Gamertell

Ah, the bittersweetness and sadness surrounding the death of Electronic Gaming Monthly (as was my - and so many gamers’ - favorite print magazine). Ex EGM editor-in-chief Dan Hsu (Shoe) and ex senior editor Crispin Boyer recently put up a long, hilarious reflection of the magazine’s ups and downs, from each of their 12-year tenures with the publication. Each of them left last year (perhaps they saw the writing on the wall…), and they’ve been commenting on the industry from their fantastic, no-holds-barred Sore Thumbs blog.

In this excellent send-off, Boyer and Hsu reminisce about the high points and ow points, the funkiest and the stupidest of all the covers, the best writing and the worst/best awful deadline stories. It’s a long read, but so worth it for any longtime reader of the magazine (or fan of either irreverent dude). You really can’t miss the discussion of the worst EGM covers - that’s comedy gold.

From the post:

“RANDOM THING WE’LL MISS THE MOST

Shoe: Those 16-hour work days, with the occasional overnight stay at the office. Yeah, they stunk and I hated them, but there’s something that miss about those youthful and careless days. We’re already a bunch of goofy guys…add in slap-happy sleep deprivation and things get seriously wacky! I’m talking about office-chair races, all furniture/desk items/wall decorations turned upside down when that cubicle’s inhabitant was away (I caught Crispin red-handed and red-faced admiring his 180 treatent of my desk), and Decapitato…the throwing of the ringed blade down dark hallways at each other whenever the power went out in our old Lombard, Illinois offices.

Crispin:

The peeps.”

Really, it’s the proper send-off that the magazine deserved. If you call yourself a fan of EGM, you may even tear up a little - not so much for the irreverent prose of the sore thumbers… but for what gamers the world over have lost this week.

Read [Sore Thumbs]