue before being scrapped On November 30 it was announced that Gamepro as a magazine and a website would be shutting down on December 5 2011 Gamepro then became part of the PC World website as a small section of the site covering the latest video games run by the PC World staff 12 Content EditMain sections Edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed March 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message In February 2010 the magazine s main sections were Inside A redesigned table of contents page listing the major pieces and games in the issue From the Editor A column found at the beginning of the magazine from the editor introducing features or big games covered in that month s issue Inbox User feedback and letter of the month Art Attack Reader art sent into the magazine That month s best art would win a game related prize Editorials Articles on varying topics by freelance writers and individuals working in the game industry Spawn Point Front of magazine sections featuring behind the scenes game news and insights interviews game previews and a calendar of gamer culture events The Bonus Level A short guide to essential geek gear including video game releases books and game related items for sale at various websites Features Any cover stories or featured games issues that warrant a separate article would be told here Reviews This section was initially named ProViews and later renamed to ProReviews The reviews format changed over the years although the original basic format remained the same One reviewer speaks for the entire Gamepro staff about a particular game The magazine initially began by giving each platform its own section of reviews Near the end of 2005 Gamepro changed this format to have only one review for any game released on more than one platform describing any differences that one platform may have over another with that particular game and giving separate scores for each platform s version of the game During 2006 another aspect of the reviews debuted called Key Moment in which the reviewer names one particular instance or a standout piece of the game that led them to the decision they made in a short one sentence description Key Moment was eventually replaced by Pros and Cons found with the review score which briefly list any issues that stand out with the game both good and bad Parting Shot With the major overhaul of the magazine in the February 2010 issue Opening Shots was dropped and Parting Shot went from being art from a particular game showcased at the back of the magazine to a look back at the issue of Gamepro that appeared that month 10 years ago Retired sections Edit Opening Shots Parting Shot Use of higher quality HD images and bigger more detailed screen shots throughout the magazine Opening Shots is a new screen grab gallery at the front of the magazine while Parting Shot is art from a game showcased at the back of the magazine The Hub Section dedicated to the Gamepro com online community Back of the magazine highlights of reader reviews comments new Ask the Pros question of the month community leaders profile highlights featured forum threads and the new Head2Head User feedback and letter of the month Every week the Hub gets a new Featured Member Ask The Pros Returns from the past in this new online version of user submitted question online and answered by the editor of relative expertise Head2Head User feedback and letter of the month return to new subsection in rear of each issue Previews formerly known as Short ProShots and then Sneak Previews A peek at games in development telling of the projected release dates of games and what to expect out of them When this column first appeared it was in the back of the magazine with only minuscule information In 1996 it was moved to the front of the magazine after the features It was shortly after the rearranging in 1996 that GamePro started a new approach to the previews labeling previews as either First Look where they may have only seen a video and only had information on storyline and features in the game and Hands On where the editor providing the preview got to play an early build of the game and described any first impressions of the game Also added for a short time in 1996 was a percent complete bar graphic that noted how far along the game was This graphic was dropped in 1999 during the 10th Anniversary redesign Games To Go Reviews and previews of games for portable game systems The Sports Page Previews and reviews of sports games When this section debuted in 1993 each review and preview got its own headline to give the section a newspaper feel By the end of 1996 the newspaper style headlines were only used for one or two reviews each issue and never for previews and they were dropped entirely in 1999 for the 10th Anniversary redesign This section was also the first section to have the multiplatform game review tactic described above in 2003 Role Players Realm Reviews previews and walkthroughs of role playing games RPGs Often a walkthrough for a game would be serialized across two or three issues During slow months for RPGs the section would be padded with fantasy themed video games from other genres Code Vault formerly C S A T Pro Video game cheats strategies tactics tips secrets and easter eggs revealed Both game companies and readers sent in submissions for this section with a random prize to the reader who sent in the best tip usually a game When this section debuted as C S A T Pro C S A T stood for Cheats Strategies and Tactics In 2002 this feature was renamed Code Vault so as to match the name of Gamepro s short lived cheat code spinoff magazines Head 2 Head formerly