PC Zone article in Europe

Well,
having had to wait an additional month for my 'exclusive Guild Wars 2' information and Asura mini-pet I have to say I'm completely gutted. Having read all sorts of good summaries and excerpts from the US PC Gamer 13 page (count 'em) review I was really looking forwards to something I could get my teeth into.

Instead what I got was a 4-page article that was 3/4 well published pictures that can be summarised in a handful of sentances.

Eye of the North will be coming out and is a high level expansion (duh...)

It will be in dungeons, but with some areas that 'feel' like ascalon.

You can have your character achievements recognised in a 'hall of monuments'

Guild Wars 2 will come out sometime next year. (again, duh...)

There will be different races.

That's it... No 13 pages, no information that's not currently available on the guildwars website. I mean, what gives? Why do we Europeans get screwed over with some pathetic cobbled together using largely vulger language mash-up that offers NOTHING over and above what was already in the public domain from the guildwars website. (I'm not even mentioning the fact that we have to wait an extra month to get an asura mini which is now valueless if we wanted to trade it, or nearly as common as a mini-pig.

What gives?

I'd still like to read the full 13-page article in PC Gamer but will now have to try and contact the publishers and pay for shipping etc. if they'll even agree to send me a copy by air-mail. Why the totally inconsistant approach?

Remind me never to spend £6 (that's about $12 US) on this worthless magazine again (that conveniently comes shrink-wrapped and boxed so you can't even have a flick through the content before you buy it).

So disappointed...

BdP

6 pounds?!?

Damn.

Well, the only consolation I can give you is that you probably already know everything that's in that 13 page PCGamer article. If there's anything specifically you'd like me to quote for you, PM me.

Yeah, PC Zone Uk is never a big fan of GW. They favor World of Something more, I know I always get it every month. The magazine itself is still a good read and keep me entertain while I'm doing No2. At least they still better than PC Gamer UK.

Im just glad I can pick up the US PC Gamer here in Ireland, and only for 8 euro, compared to 10 for PC Zone or PC Gamer (UK).

I'm sure if you look around you can pick up a US PC Gamer in the UK. Try WH Smith or somewhere like that.

Lmfao That's one use for it

Just be thankful you got something.

PC Zone's ONLY use is to wipe your **** with. I've never read a poorer magazine. The whole thing is always 3/4s pictures not just that article. The actual "articles" (if you can really call them that ) are comedy pieces that only briefly tell you what the game is about. Please ANET, I've never begged for anything from you till now. Don't use PC Zone again, give your UK exclusive to another, more talented magazinre.

I genuinely mean this in the least offensive way possible, but what did you expect? I mean, nowhere does it say "Exclusive Information", and the fact is, the humongous PC Gamer article covered pretty much everything that could be covered until closer to release date. Yes, the article had no new information, but I somehow get the feeling that Greece's "PC Master Magazine" or Serbia's "Gameplay" are getting exclusive info either.

?!

Holy crap, what a rip-off!

Just read the article in the store instead of spending that much money for it...

The OP wrote that it "conveniently comes shrink-wrapped and boxed so you can't even have a flick through the content before you buy it."

To be fair, the writer for PC Gamer actually got to visit ANet to put together her article. There's an interview with her on GuildCast (Episode 67, you can podcast it) where she talks about it. I doubt writers for Euro mags had that opportunity.

Still, what a ripoff.

Well, what I expected was the same 13 page article that was printed in the US VERSION (read that a couple of times, the US version, available in the US and Canada) of PC Gamer.

And to quote from the front cover of the magazine, emblazoned accross it in a bright yellow font '3 World Exclusives - Guild Wars 2, Football Manager Live and Left 4 Dead'.

So yeah, I was expecting the same 13-page US PC Gamer article as a World Exclusive here in the UK.

@ischuros: Thanks for the tip, I'll have a look around for it if any stores still have it. Do the Irish branches get the magazines later than their US release since it was in last months US PC Gamer

What gives where I am it's called PC Gamer not zone...Im in ENGLAND

God, I feel so terrible for you, lol.

