Editing GamePro (section)

==Content==
=== Main sections ===
{{unreferenced section|date=March 2018}}
In February 2010, the magazine's main sections were:-

* '''Inside:''' A redesigned table of contents page listing the major pieces and games in the issue.
* '''From the Editor:''' A column found at the beginning of the magazine from the editor introducing features or big games covered in that month's issue.
* '''Inbox:''' User feedback and letter of the month.
** '''Art Attack:''' Reader art sent into the magazine. That month's best art would win a game-related prize.
* '''Editorials:''' Articles on varying topics by freelance writers and individuals working in the game industry.
* '''Spawn Point:''' Front of magazine sections featuring behind-the-scenes game news and insights, interviews, game previews and a calendar of "gamer-culture events".
* '''The Bonus Level:''' A short guide to "essential geek gear", including  video game releases, books and game-related items for sale at various websites.
* '''Features:''' Any cover stories or featured games/issues that warrant a separate article would be told here.
* '''Reviews:''' This section was initially named "'''''ProViews'''''" and later renamed to "'''''ProReviews'''''". The reviews format changed over the years, although the original basic format remained the same: One reviewer speaks for the entire ''Gamepro'' staff about a particular game. The magazine initially began by giving each platform its own section of reviews. Near the end of 2005, ''Gamepro'' changed this format to have only one review for any game released on more than one platform, describing any differences that one platform may have over another with that particular game, and giving separate scores for each platform's version of the game. During 2006, another aspect of the reviews debuted, called "Key Moment", in which the reviewer names one particular instance or a standout piece of the game that led them to the decision they made in a short, one sentence description. "Key Moment" was eventually replaced by "Pros" and "Cons", found with the review score, which briefly list any issues that stand out with the game, both good and bad.
* '''Parting Shot:''' With the major overhaul of the magazine in the February 2010 issue, Opening Shots was dropped, and Parting Shot went from being art from a particular game showcased at the back of the magazine, to a look back at the issue of Gamepro that appeared that month 10 years ago.

