I've always been a regular reader of video game publications, especially in my younger days; when you're living in the late 1980s and stuck in school for 8 hours a day, there's no sweeter escape than cracking open a fresh issue of Nintendo Power and poring over the pages. But the state of print is much different than it was during my analog-based childhood. Magazines are folding, newspaper sales are plummeting, and, frankly, the Internet is to blame--although it hasn't really done much aside from making our lives easier. Print is now competing with the impossible task of remaining relevant in an age where waiting weeks for information is a laughable prospect. And since the Internet has essentially stolen print's fire, it's going to have to do something drastic to stay afloat.
GameSpite: Year One may be the perfect example of where video game publications should be headed. For those of you not familiar with GameSpite, it's a web site--run by 1UP scribe Jeremy Parish--that features digital "issues" of content written by a staff of hungry writers. What appeals most to me is that GameSpite's content is stuff you're not going to find in print, or even on major web sites; most articles are in-depth discussions of games well outside of their 2-week release window. And GameSpite: Year One is a compilation of this content in book form--split into two volumes, what with how many danged words there are.
That being said, the first volume of GameSpite: Year One is out, and you should go order it. Not because I happen to have a handful of articles in there. Not because Jeremy Parish is a swell guy. Not because $25 for 350 pages of games journalism you can take into the bathroom is a bargain. Okay, wait--those are all excellent reasons. But perhaps the best reason to pick up the first volume of GameSpite: Year One is that it represents a positive move for print: small, creative, and profitable projects not trying to ape the functions of pre-Internet journalism. You're not going to find any exclusive previews, timely reviews, or crazy embargoed information in GameSpite: Year One; the group of people who want to read focused, lengthy criticism about games is much smaller than, say, the amount of traffic Gamespot gets in a day, but Parish is well aware of this.
Also, did I mention these books make great stocking stuffers? Though you may want to reinforce said stocking first.