Is this the end for EGM?

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Rabbit, I thought you said you weren't writing for EGM.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news...

Another one bites the dust (apparently).

I had an article in the last issue. Sigh.

rabbit wrote:

I had an article in the last issue. Sigh.

We know...

So listen, there's this guy I don't really like... Think you could send him a Xmas card or somethin?

rabbit wrote:

I had an article in the last issue. Sigh.

At first it was sort of funny in a sad way but now it's really starting to get weird.

Podunk wrote:
rabbit wrote:

I had an article in the last issue. Sigh.

At first it was sort of funny in a sad way but now it's really starting to get weird. :shock:

It's like the movie The Ring but instead of hearing "7 days" when rabbit writes an article the publisher gets phone call from a creepy dead girl saying One month...

Well luckily GWJ hasn't been affected by the Rabbit Curse.

Right?
Right?

Why do I hear crickets?

...

Eezy_Bordone wrote:

Well luckily GWJ hasn't been affected by the Rabbit Curse.

Right?
Right?

Why do I hear crickets?

...

Might be an ear infection. Maybe try using a Q-Tip once and a while.

GWJ is forever.

wordsmythe wrote:

Might be an ear infection. Maybe try using a Q-Tip once and a while.

Stop that! Q-Tips are the weapons of ear destruction.

We can blame some of this stuff on our parents and our parent's parents and so on. They were the ones that started the rumor that earwax was bad stuff that had to be removed, like toe jam or a booger hanging out of your nose. They could not have been more wrong.

While excess, hard, or obstructive earwax can be problematic, most earwax (cerumen) is infinitely more beneficial. It is a normal, protective coating for the sensitive skin of the ear canal. A canal coated with ear wax will repel water and help prevent external ear infections. When you dig it out like some demented gold miner, you leave your ear very vulnerable.

Since we do not have the ability to look inside our own ears at the present time (you can buy a video otoscope for under a thousand dollars if you want), most Q-tip users blindly probe around looking for yellow, often getting red instead. Many will look at their wax-stained swab with pride and admiration of a job well done. Eventually, they will go too far and injure or rupture their eardrums. If it wasn't for pain and blood, I suspect that some people would excavate around until they pulled out little bones or brain tissue. Perhaps, many have already done that.

Q-tips are not unlike the plungers used to load cannon. They can pack softer wax deeply in the ear canal against the eardrum. By creating a formidable plug and preventing the eardrum from moving normally, it is quite easy to cause some significant hearing loss. Water can also be trapped behind these self-created wax dams and entertain you by constant sloshing around. When this happens, the ear will need to be lavaged -- washed out by a gentle stream of warm water. Or, you will need to see your medical provider, someone that CAN look inside your ear and remove the impaction professionally.

Chronic Q-tip use creates dryness in the sensitive ear canal. Dry skin itches. People with itchy ears use Q-tips (and other found objects) to scratch them. The scratching causes itching. Do you see the cycle here? Eventually, the damaged skin will break down and crack, allowing opportunistic bacteria or yucky fungus to invade. Congratulations. You have caused otitis externa, also known as Swimmer's Ear.

wordsmythe wrote:

Might be an ear infection. Maybe try using a Q-Tip once and a while.

GWJ is forever.

GWJ = iHerpes. Got it.

And for the love of all that's good and right in this world, don't ever use a Q-tip to clean your ears, people!

Gumbie wrote:
Podunk wrote:
rabbit wrote:

I had an article in the last issue. Sigh.

At first it was sort of funny in a sad way but now it's really starting to get weird. :shock:

It's like the movie The Ring but instead of hearing "7 days" when rabbit writes an article the publisher gets phone call from a creepy dead girl saying One month...

Nah, more like the number 23.... in real life. You just never notice it's there until it's pointed out to you and then you see it everywhere. Perhaps Rabbit is actually just an innocent foil and he's following round the real omen of bad luck.

If Ziff-Davis sells the 1UP network and closes EGM, what does that company have left? I suppose the PC Mag online stuff but can the company survive on that alone?

Jayhawker wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:

Might be an ear infection. Maybe try using a Q-Tip once and a while.

Stop that! Q-Tips are the weapons of ear destruction.

stuff

Who the f*ck gets blood on their Q-Tips? Popping their ear drums? Are these people mentally challenged?

SommerMatt wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:

Might be an ear infection. Maybe try using a Q-Tip once and a while.

Stop that! Q-Tips are the weapons of ear destruction.

stuff

Who the f*ck gets blood on their Q-Tips? Popping their ear drums? Are these people mentally challenged?

IMAGE(http://farm1.static.flickr.com/5/8649527_7a3e8353be.jpg?v=0)

Jayhawker wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:

Might be an ear infection. Maybe try using a Q-Tip once and a while.

Stop that! Q-Tips are the weapons of ear destruction.

We can blame some of this stuff on our parents and our parent's parents and so on. They were the ones that started the rumor that earwax was bad stuff that had to be removed, like toe jam or a booger hanging out of your nose. They could not have been more wrong.

While excess, hard, or obstructive earwax can be problematic, most earwax (cerumen) is infinitely more beneficial. It is a normal, protective coating for the sensitive skin of the ear canal. A canal coated with ear wax will repel water and help prevent external ear infections. When you dig it out like some demented gold miner, you leave your ear very vulnerable.

Since we do not have the ability to look inside our own ears at the present time (you can buy a video otoscope for under a thousand dollars if you want), most Q-tip users blindly probe around looking for yellow, often getting red instead. Many will look at their wax-stained swab with pride and admiration of a job well done. Eventually, they will go too far and injure or rupture their eardrums. If it wasn't for pain and blood, I suspect that some people would excavate around until they pulled out little bones or brain tissue. Perhaps, many have already done that.

