Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

Game Informer

Game Informer (often abbreviated to GI) is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. Formed in August 1991, the magazine has nearly 3 million subscribers according to Andrew Reiner, making it the highest circulated video game magazine, and as of the first quarter of 2007, it is listed as the 23rd largest overall magazine. Game Informer is now ranked among the top four magazines for reaching males 18 to 34.

It is owned and published by GameStop Corp., the parent company of the video game retailer of the same name. Due to this, a large amount of promotion is done in-store, which has contributed heavily to its large subscription base, especially as a subscription is included with the store's Gamer's Edge discount card.

GI Staff

There have been many different members on the GI team through the years. Handles are in parenthesis, current GI staff members are listed at the top, and members no longer active are below.

Andy McNamara (The Game Hombre): 1991-present
Andrew Reiner (The Raging Gamer): 1994-present
Matt Helgeson (The Original Gamer): 1999-present
Matthew Kato (The Gaming Katana): 2001-present
Adam Biessener (The Alpha Gamer): 2003-present
Joe Juba (The Real American Gamer): 2003-present
Matt Miller (The Once And Future Gamer): 2004-present
Matt Bertz (Lord Gamington III): 2006-present
Bryan Vore (The Gamer's Advocate): 2007-present
Ben Reeves (Your Friendly Neighborhood Gamer): 2006-present

Paul Anderson (The Pro Player, Game Professor): 1992-2001
Elizabeth Olson: 1991-1994
Rick Petzoldt (The Video Ranger): 1991-1995
Marianne Morgan (The Game Master): 1991
Ed Martinez (The Video Wizard): 1991
Erik Reppen (The PC Jedi): 1996-1997, 1999-2001
Ross VanDerSchaegen (The Rebel Gamer): 1991-1995
David "Vinnie" Vinyon (The Video Vigilante): 1994-1996
Ryan McDonald (The Arcade Alchemist): 1995-1997
Jon Storm (The Greedy Gamer): 1996-1999
Robert Stoute (The Game Cassanova): 1997-1999
Paul Bergren (The Game Burrito): 1997-1999
Lisa Mason (La Game Nikita): 2002-2006
Beaux Hawkins (The Arcade Assassin): 1998-1999
The Vidiot (Minister of Destruction): 2000-2001
Jay Fitzloff (The Gonzo Gamer): 1999-2002
Justin Leeper (The Digital Deviant): 2001-2004
Chet Barber (The Joystick Jockey, The Chronic Gamer): 2002-2003
Jeremy Zoss (Gamezilla): 2003-2006
Kristian Brogger (The Game Dawg, The Video Viking): ???-2004

Recurring events

Game Infarcer is an annual spin-off of the normal magazine. Similar to GamePro's LamePro, it's released only in the April issue, as an April Fool's Joke. In of 2008 Gameinfarcer received a new Chief Editor, DarthClark, who replaced Garnadan, and the cover game for the same Game Infarcer issue was a mix of both Assassins Creed and Dawson's Creek (Assassin's Creek.)

In the July 2008 issue, Game Informer had its Second Annual Sacred Cow Barbecue. The occasion is meant to "knock some of gaming's most revered icons off their high and mighty pedestals".

Reviews

Game Informer reviews games on the Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, Xbox, PC, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation Portable consoles. The reviews of games for the Game Boy Advance and Gamecube consoles were discontinued during 2007, primarily because the number of games for both systems were dwindling. Older games, three per issue, are given brief reviews in the magazine's Classic GI section (compared with the game's original review score, if one exists). The magazine's staff rate games on a scale of 1 to 10 with quarter point intervals. A score of 1 is considered worse than terrible; 10 is a rare, "outstanding", nearly perfect game; and 7 is "average", a decently playable (but flawed) game. Some games that have received a perfect "10" include Halo 2, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto IV, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Fusion, Bioshock, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Resident Evil 4, God of War, Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal, and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2.

Some games received even lower scores, scores below 1: Batman: Dark Tomorrow received a 0.75, Shrek: Fairy Tale Freakdown for Game Boy Color got a 0.5, and the Xbox launch title Kabuki Warriors scored a 0.5. In the latter review, editor-in-chief Andy McNamara said, "I literally won a match just by bashing the controller against my ass." This was confirmed by his fellow editors. One game reviewed for Classic GI -- Marky Mark: Make My Video for Sega CD -- was given a 0.

Website

GI Online was originally launched in August 1996, and featured daily news updates as well as humorous articles. The magazine editors updated it as a labor of love, with what little spare time they had. Justin Leeper and Matthew Kato were hired on in November 1999 as full-time web editors. As part of the GameStop purchase of the magazine, the site was closed around January 2001. Both Leeper and Kato were eventually placed on the editorial staff of the magazine.

GI Online was revived in September 2003, with a full redesign and many additional features, such as a review database, frequent news updates, and exclusive "Unlimited" content for subscribers. It was managed by Billy Berghammer, former creator of PlanetGameCube.com (now known as NintendoWorldReport.com).