W
hew! It’s been a long few months, but I’d like to introduce everyone to the
new, redesigned Maximum PC! It seems like just yesterday that I was tell-
ing you about the last Maximum PC redesign, but it’s actually been nearly three
years. A lot has changed in that period, and it’s important that Maximum PC
change with the times. Wait! Before you start writing angry letters, you should
know that we haven’t changed the Maximum PC content you know and love, not
one iota. We’ve just given the old girl a fresh coat of paint. I wouldn’t dream of
changing an editorial formula that’s been so successful for almost 10 years.
What have we done to your magazine? The first thing you’ll prob-
ably notice is our brand-new section, The List. I’ve been a big fan of
lists ever since I first saw Late Night with David Letterman. After
consulting our attorneys, I discovered that there was absolutely
no reason we couldn’t have a similar section in Maximum PC ,
and thus was born The List. Seriously though, we’ve got a killer
umm... list of lists lined up, so make sure you check out the
section every month. You’ll either laugh or cry, I promise.
I also want to introduce our new columnist. Joining Tom
Halfhill and Thomas McDonald is Quinn Norton, who’s very
excited to talk to you. Quinn comes to us from Wired News,
and she’s going to cover everything from the battle against
digital-rights management and crazy copyright legislation to
the birth of extra-national data havens. Quinn’s got the digital
freedom beat covered, and I’m thrilled to have her aboard.
You’ll also notice boatloads of less obvious changes as you flip
through the redesigned mag. Font nerds will have already seen that
we’ve switched most of the text in the magazine to a serif font to great-
ly increase readability, even at smaller font sizes. We’ve also isolated and
removed many of the typesetting problems that caused us serious legibility
problems in the past—hopefully, you guys can stop writing those angry letters
too. We’ve renamed and revamped our Head2Head and In the Lab sections, too.
Best of the Best is taking a brief sabbatical, but it will be back in a new form and
better than ever in a few months.
So what do you think? Are you nervous? Scared? Slightly turned on? Either
way, I’d love to hear your opinion about our new design. Study the mag, check out
the changes, and shoot me an email or fi ll out our survey at http://maximumpc
.com/designsurvey for a chance to win a $250 Best Buy gift certifi cate.MAXIMUMPC
EDITORIAL
EDITOR IN CHIEF Will Smith
DEPJTY EDITOR Katherine Stevenson
MANAGING EDITOR Tom Edwards
EMECJTIVE EDITOR Michael Brown
SENIOR EDITOR Gordon Mah Ung
ASSOCIATE EDITOR David Murphy
WEB CONCIERGE Nathan Edwards
CONTRIBJTING WRITERS Norman Chan, Gord Goble,
Tom Halfhill, Thomas McDonald, Quinn Norton
EDITOR EMERITJS Andrew Sanchez
ART
ART DIRECTOR Natalie Jeday
ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Boni Uzilevsky
PHOTO EDITOR Mark Madeo
ASSOCIATE PHOTOGRAPHER Samantha Berg
CONTRIBJTING PHOTOGRAPHER Cynthia Wood
CONTRIBJTING ARTISTS Shannon Brady, Christina Empedocles
BUSINESS
GROJP PJBLISHER 650-238-2319, [email protected] Levy
WESTERN AD DIRECTOR 949-360-4443, [email protected] Lynn
WESTERN AD MANAGER 650-238-2409, [email protected] Rogol
EASTERN AD MANAGER 646-723-5459, [email protected] Presser
EASTERN ACCOJNT MANAGER 646-723-5476, [email protected] Zenker
EMECJTIVE DIRECTOR, GAMES GROJP 646-723-5447, [email protected] Cooper
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR, GAMES GROJP 646-723-5416, [email protected] Nate Hunt
ADVERTISING COORDINATOR 650-238-2498, [email protected] Urrutia
MARKETING COORDINATOR Kathleen Castaillac
PRODUCTION
PRODJCTION DIRECTOR Richie Lesovoy
PRODJCTION COORDINATOR Dan Mallory
CIRCULATION
CIRCJLATION DIRECTOR Peter Kelly
NEWSSTAND MANAGER Elliott Kiger
NEWSSTAND COORDINATOR Alex Guzman
INTERNET SJBSCRIPTION MARKETING MANAGER Betsy Wong
FJLFILLMENT MANAGER Angi Martinez
PRINT ORDER COORDINATOR Heidi Halpin
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PRESIDENT Jonathan Simpson-Bint
VICE PRESIDENT$COO Tom Valentino
CFO John Sutton
GENERAL COJNSEL Charles Schug
PJBLISHING DIRECTOR$GAMES Simon Whitcombe
PJBLISHING DIRECTOR$BJSINESS DEVELOPMENT Dave Barrow
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Jon Phillips
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR$MJSIC Brad Tolinski
HR DIRECTOR Nancy Durlester
PRODJCTION DIRECTOR Richie Lesovoy
Future JS, Inc. is part of Future plc.
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A THING OR TWO ABOJT A THING OR TWO
ED WORDWelcome
to the New
Maximum PC!
LETTERS POLICY Please send comments, questions, and Pocky to
will5maximumpc.com. Include your full name, city of residence,
and phone number with your correspondence. Jnfortunately, Will is
unable to respond personally to all queries.DON’T MISS
THE LIST
page 14KICK-ASS UPGRADES
page 22GEFORCE 9800 GTX
Reviewed
page 78http://www.maximumpc.com | JUN 08 |MAMAMAXIMXIMXIMXIMUUUUMMPPPCC| 07