Free Swag for Gamers: Hardcore Gamer Magazine

Time for another edition of Free Swag for Gamers. The last time I reviewed Konami RPG Stars and it was a great site to score free stuff from. I’ve managed to bag 2 free games and a strategy guide from them since then and I hope everyone who signed up for the site is scoring some wicked swag too.

Today I’m reviewing Hardcore Gamer Magazine, a community Web site created for readers of the magazine to get together and talk about gaming and get points for it in the process. If you know of any other community sites like Hardcore Gamer Magazine, send me the site's address and I’ll give it a look.

What is the purpose of this community Web site?

Hardcore Gamer Magazine is a community site that allows readers and non-readers of Hardcore Gamer magazine to converse about gaming. Members can participate in challenges, weekly trivia, fan art contests and caption contests to gain points which they can use to purchase items in the site’s store.

What can members do to gain points?

Members can finish challenges like creating a new logo for the magazine or just entering some questions for an upcoming interview with game designer for the magazine. Members can also answer weekly trivia questions and create captions for the weekly picture caption contest. Members can even subscribe to the magazine for 500 extra points. Unfortunately there is no referral system or link system setup to gain points from.

What other activities can I participate in on the site?

Hardcore Gamer Magazine has forums for the members to converse in, news articles, editors’ blogs, a web comic and a downloadable version of the magazine to read, and a theatre to watch game trailers in.

How great is the item selection in the store?

Items ranged from a 600 point Bully football to a 7000 point signed copy of Dead Rising. Most of the cheaper point items are just that – cheap, but if you save your points, there are much better items available in the higher point level like a Vivi Plush from Final Fantasy IX or Ultimate Ghosts and Goblins for PSP.


How easy is it to get store items?

All you need is just the right amount of points to claim any prize in the store but points are not easy to come by and with each challenge giving you a small amount of points for completion, expect to wait a long time before you get enough for something cool in the store.

How is the shipping time for the items?

Prize shipping is done in batches, so you could wait several weeks for your item to come. Though it does seem a little long to wait for your item, you really can’t complain when the item is free in the first place.

How often is the site updated?

Trivia questions and the picture caption contest are updated on a weekly basis but the challenges can ranged from every 2 weeks to every month depending on how many challenges are still available to complete.

Are the missions easy to complete?

Hardcore Gamer Magazine tends to have a lot of challenges that require photo shopping skills which tends to make it difficult for us non-artistic types to complete them. You can still complete other challenges like the HGM Pokemon Night where you just have to enter your Pokemon Diamond or Pearl friend code to play with other Pokemon players in a tournament or the 28 Weeks Later challenge where you just need to take a picture of a zombie scene with some fake blood and your Barbie dolls and send it in to the site.

Do you suggest signing up for this site?

If you have a lot of time and patience, then I suggest you sign up for this site but if not, pass on it. The challenges typically don’t give a lot of points and when they do, you really need to work to get them. Even if you just stick to just doing the trivia contests and picture caption contests, it will still take forever before you can get something worth while in the store. Artistic gamers will love this site for the many art challenges but it’s really not worth the time for the non-artistic gamers to sign up.

Do I suggest signing up for the magazine subscription?

Heck, no! The whole magazine is nothing but reviews and previews which you can easily access on the internet. Not worth your dollars in the long run. The only time I suggest you buy it is if your fan art ends up in the magazine one month and you wanna show it to your mommy.

Hit the link to sign-up for Hardcore Gamer Magazine.