=== Retired sections ===
* '''Opening Shots/Parting Shot:''' Use of higher quality HD images and bigger, more detailed screen shots throughout the magazine. "Opening Shots" is a new screen grab gallery at the front of the magazine, while "Parting Shot" is art from a game showcased at the back of the magazine.
* '''The Hub:''' Section dedicated to the Gamepro.com online community. Back of the magazine highlights of reader reviews, comments, new "Ask the Pros" question of the month, community leaders profile highlights, featured forum threads and the new Head2Head: User feedback and letter of the month. Every week, the Hub gets a new Featured Member.
** '''Ask The Pros:''' Returns from the past in this new, online version of user submitted question (online) and answered by the editor of relative expertise.
** '''Head2Head:''' User feedback and letter of the month return to new subsection in rear of each issue.
* '''Previews (formerly known as "Short ProShots" and then "Sneak Previews"):''' A peek at games in development, telling of the projected release dates of games and what to expect out of them. When this column first appeared, it was in the back of the magazine, with only minuscule information. In 1996, it was moved to the front of the magazine after the features. It was shortly after the rearranging in 1996 that ''GamePro'' started a new approach to the previews, labeling previews as either "First Look", where they may have only seen a video and only had information on storyline and features in the game, and "Hands-On", where the editor providing the preview got to play an early build of the game and described any first impressions of the game. Also added for a short time in 1996 was a "percent complete bar" graphic that noted how far along the game was. This graphic was dropped in 1999 during the 10th Anniversary redesign.
* '''Games To Go:''' Reviews and previews of games for portable game systems.
* '''The Sports Page:''' Previews and reviews of sports games. When this section debuted in 1993, each review and preview got its own "headline" to give the section a newspaper feel. By the end of 1996, the newspaper-style headlines were only used for one or two reviews each issue and never for previews, and they were dropped entirely in 1999 for the 10th Anniversary redesign. This section was also the first section to have the "multiplatform game review" tactic described above, in 2003.
* '''Role Players Realm:''' Reviews, previews, and walkthroughs of [[Role-playing video game|role playing games]] (RPGs). Often a walkthrough for a game would be serialized across two or three issues. During slow months for RPGs, the section would be padded with fantasy-themed video games from other genres.
* '''Code Vault (formerly "C.S.A.T. Pro"):''' Video game cheats, strategies, tactics, tips, secrets and easter eggs revealed. Both game companies and readers sent in submissions for this section, with a random prize to the reader who sent in the best tip (usually a game). When this section debuted as C.S.A.T. Pro, C.S.A.T. stood for "Cheats, Strategies and Tactics". In 2002 this feature was renamed "Code Vault" so as to match the name of ''Gamepro''{{'}}s short-lived cheat-code spinoff magazines.
* '''Head-2-Head (formerly known as "The Mail"):''' A [[letters to the editor]] section. They began doing a "Letter Of The Month" special in 2004, with the winning letter's author winning a particular prize. This section had begun to feature a Reader Review from their website on a particular game as a way to entice other readers to visit their site and do the same. Throughout the magazine's lifespan, this section was in the front of the magazine. However, as of April 2007's redesign, the section has been moved to the back of the magazine.
* '''Buyers Beware:''' A consumer advocacy section in which readers send in complaints about defective and malfunctioning games, peripherals, systems, and the like. ''Gamepro'' was the only publication to feature such a column.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} Every once in a while, the column steered away from its usual formula to feature a current widespread issue. Whenever possible, ''GamePro'' contacted the relevant game company and a company representative would directly answer the reader's query, sometimes with the editor putting in additional advice or critical comments if he considered the company's response inadequate. This was the only ''Gamepro'' column to be authored by the same editor since its debut in 1994: The Watch Dog. This section migrated onto Gamepro.com as of the April 2007 redesign, and was seemingly dropped from the print magazine.
* '''ProNews:''' ''Gamepro''{{'}}s news section. This section first appeared in the back of the magazine after the reviews, but found its way to the front of the magazine in 1996 to follow suit with other game magazines. This section has shape-shifted over the years to include various "game watches", a random quote generation sidebar called "Static" that seemingly disappeared after 2003. Gamepro Labs, which used to be a separate column, then appeared as a part of this section.
* '''Hot At The Arcades:''' Previews and reviews of cabinet arcade games. This section appeared regularly for about 5 years after the magazine debuted. The section still appeared every now and again, but was absent for the most part since 1997 due to the steady decline of arcades. This section was at times folded into the Pro news section.
* '''Overseas Prospects:''' Import games were featured and sometimes reviewed. This section is still in the magazine, but appears only rarely.
* '''Video Game Survival Guide:''' Originally titled "16-Bit Survival Guide" when the [[Super NES]] and [[Sega Genesis|Genesis]] were on the last year of their respective runs, to review those games that were still being released for the systems. This was changed to reflect other game systems that were close to, or even past, the end of their commercial lifespan.
* '''Adventures of Gamepro:''' The Adventures of Gamepro was a comic strip run in the early issues of the magazine detailing the adventures of a superhero named after the magazine. He was a gamer drawn into the realm of video games to fight off evil creatures taking over game after game called the Evil Darklings.

===Rating scale===
At first, games were rated by five categories: Graphics, Sound, Gameplay, FunFactor, and Challenge.<ref name="GPro88">{{cite magazine|date=January 1996|title=Cart Queries|url=https://archive.org/details/GamePro_Issue_078_January_1996/page/n17/mode/2up|magazine=GamePro|publisher=[[International Data Group|IDG]]|issue=78|page=17|quote=... back then the Control category was called Gameplay ...}}</ref> Later the "Challenge" category was dropped and the "Gameplay" category was renamed "Control".<ref name="GPro88"/> The ratings were initially on a scale of 1.0 to 5.0, in increments of 0.5, but a possible 0.5 score was later added. The first game to receive such a score was ''[[Battle Arena Toshinden URA]]'' for the [[Sega Saturn]]. Starting in October 1990, each score was accentuated with a cartoon face (The Gamepro Dude) depicting different expressions for different ratings.<ref>{{cite magazine|date=January 1997|title=The Magazine Biz|url=https://archive.org/details/GamePro_Issue_100_Volume_09_Number_01_1997-01_IDG_Publishing_US/page/n25/mode/2up|magazine=GamePro|publisher=[[International Data Group|IDG]]|issue=100|page=24}}</ref> The ratings faces remained in use until about 2002. ''GamePro''{{'}}s reviews became esteemed enough that some games would display their ''GamePro'' ratings on their retail boxes.

