Is the magazine industry already bust? You've probably heard a lot of print media transferring to the e-format due to various reasons (mostly because of the lack of demand and rising printing costs). Earlier this week, the publication firm has revealed their plans to cease print circulation of PC Magazine, and opt for the e-publication approach. It was also noted that they're currently considering Electronic Gaming Monthly to follow suit.

Sometimes, you just feel the need to move on. That's what Dan Hsu of 1UP feels, as he has recently announced his official resignation from the company. The former editor-in-chief of EGM also mentioned a who would take over after he left. More about that after the jump.

Interested in the whole Ziff Davis Media bankruptcy hub-bub that's been going around lately? Then here is 1UP Editor Simon Cox to clear up the entire matter for us, and how we shouldn't really worry about today's more popular videogame magazines. Bankruptcy is a scary word, yes, but for 1UP, it's anything but. Check out the full article for more info.

In a rather shocking development, Ziff Davis Media appeared before the court  today and filed for bankruptcy due to overwhelming debt that could reach up to US$ 1 billion. The company is responsible for entities EGM and 1UP.com among others. Know the full details after the jump!

We just got word that former gaming magazine editor John Davison has just opened up a new gaming website for parents. This particular website reportedly aims to be the "video games guide for parents" and was established due to the alleged proliferation of violent titles.

John Davison is not at all a stranger to the video game industry. He used to be the editor of magazines EGM as well as the Official PlayStation Magazine for U.S. Check the full story by clicking the "read more" link below.

At this year's recently concluded DigitalLife, the yet unreleased Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Xbox 360, PS2, PlayStation 3, PC, and Wii) from Aspyr  Media and Neversoft took home a Best of Show award for the Game Category.

DigitalLife is a consumer electronics event and trade show featuring new and innovative technology annually held by Ziff Davis in New York City. The said event reserves awards in twelve categories including gaming, PC, portable gadgets, toys, and automobile technology, among other things.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was playable at the Guitar Hero booth at DigitalLife, and it impressed the judges and the PC magazine editors enough to win Best of Show for gaming. Monica Vila, Vice President of Ziff Davis Media comments:

This year's Best of Show winners represent some of the most exciting technology products on the horizon. The quality and quantity of new product announcements at this year's show indicates that DigitalLife continues to evolve from being a great venue to interact with consumers to an industry gathering place, and one of the year's major focal points for technology and lifestyle press.

Buy: [Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (PS3)]
Buy: [Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Xbox 360)]
Buy: [Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Wii)]

Top story on Bungie last week (and part of the weekly update) was the big Grudge Match with Ziff Davis' 1Up gang against Bungie's finest in a heated match of Halo 2. It seems, however, that someone might have pulled a few strings here and there to make it look like the 1Up crowd actually got their revenge on Bungie's former match up win.

Testing out the two new maps that came out for Halo 2 last week, 1Up and Bungie faced off in a best of three match up numbering eight players per side on Slayer and Team Slayer game modes. 1Up had Luke Smith, Mark and Shoe from EGM, plus Rob from GameVideos, while Bungie had Shishka, Max, Sketch, and Bungie updater Frank.

Clearly, Bungie disagreed with 1Up's own video coverage of the three game sessions, showing their own run down of what happened in the "Bungie Humpday Challenge" and accusing Ziff Davis of chicanery. The scores came up as 2-1, in favor of Bungie.

Game one had Bungie taking down 1Up on Tombstone with scores ending at 50-36. On the Second round, Bungie served 1Up back on a silver platter, with the bittersweet feeling of having owned 1Up in Ivory Tower where they formerly lost and scores ending at 50-45. In the third round, 1Up took Bungie in a close race to 50 on the new map Desolation with 50-49 score in favor of 1Up.

We're not sure what really happened yet, but that's a really lame trick to pull on the guys who wear Spartan helms to work.

News direct from GTA4.net, a forum participant claimed that the Official PlayStation Magazine will be featuring a full-blown, exclusive look at the highly-anticipated Grand Theft Auto sequel from Rockstar Games. The next issue of the UK version of the Official PlayStation Magazine should be up for sale on May 2, 2007.

OPM UK's editor Tim Clark has confirmed the claims, stating that the feature is not just a coverage of the Grand Theft Auto IV (for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) trailer released just last week (or real-life versions of it). He claimed that fans of the game can expect brand new and exclusive screenshots and insider info straight from Rockstar.

Since the Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine has been discontinued, U.S. fans could probably just opt for the GameInformer feature of GTA IV also coming this May. GTA4.net has officially announced that it will provide a full coverage of the preview right on their website.

For a good while now, we've been hearing various reports and rumors about the recent sale that Ziff Davis is intending to make. Well, apparently, the whole issue is expected to be finally put to rest "in the next day or two". Normally, this would have been good news.

The element in this whole saga which has been keeping the industry at the edge of their seats is the fact that Ziff Davis owns the widely popular gaming website 1UP.com, and its offline counterpart, Electronic Gaming Monthly. One has to remember that EGM has already been churning out reviews and features since the days of the NES, while 1UP has already established itself as one of the prime resources of gaming-related news on the web, so the prospect of these being sold off by its parent company will most definitely have major implications.

At the moment, many are waiting with bated breath on how the whole deal will affect the staff of both 1UP and EGM (and along with staff comes the content, of course), what sort of changes will the public be looking forward to, and whether these changes will be for the better or otherwise. Many have fears about the outcome of the deal, especially after the Official Playstation Magazine was cancelled just last November.

In the meantime, we'll be keeping an eye out for updates on this matter, so stay tuned.

Gears of War sure seems to have taken next-gen gaming by storm. And why not? After all that hype from Microsoft and Epic, it's just but right that they prove those weren't all fluff.

Garnering multiple awards, even being the top game of the year for some, along with raving reviews, GoW proves why it is the first real next-gen game. USA Today reports that since its release on November 12, there has been an increase in the sales of the Xbox 360. This goes to show that the title being an exclusive to Microsoft does work wonders for the console.

John Davison, editorial director of Ziff Davis Media's game group is confident about this link. He says, "It's no doubt sold a lot of Xbox 360s and has made existing 360 owners feel very good about their investment."

With more than one million copies sold in the U.S., and an estimated two million copies worldwide, there's little doubt that it is indeed the best-selling Xbox 360 game. Says Geoff Keighly of Spike TV's "Game Head", "It's beautiful, engrossing and features very polished gameplay. It's the kind of game you want to show off to the friends. I dare say it's one of the first true next-generation games on the market."

In November, the month GoW was released, the Xbox 360's sales rose from about 511,000 to 3.4 million. That's saying a lot.