Ever since the Internet came about, one of its first uses has been for news and information. It didn't take long for video and PC games to surface as a huge factor on the Internet — thousands of pages to back up this claim. But what has also been happening is that the Internet has surpassed printed magazines. This is a result of their ability to put up news and information the second they get it rather than, like magazines, months before everyone else will see it. So, as things stand, the Internet is a much more viable source for news and information.
More and more people have been getting on-line lately to read the latest news — why go out and spend anywhere from $4.95 to $9.95 for a magazine when it is just about free anytime you want it? That is an excellent question and one that has been answered by Imagine Publications (PC Gamer, Next Generation, Ultra Gameplayers, and The Net) and just recently by Ziff Davis (EGM, EGM2, Computer Gaming World, and The Official Playstation Magazine) who have retaliated by putting in demo disks. And while PC Gamer and Computer Gaming World have done this for a while now, only recently is it having a greater affect.
Demos nowadays range from 11 MB to a whopping 75. Who has that much time? Not many people do. This is where the demo disks come in. When downloading a demo, you have to factor in the size of the zipped demo, the size of the install file, and the demo after installation. This can add up very quickly. Wth demo CDs, however, they are right there for your convenience at any time, not to mention there are no long downloads to bother with.
But now these publication giants have taken it a step further — they have added demo disks in their video game magazines with quicktimes videos of upcoming releases allowing the gamer to see the game in action. But it has evolved yet again: the Official Playstation Magazine now includes demo disks for the Playstation. This is actually a giant step because never before has an action such as this ever occured. In Japan this has been going on for a while with both the Playstation and Saturn but only now has this occured in the U.S. So, in fact, the CD has become the printed magazine's savior. Until everyone has a seven-GB hard drive and a cable modem, printed magazines will never die.
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