After 2002, the category system was eliminated in favor of a single overall rating for each game on a scale of 1.0 to 5.0 stars. A graphic of five stars were shown alongside the written review. The number of stars a game earned was indicated by the number of solid stars (e.g., a game's 4-star rating was represented by showing 4 solid stars and one hollow star). No game ever received less than one star. An Editors' Choice Award was given to a game that earned either 4.5 or 5.0 stars.

===Role-Player's Realm===
''GamePro'' had a "Role-Player's Realm" section dedicated to the coverage and reviews of [[role-playing video game]]s. In the January 1997 issue, they published a list of "The Top Ten Best RPGs Ever" which consisted of the following games:<ref>"Role-Players Realm", ''GamePro'', issue 110 (January 1997), page 144</ref>

#''[[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past]]'' ([[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|Super NES]])
#''[[Final Fantasy VI|Final Fantasy 3]]'' ([[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|Super NES]])
#''[[Lunar: Eternal Blue]] / [[Lunar: The Silver Star|Silver Star]]'' ([[Sega CD]])
#''[[Breath of Fire II]]'' (Super NES)
#''[[Phantasy Star IV]]'' ([[Sega Genesis|Genesis]])
#''[[Secret of Mana]]'' (Super NES)
#''[[Chrono Trigger]]'' (Super NES)
#''[[Super Mario RPG]]'' (Super NES)
#''[[Might and Magic II]]'' (Genesis)
#''[[Final Fantasy IV|Final Fantasy 2]]'' (Super NES)

Later in 2008, ''GamePro'' published another list of "The 26 Best RPGs of the All Time", the top ten of which consisted of the following games:<ref>{{cite magazine| author=GamePro Staff | title=The 26 Best RPGs of the All Time | url=http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/218144/the-26-best-rpgs-page-4-of-4/ | magazine=GamePro | date=November 5, 2008 | access-date=February 14, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110215002132/http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/218144/the-26-best-rpgs-page-4-of-4|archive-date=2011-02-15 }}</ref>

#''[[Final Fantasy VII]]''
#''[[World of Warcraft]]''
#''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]''
#''[[Chrono Trigger]]''
#''[[Fallout 3]]''
#''[[Diablo II: Lord of Destruction]]''
#[[Ultima (series)|''Ultima'' series]]
#''[[Xenogears]]''
#''[[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past]]''
#''[[Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic]]''

===ProTips===
''GamePro'' is credited with coming up with the concept of "Protip", a short piece of advice as if spoken by an expert usually attached to an image, which was explained by former writer Dan Amrich that as part of their editorial process, they were encouraged to caption the three-to-seven images used in an article with such advice.

One purported image from a ''GamePro'' review of ''[[Doom (1993 video game)|Doom]]'' (1993) had a caption for an image of one of the game's bosses as "PROTIP: To defeat the Cyberdemon, shoot at it until it dies". The apparent advice, which is [[common sense]] and self-evident for players of [[first-person shooter]]s like ''Doom'', was widely mocked and created a [[Internet meme|meme]] of similarly obvious ProTips added as captions to pictures. However, the image was revealed to be a fake, created as an April Fools' joke for a [[fansite]] doomworld.com.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-06-27-the-truth-about-dooms-protip-meme |title=The truth about Doom's "ProTip" meme |first=Jeffrey |last=Matulef |date=June 27, 2016 |access-date=June 27, 2016 |work=[[Eurogamer]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160628135748/http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-06-27-the-truth-about-dooms-protip-meme |archive-date=June 28, 2016 }}</ref>

===''Lamepro''===
{{unreferenced section|date=March 2018}}
Every April until 2007, as an [[April Fools' Day]] prank, ''Gamepro'' printed a 2-5 page satirical spoof of the magazine called ''Lamepro'', a parody of ''Gamepro''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s own official title. The feature contained humorous game titles and fake news similar to [[The Onion]], though some content, such as ways to get useless game glitches (games getting stuck, reset, or otherwise), was real. The section parodied GamePro itself, as well as other game magazines.