known as The Mail A letters to the editor section They began doing a Letter Of The Month special in 2004 with the winning letter s author winning a particular prize This section had begun to feature a Reader Review from their website on a particular game as a way to entice other readers to visit their site and do the same Throughout the magazine s lifespan this section was in the front of the magazine However as of April 2007 s redesign the section has been moved to the back of the magazine Buyers Beware A consumer advocacy section in which readers send in complaints about defective and malfunctioning games peripherals systems and the like Gamepro was the only publication to feature such a column citation needed Every once in a while the column steered away from its usual formula to feature a current widespread issue Whenever possible GamePro contacted the relevant game company and a company representative would directly answer the reader s query sometimes with the editor putting in additional advice or critical comments if he considered the company s response inadequate This was the only Gamepro column to be authored by the same editor since its debut in 1994 The Watch Dog This section migrated onto Gamepro com as of the April 2007 redesign and was seemingly dropped from the print magazine ProNews Gamepro s news section This section first appeared in the back of the magazine after the reviews but found its way to the front of the magazine in 1996 to follow suit with other game magazines This section has shape shifted over the years to include various game watches a random quote generation sidebar called Static that seemingly disappeared after 2003 Gamepro Labs which used to be a separate column then appeared as a part of this section Hot At The Arcades Previews and reviews of cabinet arcade games This section appeared regularly for about 5 years after the magazine debuted The section still appeared every now and again but was absent for the most part since 1997 due to the steady decline of arcades This section was at times folded into the Pro news section Overseas Prospects Import games were featured and sometimes reviewed This section is still in the magazine but appears only rarely Video Game Survival Guide Originally titled 16 Bit Survival Guide when the Super NES and Genesis were on the last year of their respective runs to review those games that were still being released for the systems This was changed to reflect other game systems that were close to or even past the end of their commercial lifespan Adventures of Gamepro The Adventures of Gamepro was a comic strip run in the early issues of the magazine detailing the adventures of a superhero named after the magazine He was a gamer drawn into the realm of video games to fight off evil creatures taking over game after game called the Evil Darklings Rating scale Edit At first games were rated by five categories Graphics Sound Gameplay FunFactor and Challenge 13 Later the Challenge category was dropped and the Gameplay category was renamed Control 13 The ratings were initially on a scale of 1 0 to 5 0 in increments of 0 5 but a possible 0 5 score was later added The first game to receive such a score was Battle Arena Toshinden URA for the Sega Saturn Starting in October 1990 each score was accentuated with a cartoon face The Gamepro Dude depicting different expressions for different ratings 14 The ratings faces remained in use until about 2000 GamePro s reviews became esteemed enough that some games would display their GamePro ratings on their retail boxes After 2000 the category system was eliminated in favor of a single overall rating for each game on a scale of 1 0 to 5 0 stars A graphic of five stars were shown alongside the written review The number of stars a game earned was indicated by the number of solid stars e g a game s 4 star rating was represented by showing 4 solid stars and one hollow star No game ever received less than one star An Editors Choice Award was given to a game that earned either 4 5 or 5 0 stars Role Player s Realm Edit GamePro had a Role Player s Realm section dedicated to the coverage and reviews of role playing video games In the January 1997 issue they published a list of The Top Ten Best RPGs Ever which consisted of the following games 15 The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past Super NES Final Fantasy 3 Super NES Lunar Eternal Blue Silver Star Sega CD Breath of Fire II Super NES Phantasy Star IV Genesis Secret of Mana Super NES Chrono Trigger Super NES Super Mario RPG Super NES Might and Magic II Genesis Final Fantasy 2 Super NES Later in 2008 GamePro published another list of The 26 Best RPGs of the All Time the top ten of which consisted of the following games 16 Final Fantasy VII World of Warcraft The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time Chrono Trigger Fallout 3 Diablo II Lord of Destruction Ultima series Xenogears The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past Star Wars Knights of the Old RepublicProTips Edit GamePro is credited with coming up with the concept of Protip a short piece of advice as if spoken by an expert usually attached to an image which was explained by former writer Dan Amrich that as part of their editorial process they were encouraged to caption the three to seven images used in an article with such advice One purported image from a GamePro review of Doom 1993 had a caption for an image of one of the games bosses as PROTIP To defeat the Cyberdemon shoot at it until it dies The apparent advice which is common sense and self evident for players of first person shooters like Doom was widely mocked and created a meme