UK is always spoiled with this kind of offers/promotions, yet, people come here to complaint about how unhappy they are with what they read there. Man, that's really sad.

Now seriously, my truely, deepest feelings for your sadness, I really feel bad about you. You deserve more!! Yeah, you should have it all!

Please I demand that A.Net meets with this person to give him a full private press conference, because you owe that to him and all UK Guild Wars players. Yes, that's it. Oh and pretend that the rest of land around it doesn't exist, ok?

Should I wear black today? Since we're all mourning the lack of pages talking about GW in that magazine.

Geez.

PC Gamer is available in England, however for some reason the UK version of PC Gamer is not one of Guild Wars promo/trade partners whereas the US version is.

@Zappa, thanks for your heartfelt sympathy, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know that you understand the terrible grief I feel. To receive such love and understanding from my fellow man fills my heart with joy. Maybe later we can arrange to meet up and 'spoon' on your couch since no-one has ever understood me the way you do...

I gotta ask though, do you want to be the big spoon, or the little one?

Basically a warning. Yes you will get your Asura mini, but if you're considering buying this magazine in the UK for a good preview and plenty of info, don't bother.

BdP

Well, given the choice between all the offers and extras we are apparently spoiled with and the world exclusive article promised, I know which I'd prefer. Don't forget that PC Zone is a "media partner" of ANET's and therefore should have the same access to information that the PC Gamer (US) journalists did. However, it may be the case that, as I described in my post above, the PC Zone journalists are just crap (which I believe is the case). Now if you like to buy magazines just to look at the pretty pictures then that's nice for you, but us grown-ups like to actually read the articles and if said articles are a pile of ***** then yes we'll compain about it. Hope that cleared up the position for you.

Weird - Mine's only got Football Manager Live as a world exclusive, and the secondary articles are Guild Wars 2 & 101 Best Games Ever (Deus Ex was #1 for those interested - And they're right!).

As for expecting the same article, it's by different people, different magazines, difference circumstances (as another poster pointed out, the PC Gamer writer went to ArenaNet HQ) and different continents. The article was simply never going to have the same level of depth that a one-to-one interview was. I'm I'm sure those who buy the other European magazines won't find a huge amount of detail either.

And someone mentioned before, how NCSoft shouldn't give GW news to PCZone in the future - Well, ultimately, then you'd end up with a very similar article (they provided the artwork, screenshots and information after all), albeit in a different magazine.

its like a twilight zone/alternate weird universe over there in the UK...

I lol'd. Nice comeback, man.


Warren_kn you were so busy being a "grown-up" that you completely missed the point of my post.

While you came here to complain about the article, lots of other people would've loved to have the offers and info you had published in one of their countries' videogame magazines. Yes, it seems that people do exist outside the UK!
Same thing happened in previous similar offers.
And yet, you bash A.Net and PC Zone for not giving you enough. So yeah, you are a bit spoiled.
If PC Zone should have the same info PC Gamer had or not, if their journalists are crap, if they have partnership deals with A.Net, if Boris likes to "spoon" with other guys - that's not the issue here and I couldn't care less.
Ok, you may have been given just a little bit less info than the US, but there's a lot more that didn't get nothing at all. So enjoy what you have. Or are you too good for it?

Lol ok I'll start from the top. As far as I'm aware, the special offers, in this case the Asura, were available in the mythical lands outside the UK. I assume they even had real articles in those magazines. Whether they were any good, well I'll wait for people to post on here. The mag is bad, the article is poorly written. If wanting a well written article means I'm spoiled then yep I'm spoiled. Just because some countries didn't get anything doesn't mean I'm not gonna complain about what I did get. PC Zone having same info as Gamer, partnership with ANET, Boris' "preferences" are the issue (well maybe not the latter). Ok, we may have been given a LOT less than PC Gamer US which is better than nothing at all. Unfortunately I didn't enjoy what I got which was kinda the whole point of me posting. Not a matter of me being too good for it, just my side of the whole satisfied customer thing. You know you too could complain about not getting a magazine at all. What good it'll do you I don't know but you coultd try....If not PM me your address I'll send my copy to you in the post