Q-tips are not unlike the plungers used to load cannon. They can pack softer wax deeply in the ear canal against the eardrum. By creating a formidable plug and preventing the eardrum from moving normally, it is quite easy to cause some significant hearing loss. Water can also be trapped behind these self-created wax dams and entertain you by constant sloshing around. When this happens, the ear will need to be lavaged -- washed out by a gentle stream of warm water. Or, you will need to see your medical provider, someone that CAN look inside your ear and remove the impaction professionally.

Chronic Q-tip use creates dryness in the sensitive ear canal. Dry skin itches. People with itchy ears use Q-tips (and other found objects) to scratch them. The scratching causes itching. Do you see the cycle here? Eventually, the damaged skin will break down and crack, allowing opportunistic bacteria or yucky fungus to invade. Congratulations. You have caused otitis externa, also known as Swimmer's Ear.

Well then wtf do we do?

I will miss flipping through game magazines. Not the same as reading articles, reviews, and blogs online. I know the tide is unstoppable, but gaming magazines will be missed. When they have good art design and writing, they are great. Oh well.

Edwin wrote:

Well then wtf do we do?

Realize the earwax is good, and getting rid of it is bad. It serves a purpose.

Edwin wrote:

Well then wtf do we do?

Just lick it off your ears man.

Speaking of EGM, is there a place where we can find the old seanbaby and hsu & chan articles? Surely someone has archived them all somewhere.

Not to derail this fine thread on ear wax but ...

Print media is in such a tail spin. I remember the days when Ziff-Davis, Tribune, Gannett, etc. were titans of the industry. Companies one would aspire to achieve success with. Now they are all bleeding out. Traditional network broadcast media is next. The net will kill that old chestnut as well.

Darn glad I got out of that business in the 90s when the getting was still good.

Eezy_Bordone wrote:

Well luckily GWJ hasn't been affected by the Rabbit Curse.

Right?
Right?

Why do I hear crickets?

...

As long as GWJ doesn't start up with a magazine, we're safe.

Man I love magazines but the writing's been on the wall for a good decade now. I heard even Playboy is shutting down their mag soon.

I'll be bummed when EGM is no more, I have fond memories of reading the massive holiday issues way back when. I think I still have my Ocarina of Time issue somewhere around here, I remember reading it all the time in Jr. High.

I keep hoping something will turn it all around, but I think the time for child like hope is long gone. Also, I'm not a huge fan since Dan left as editor in chief and the Blueray bungalow doesn't even try to hide the "hey, we get free bluerays now!"

Oh well, lets sit back and see what happens.

Jayhawker wrote:
Edwin wrote:

Well then wtf do we do?

Realize the earwax is good, and getting rid of it is bad. It serves a purpose.

seriously... with this and the used game thing, you're just like captain bring-down!

SommerMatt wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:
Edwin wrote:

Well then wtf do we do?

Realize the earwax is good, and getting rid of it is bad. It serves a purpose.

seriously... with this and the used game thing, you're just like captain bring-down!

Jeez! Rabbit's the one killing off our favorite mags.

rabbit wrote:

I had an article in the last issue. Sigh.

My question is why does anybody hire you?

Is there a morning editorial meeting that goes something like this:

Executive Editor of Features: "I'm kind of tired of all the work that goes into putting together a monthly magazine."

Managing Executive Editor: "Me too, I could use a vacation, maybe work on that novel I've had on the back-burner."

Executive Editor of Executive Editors: "True that, I'm actually thinking about getting into game development. I've got a few neat ideas rattling around up here."

Chief Executive Editor of Previews/Reviews/Letters/Sidebars/Running Gags: "Hey we should just shut the whole thing down."

Editor in Chief: "Well I guess it's time to call Rabbit, he knows how to wrap up a magazine."

Crap, I just subscribed!

How long does an issue of EGM take to write anyhow? It's not like they're doing 200 page spectaculars of the early 90s anymore. I miss those. You could bludgeon someone with one of those rolled up. Like the issue with Goro on the cover. Now you'd barely injure an insect.

Seriously, they're 60 pages long now. Ads included.

Actually they're 97 pages long, because I believe there are restrictions against going below that as a magazine. And the fact that with such limited space they recently started covering PC games and blu-ray discs pretty much confirms that their advertising dollars are shrinking rapidly.

AmazingZoidberg wrote:
rabbit wrote:

I had an article in the last issue. Sigh.

My question is why does anybody hire you?

First off, EGM isn't dead yet. Second, that's just cold.

As for "how long" the answer is "a month" kind of by definition.

rabbit wrote:
AmazingZoidberg wrote:

My question is why does anybody hire you?

First off, EGM isn't dead yet. Second, that's just cold.

I'm just saying that you've got a reputation. If I were an editor of a monthly publication I would be superstitious as hell when it came to my freelancers.

I guess the other way to look at the argument is that your writing is so good, magazines are willing to risk closure just for a chance to have you grace their pages.

On a more serious note. Good news for the editorial staff at 1UP/EGM, it seems like the restructuring that happened about 6 months ago is going to pay off. Since most of the staff began working for the 1UP Network, rather than EGM specifically it should limit layoffs to some extent. At least you won't have an entire half of the staff out of a job if the print magazine is out of circulation.

DaftZack wrote:

I'll be bummed when EGM is no more, I have fond memories of reading the massive holiday issues way back when. I think I still have my Ocarina of Time issue somewhere around here, I remember reading it all the time in Jr. High.

Totally. Or the HUUUUUGE issue with Eternal Champions on the cover? Man, those were good times. I still have an avalanche of old RedBook sized EGMs at my mom's house. I hope she didn't throw them out. (We all know she did.)

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