of similarly obvious protips added as captions to pictures However the image was revealed to be a fake created as an April s Fool joke for a fansite doomworld com 17 Lamepro Edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed March 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message Every April until 2007 as an April Fools Day prank Gamepro printed a 2 5 page satirical spoof of the magazine called Lamepro a parody of Gamepro s own official title The feature contained humorous game titles and fake news similar to The Onion though some content such as ways to get useless game glitches games getting stuck reset or otherwise was real The section parodied GamePro itself as well as other game magazines PC Games EditWhat was called a sister publication to GamePro PC Games was published by IDG until 1999 18 It was founded in August 1988 but changed its name to Electronic Entertainment in late 1993 and PC Entertainment in early 1996 The title reverted to PC Games in June 1996 19 Its PC Games Online website was merged with several other IDG properties including GamePro Online to form the IDG Games Network in late 1997 20 The print version of PC Games was the fourth largest computer game magazine in the United States during 1998 with a circulation of 169 281 In March 1999 it was purchased and closed by Imagine Publishing 18 21 its April 1999 issue was its last 22 Following this event Imagine sent former subscribers of PC Games issues of PC Gamer US and PC Accelerator in its place 19 22 According to GameDaily the move came as part of IDG s rebranding effort to lean more heavily on the GamePro name coverage of computer games was thereafter centralized at PCGamePro com and in the PC GamePro section of GamePro s print edition 22 References Edit Das Magazin fur PlayStation Xbox Nintendo und Mobile Gaming GamePro de Archived from the original on 2012 06 14 Retrieved 2012 06 11 PCWorld fr Toute l actualite du monde informatique et high tech Gamepro fr Archived from the original on 2007 06 03 Retrieved 2012 06 11 a b c Gamepro Media Redesigns Print and Online Editions to Enthusiastic Response Archived from the original on 2011 07 28 Retrieved 2010 02 11 100 Issues Over 200 Writers GamePro No 100 IDG January 1997 pp 38 39 IDG permanent dead link Industry Leading Video Gaming Magazine Delivers Authoritative Gaming Editorial To Over 3 Million Male Teens Each Month Business Wire September 23 2002 Archived from the original on March 27 2010 Retrieved 2002 09 23 Magazine aimed at video game users The Boston Globe January 1 1990 p 56 Retrieved January 30 2023 via Newspapers com a b Leading Game Media Executive Tapped for Top Editorial Slot at IDG s Gamepro Media Gamepromedia com October 6 2009 Archived from the original on 2011 01 03 Retrieved 2009 10 06 GamePro and The Escapist Alliance Changes How Marketers Reach Male Gamers Gamepromedia com September 8 2010 Archived from the original on 2011 07 17 Retrieved 2010 09 07 IDG Gamepro Media Appoints Seasoned Publishing Executive to Vice President Content Gamepromedia com November 8 2010 Archived from the original on 2011 01 03 Retrieved 2010 11 08 a href Template Cite news html title Template Cite news cite news a CS1 maint bot original URL status unknown link Editor s Letter Gamepro Issue 267 erroneously labeled 277 on the cover October 2011 Gamepro is Closed dead link a b Cart Queries GamePro No 78 IDG January 1996 p 17 back then the Control category was called Gameplay The Magazine Biz GamePro No 100 IDG January 1997 p 24 Role Players Realm GamePro issue 110 January 1997 page 144 GamePro Staff November 5 2008 The 26 Best RPGs of the All Time GamePro Archived from the original on 2011 02 15 Retrieved February 14 2011 Matulef Jeffrey June 27 2016 The truth about Doom s ProTip meme Eurogamer Archived from the original on June 28 2016 Retrieved June 27 2016 a b Asher Mark March 10 1999 Imagine Shuts Down PC Games CNET Gamecenter Archived from the original on August 17 2000 Retrieved August 8 2018 a b Gifford Kevin January 31 2010 COLUMN Game Mag Weaseling PC Game Mag Obscurity GameSetWatch Archived from the original on February 6 2010 Brown Janelle November 20 1997 IDG Prepares Gaming Info Network Wired Archived from the original on April 13 2018 Fost Dan May 20 1999 Gaming Magazines Dig In for Showdown in S F San Francisco Chronicle Archived from the original on January 5 2015 a b c Staff March 8 1999 Gain a Portal Lose a Magazine GameDaily Archived from the original on May 25 2001 Retrieved August 8 2018 External links EditGamepro com Official Gamepro website at the Wayback Machine archive index GameproMedia com Online media kit Archived from the original on 2010 07 22 Retrieved 2010 04 23 Games net A Gamepro Media Network website GameDownloads com A Gamepro Media Network website Archived from the original on 2010 03 17 Retrieved 2010 04 25 Blogfaction com A Gamepro Media Network website Gamepro API Archived from the original on 2011 07 17 Retrieved 2010 04 25 Gamepro RetroMags Wiki article Archived Gamepro Magazines on the Internet Archive Archived Gamepro PDF scans on Retro CDNGamePro Media international websites Edit Gamepro Germany Gamestar Germany Gamepro France Archived from the original on 2007 06 03 Retrieved 2017 06 01 Gamepro TV Spain Gamepro en Espanol Gamez Netherlands Archived from the original on 2002 09 13 Retrieved 2010 04 25 Gamestar Italy Archived from the original on 2010 02 08 Retrieved 2017 09 09 Gamestar Hungary Gamestar Poland Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title GamePro amp oldid 1139286159, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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