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GameSpot Video Games, PC, Wii, PlayStation 2, GameCube, PSP, DS, GBA, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

RIP OPM

Ziff-Davis discontinues Sony-centric gaming magazine after nine-year run; January '07 issue to be last.
By Tor Thorsen, GameSpot
Posted Nov 14, 2006 2:43 pm PT

For the past nine years, Official PlayStation Magazine has been a prime print source of information for thousands of Sony devotees across North America. With its bundled-in demo discs, the magazine also provided PlayStation and PlayStation 2 owners a chance to test drive the latest games.

Now, it appears that OPM is KIA. The Ziff-Davis Media Group, owners of OPM, announced today that the magazine's January 2007 issue would be its last. According to Scott McCarthy, president of the Ziff Davis Game Group, the launch of Sony's next-gen console has rendered pack-in demo discs--one of OPM's biggest draws--obsolete.

"The powerful online capabilities of the PlayStation 3, coupled with ever-increasing broadband penetration in the US, allow for much more efficient distribution of game demos, videos, and trailers," said McCarthy in a statement. "With this next generation of game consoles, the days of having to bundle a disc with a magazine to distribute games-related content are over."

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299 Comments

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SSJMajinVegeta

Was a great magazine, got mine a couple weeks ago and was pretty sad to know that that was the last time I'd ever read an OPM.

An end of an era definitely, but it'll live on it the pages forever.

Posted Jan 15, 2007 11:08 pm PT
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blancobo

Found out today!!! My only question is: what will they do with the money they owe me for the four issues they would still need to send me? I don't want EGM. That magazine is much too general for my taste. Gues this really puts the industry in a turn point. I have always looked forward to the nice and admirable ways the magazine provides info, reviews and so much more detail on games. I wasn't in it for the discs but for the articles, the screenshots and the previews, even afther watching trailers and so much more stuff in gamespot, the OPM was my guide to purchasing games. i found the reviews more accurate to my taste than those of Gamespot.com.
Well, good luck to Ziff Davis Media, the OPM already has an expiration date. Thanks for the good times OPM!

Posted Jan 10, 2007 5:08 pm PT
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thu299999999999

thats sad, and i hope that never happens to OXM

Posted Nov 20, 2006 8:01 pm PT
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XBXGMR2

Guys Over at PSM: $_$

Posted Nov 20, 2006 5:27 pm PT
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pherstothelee

NOOOOOOOOO aw man i loved OPM and I cant believe this all ended over some stupid demo disk dispute. I was hoping that they would start releasing UMDs with the issues too. Oh well, now its time to go and find just a PSP centric magazine since I no longer own a PS2.

Posted Nov 20, 2006 10:50 am PT
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Will_Kill_U

hey i have a subscription till next year! how do i get my money back! loved the magfazine like a father

Posted Nov 20, 2006 8:24 am PT
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_Sam_

That's too bad, but there are other magazines, and GameSpot

Posted Nov 19, 2006 3:42 pm PT
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Yadiel2007

:'( Im gonna miss OPM. They could have at least kept the magazine. You don't see XBOX Magazine getting cancelled anytime soon. The discs could have extra game content not found in the PS Store. It could be like the Guitar Hero game save in that one demo disc.

Posted Nov 19, 2006 11:46 am PT
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adam32232

I HVE LOVED YOUR MAGIZINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

REST IN PEACE!

Posted Nov 19, 2006 6:52 am PT
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VincentV21

OPM.....RIP. You will be missed.....at least EGM is still there!

Posted Nov 19, 2006 1:43 am PT
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thedarklordrand

In the days of the PS1 this was my bible. Not as much latley but still a sad loss. Joe Rybicki was one of the best game writers. WOnder where he is headed???

Posted Nov 18, 2006 8:45 pm PT
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rulo_rezn0r

PSM is better
but this a very bad loss, i used to play those demos in my ps1 years

Posted Nov 18, 2006 7:43 pm PT
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mgsthefury

There is still PSM

Posted Nov 17, 2006 8:29 pm PT
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jammydude7

gamespots good but i love that magazine and have been buying it since i had a ps1

Posted Nov 17, 2006 12:02 pm PT
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PSdual_wielder

I have only one volume ever. Pretty good magazine, didn't pay much attention to it, but still sucks for it to be gone.

