Does anyone remember PSM magazine?

S

steve_k

CAGiversary!
I subscribed to PSM magazine from the time I was a senior in high school nearly all the way through college. Eventually, the PS2 started to show signs of age and the PS3 came out. Because I did not want to subscribe to a magazine that would only make me want something I knew I could not afford at the time (a $600 PS3 and a high-definition TV set), I decided not to renew my subscription after about four years of subscribing. After I got a PS3 and a new HDTV, I decided to subscribe to a gaming magazine. PSM Magazine was my first pick, but to my disappointment, it was no longer available. I found a copy of the very last PSM magazine at a GameCrazy, which the current employee gave me for free as it was considered old garbage. The issue did not indicate why the magazine was coming to a close, but did note that all current subscribers (which I was not at the time) would receive a free re-print of PSM #1, which I wish I had.

Does anyone know what happened to PSM? They always boasted about being the top-selling Playstation magazine, yet they went out of print. Any answers would be appreciated.
 
So you're saying Chris Slate and the rest of the PSM staff is now writing Playstation the Official magazine? Does this mean there exist two seperate magaznines?

1. The Official Playstation Magazine, published directly by Sony and discontinuted a few years ago
2. Playstation the Official magazine, published by the former PSM staff

To be official, shouldn't the magazine be published by Sony, the company who is behind the Playstation 3? That would link the console to the magazine, rendering it the 'Official' magazine. PSM always boasted how they were unoffical and how any official magazine cannot be taken seriously because they are behind the console and will say whatever is necessary to sell games.
 
NO. All the old crew from PSM is NOT on the Official Playstation Magazine. Without Bill Donohue and Chris Slate, I didn't resubscribe.
 
OPM died and basically PSM was given the task to become the new official Playstation magazine. Didn't read the info of how it happened, but it happened around late 2007.
 
[quote name='Paco']NO. All the old crew from PSM is NOT on the Official Playstation Magazine. Without Bill Donohue and Chris Slate, I didn't resubscribe.[/QUOTE]

What are Bill and Chris up to nowadays?
 
Chris Slate was promoted to Head of Special Projects for the Games Group at Future Publishing, and most recently, he became the Editor-in-Chief of Nintendo Power.

Bill Donohue... Not sure where he is right now, and it's quite difficult to find recent information on him.
 
[quote name='steve_k']So you're saying Chris Slate and the rest of the PSM staff is now writing Playstation the Official magazine? Does this mean there exist two seperate magaznines?

1. The Official Playstation Magazine, published directly by Sony and discontinuted a few years ago
2. Playstation the Official magazine, published by the former PSM staff

To be official, shouldn't the magazine be published by Sony, the company who is behind the Playstation 3? That would link the console to the magazine, rendering it the 'Official' magazine. PSM always boasted how they were unoffical and how any official magazine cannot be taken seriously because they are behind the console and will say whatever is necessary to sell games.[/QUOTE]

ummm... OPM was published by Ziff Davis.

That is all.
 
[quote name='Vinny']I remember when PSM used to be good... back in the PS1 days. I loved that magazine.[/QUOTE]

I still have all those PSM issues. It was never really serious and always fun to read. I also loved how everything had a caption and the picture of what they were doing at the end of each month. They also had a great letters section which spanned pages. Now the letter section is one freaking page. BOO
 
PSM I bought for the stickers back in the day (memory card and for the PS1 disc cover). Other then that, I don't remember much besides them always using comic book artists for their covers.
 
I bought it a few times for demo discs. Might just be me, but I never really read the articles in gaming magazines as I like to form my own opinion based on information about the game I can gather myself (trailers/demos/rentals), so it wasn't as memorable for me as it was you.
 
PSM was great, I still have a bunch of the earlier issues w/ some memory card stickers.

Game Players & Ultra Game Players was another great video game mag from back in the day. Like PSM it was zanny & wacky.
 
[quote name='Rodimus']PSM was great, I still have a bunch of the earlier issues w/ some memory card stickers.

Game Players & Ultra Game Players was another great video game mag from back in the day. Like PSM it was zanny & wacky.[/QUOTE]

I used to love GP & UGP, and when that mag ceased and the guys mostly moved over to PSM, I went with them. That's when it was fun to get game mags. They used to hide stuff in disclaimers and copyright info and on the spine of the mags, and were generally fun reads. I still have about a dozen of the UGPs and PSMs in a box somewhere which I could just not part with when I cleaned out all my mags a few years back.

One thing that still stands out in my mind was during their huge Tekken 3 blowout issue, they published a fairly suggestive screen cap of Kuma taking on Kuma (the bear, for those that don't know). One was holding the other from behind, and it looked like some national geographic channel mating shit. The Kuma in the back had a thought bubble, and in the thought bubble was a hot dog in a bun. I'll have to scan it when I get home...it's friggin' funny to this day.

My PS1 still has the Pirate Smiley Face PSX Lid Sticker on it. Heck, I think I have about a hlaf dozen of those sitting in an envelope somewhere too...
 
Yea i loved that pirate smiley and have some of their last stickers that say PS3. Its ashame but all good things come to an end.
 
If I find some of those decklid stickers, I'd happily share with my fellow CAG's. I'll look at some point in the next day or so, and if I do, I'll post back.
 
F*ck yea! Great thread! I have every issue from #1 until about the year 2004 when I stopped subscribing. I still have them all. I
 
Randy Nelson now writes for Joystiq. Only former PSM member that I've seen lately. Although I heard about Chris Slate. I wonder what Gary and Bill are doing. They were hilarious.

I remember when I learned about everybody leaving and that the magazine was going to be turned into PlayStation: The Official Magazine. Such a bummer. My subscription overlapped so I received a couple issues, but it was total shit compared to PSM. Lots of generic, cut-and-paste humor that comes along when you have to toe that "official" line. Is Rob Smith still the EIC over there?

Also, anyone else remember Tokoya? He was really into Unreal Tournament and always wore that blue wrestling mask.
 
Official Playstation Magazine discounted when they couldnt justified the cost of Blu Ray demo in January 2007. Then they make PSM the official magazine.

One of my friend actually got a question published on the magazine. It was some kid got his magazine thrown away because the teacher called the cover art "porn"
 
I just chucked all of my back issues of PSM I had into a Salvation Army dump bin about 4-5 months ago. I had about 30-40 issues or so.

It was a decent mag, but unless I found a subscription deal I only bought the occasional issue when I had some leftover credit at Gamestop/EB Games.
 
[quote name='steve_k']The issue did not indicate why the magazine was coming to a close, but did note that all current subscribers (which I was not at the time) would receive a free re-print of PSM #1, which I wish I had.[/QUOTE]
Did anyone here get a reprint of issue 1?
 
Loved PSM in the PS1 days, but they went downhill after the PS2 came out with a very lenient review scale where very few games ever got below a 7. They had a lot of great covers and extras like the stickers for the PS1's lid and memory cards.

I ended up switching to OPM around the PS2's launch and loved reading that magazine, as they got better and better as time went on especially with the launch of RadiOPM. It's too bad that Sony and Ziff Davis canned the magazine for bullshit reasons that the announcement of POM made ever worse.
 
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