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<RANT>
DAMMIT TO HELL!!!
</RANT>

Ah, there. I feel better.

Imagine Publishing. This is the publishing company that gave us PC Gamer, Next Generation and Maximum PC, all great magazines. They gave us IGN.COM, a series of game websites so successful they spun off into their own separate company. They were really doing good, for a time there.

Then they announce that they will begin publishing The Official Dreamcast Magazine, complete with a GD-ROM with each issue with demos on it. While not the best mag, it was cool and entertaining and I have every issue. Then they announce Total Movie magazine, which will come with a DVD in each issue. Kick ass.

But then they announce that, after 12 or so issues ODCM will no longer carry a GD-ROM. That sucks, but I was almost willing to forgive it since it was Sega’s idea. You know, Sega the one who just put the kibosh on their own console. Granted, this put me in a fix of sorts, since I had just renewed my subscription to a magazine whose main lure has just been removed.

Then, Imagine merges with Future Publishing. Okay, that’s good – I suppose. But then Imagine/Future announces that they’re gonna have to slash some magazines due to losses. ODCM is the first on the cutting block. I suppose it was inevitable, since it was only a matter of time before ODCM wouldn’t have much more to say, it only made sense to cut them.

But then the other shoe dropped. Total Movie got the axe. I don’t know why. Perhaps making a DVD was more expensive than previously thought. Perhaps it made more sense to slash a new magazine (TM had only 3 issues) than an established title with many more subscribers. But still, I’m pissed. My ODCM balance will now go towards my Next Generation subscription, but I wonder where my Total Movie money is going? I’ll know soon enough, I suppose.

Imagine is the same company that gave PC Accelerator the axe. I was kinda glad, believe it or not. That magazine was more about titties than games – not a bad idea, save for the fact that the women were rather skanky and nasty. Eeew. Funny thing is, they announce that all the PCXL subscribers have had their subscriptions turned into PC Gamer subscriptions (after that mag swallowed up PC Games), then Imagine announced that PC Gamer had 375,000 subscribers, making it the most popular games magazine in history. Well, at least that magazine’s not going anywhere.

I used to think magazines went on forever, mainly because I never was interested in any ones that failed. Hell, I would go to my grandmother’s house growing up and see bookshelves upon bookshelves of National Geographic, TV Guide has published over 2000 issues, and PC Magazine has been around for over 20 years. Oh well, part of getting older, I suppose.

In happier news, Raven announced today that they are working on an expansion pack for Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force. That’s cool. What’s especially cool, though, is that they’re putting in what I alluded to earlier: a free-roaming mode wherein you can just wander about the ship and play with shit, in like 15 levels from the “actual” Voyager. So something good did come from the community today.