Posted Nov 16, 2006 10:58 pm PT
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funkybar88

I stopped buying OPM the moment I discovered Gamespot. Day by day updates couldn't be beat by a monthly release. Their demos kept them alive and now the PS3 offers downloadable demos and there goes their ace in the hole

Posted Nov 16, 2006 9:43 pm PT
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SoullessL3

Wow, ending a nine-year run over DEMO DISCS!? That's just rediculous.. OPM was a good magazine, too. Hell, if the Official Xbox Magazine can still live, why can't OPM? This sucks ass..

Posted Nov 16, 2006 6:56 pm PT
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sh4d0wc4st3r

yeah, although I only have a couple of their magazines, it was pretty cool. I'll miss seeing them at news stands... another case of machines taking over people.

Posted Nov 16, 2006 4:44 pm PT
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eddy_jr

Rest in peace... Its really a shame... I've suscribed for 3 years now... but its the truth... With the PS3, games are on the press of a button, there's nothing they can do. It was good while it lasted... once again, Rest in Peace...

Posted Nov 16, 2006 3:00 pm PT
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DanteKiller

R.I.P. OPM, I will miss you so. Why couldn't they just pack in PSP demos with the magazine instead of PS3 demos?

Posted Nov 16, 2006 10:12 am PT
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Dantes_Monkey

well it served me well through the PS2 years and now i will have to read GAmesTM or something. or maybe EDGE

Posted Nov 16, 2006 9:33 am PT
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theKSMM

I used to buy magazines to get demo disks. Then I started downloading them at work and struggling to find a way to get them home. (Doing that with a stack of floppies stinks, trust me.) With broadband access, getting demos is less of an issue, though it is nice to get DVDs to save precious hard drive space.

Regardless, it's a always a shame to have a venerable part of our community taken away from us.

Posted Nov 16, 2006 9:06 am PT
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ARMORALLL

I used to get OPM but I actually started to think that there game coverage was starting to get pathetic and the demos they came out with were also boring. I didn't renew my subscription this year.

Posted Nov 16, 2006 7:58 am PT
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yanks1112

There goes my subscription $$

Posted Nov 16, 2006 7:53 am PT
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MedevilDragon

This is a shame since the first issue of Official PlayStation 3 Magazine UK has just been released, and now it's going to be useless.
This is also unfair to people who don't have online.

Posted Nov 16, 2006 5:10 am PT
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ModeMan101

Great, now all I'll have to read is Game Informer while I'm on the bog.

Posted Nov 15, 2006 10:42 pm PT
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gamepunk86

i get psm, mucher better n much cheaper

Posted Nov 15, 2006 10:36 pm PT
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GranTurismo_559

RIP OPM

Posted Nov 15, 2006 8:51 pm PT
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undox

If you buy OPM, you had to nearly double what you had to pay for most magazines. Half of it was the magazine itself and the demo disk. Both of them were a waste of money.

With the magazine, much of the articles inside were pure fluff. Did we really need to know about C-3PO cereal? With what was left, in was pretty thin. Overall, there wasn't much to read in there at all.

With the demo disk, you really got nuked. At with all demos, you only got a small sampling of the game. Unfortunately, you don't get enough of the game to know if you want to buy the game. With music site like iTunes, the 30-second samples are not long enough to know if you like a song to buy it. You need to hear the whole song to know if you like it enough to buy it. In a mall food court, you will sometimes get a single-bite or thimble-size sample are what they are serving. You need a full serving to know if you really like it. If you want to try a game before you buy, it is better to rent it.

As for the quality, forget it. Developers are too busy making the game to worry about demo quality. The demos are only a rough version of how the game will be. By the time that game is finished, the quality is much different. With both size and quality, demo disks are only good for coasters.

Overall, the loss of OPM was minor. If s similar magazine pops up, I hope that it will improve on both counts.

Posted Nov 15, 2006 7:33 pm PT
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Chameleon1990

so what happens with the money for my subscription that hasn't expired yet?

could i maybe get a few issues of EGM?

Posted Nov 15, 2006 5:41 pm PT
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hemakm3

RIP.

