Best Buy - yes, the US consumer electronics chain - has decided to try and launch a gaming magazine. Now you might be wondering whether a company whose businesses include selling games would ever voluntarily give a bad review to a product that they carry. Well, this crucial issue of integrity made the first issue's FAQ, which assures us that, should the reviews appear overly positive, it is only because they've got limited space and therefore have opted to highlight "games that are worth your time and money".
Thanks to this hard hitting journalism, I'm now aware that the worst features of Lego Harry Potter include "Having to wait for the next installment", while the top issues with Crackdown 2 are "At some point, the game will end, and you'll be done" and "In September, Halo:Reach will come out, which is great on its own, but not for those who want to keep playing Crackdown 2".
The sad part of this endeavor is that I at least glanced over the entire free launch issue (which I received for being registered with their website) from cover to cover, including the ads (such as an ad for the official WoW magazine). I can't think of any other medium where I actually pay any attention to the ads these days, but there's still some value in the glossy still screenshot in depicting the potential of a game. You'd think that someone would want to see this thing delivered to my mailbox every month simply because I'd be willing to read it if it arrived.
At $20/year for a subscription, though, I'd be surprised if this thing gets very far.