Posted Nov 15, 2006 5:00 pm PT
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drangel_jam

What happened to good editorial features!?

Posted Nov 15, 2006 4:52 pm PT
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BladeofImmortal

Sony didn't shut them down, Ziff-Davis did morons. Also, I'll miss this magazine, it was the only good one console magazine in the world. Hell, they even interviewed Peter Moore

Posted Nov 15, 2006 4:49 pm PT
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Blazer88

Not a big loss, smart people learned quickly that the all inclusive mags were better. And demo diks were hardly ever that good.

Posted Nov 15, 2006 4:43 pm PT
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sniper_99

NOOOOOOOO!

Posted Nov 15, 2006 4:32 pm PT
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EnderSR388

OPM hasn't been good for awhile. It was just a matter of time. Oh well, I'm glad I read Play and GI.

Posted Nov 15, 2006 3:24 pm PT
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Kantwon

I did enjoy the magazine but there were signs of it going downhill. Plus there demos were really getting weak. They were putting Demo Classics(demos that were released once already)) on there. At least I'm subscribed to Game Informer, that's a good magazine I can look forward to reading.

Posted Nov 15, 2006 3:15 pm PT
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AJay25

Sony down yet another business. . . Wasen't Lik enough?

Sure the fact that demo disks and reviews are going to be easy to get is true but not everyone is online

Posted Nov 15, 2006 3:01 pm PT
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Dweed1

Stupid. They could just make the magazine without the demo discs. Fans can just suck it up and get the magazines without the demo discs.

Posted Nov 15, 2006 2:58 pm PT
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mikeslemonade

Good this is smart by Sony and Ziff-Davis. The xbox magazine should learn from them. I hope the editors still stick around.

Posted Nov 15, 2006 2:46 pm PT
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Krazedperson630

NNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved their magazines! (cry,cry) Well, there's always Eletronic Gaming Magazines! Yippee!!!

Posted Nov 15, 2006 2:28 pm PT
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yaba

ha ha my subscription expires in december

Posted Nov 15, 2006 2:03 pm PT
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B-boy

I was reader opm magazine for 4 years

Posted Nov 15, 2006 1:14 pm PT
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getlynched

Sorry Tom... long live PSM

Posted Nov 15, 2006 12:49 pm PT
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gR_Silent

I didnt really like this magazine anyway, I prefer PSM or EGM. Sorry guys...lol

Posted Nov 15, 2006 12:30 pm PT
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Doolum

reminds me of my days reading Consoles+ ( a ffrench gaming mag ),i miss the sweet smell of coloured paper,the posters,the nice pics..now you US guys and the world's gonna be denied OPM..sad..just sad

Posted Nov 15, 2006 12:20 pm PT
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chaduma

Hmmm... I still enjoy the news/info/reviews/previews/etc... I get from OXM, EGM, and GI. And only one of them has a demo disc which, I still manage to find relevent and enjoyable in a lot of ways. Sux to be an OPM fan I guess. And I wonder if this a PR statement with more in the background then they're letting onto, or if this is really the case.

Either way... Oh well, I discontinued my OPM subscription over a year ago anyway.

Posted Nov 15, 2006 11:54 am PT
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cjcr_alexandru

"With this next generation of game consoles, the days of having to bundle a disc with a magazine to distribute games-related content are over."

I must say he has a point.

Posted Nov 15, 2006 11:38 am PT
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aashkii

I feel awful about this. Even though I'm a nintendo fanboy, I enjoyed the magazine and all its glory. I have to admit that demo discs in magazines are slowly dissapating. I think the official Xbox mag will have to end its demo disc offerings in their future issues as well. When I borrowed one of my cousin's PS2s I played the demo discs (including the PS1 demo discs) and enjoyed them. I think I have one of their older mags with Sipher Filter (can't spell this game's name right, but close enough) on the cover. I still plan on getting a PS3 once Sony cuts down the price down a bit in the future. My goal is to own all of the major next-gen consoles before the five-six year lifespan of these systems end with the newer ones. OPM, you lived a good nine years in this world. One day you shall ressurect your soul and glory, and bring these Sony fanboy's sadness into joy once again.

Posted Nov 15, 2006 11:29 am PT
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