Games for Windows Magazine will be transitioning to an online-only publication format, the 1UP Network announced today.

Publisher Ziff Davis, which launched GFW in 2006 as a rebranding of the 25-year-old mag Computer Gaming World, cited the movement of readership to internet-based news sources as impetus for the closure. The final print issue of Games for Windows, April/May 2008, is on newsstands now.

"PC gamers and marketers have made the online space their home," said Ziff Davis CEO Jason Young. "There are 10 million 'World of Warcraft' subscribers, 15 million Steam users...It's a natural move for us to refocus our resources and talent to the online space, in order to reach the PC gaming community where it truly lives."

Ziff Davis, which owns and operates the 1UP Network and its publications, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month due to mounting debt totaling between $500 million and $1 billion. But 1UP Network content VP Simon Cox said that GFW's... Read more

Publishing house Ziff Davis Media announced today that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to mounting debt that now totals between $500 million and $1 billion.

Ziff Davis is the publisher of such well-known gaming standards as 1UP.com, Electronic Gaming Monthly, Games for Windows, and PC Magazine.

If approved by the court, the company will be tasked with restructuring its finances. An ad hoc noteholder group is planning to pay up to $24.5 million to keep Ziff Davis afloat during the Chapter 11 case.

The Entertainment Consumer Association, which describes itself as the first video game consumer advocacy organization, today announced that it has struck partnerships with major industry groups and events such as Ziff Davis Media (1UP Network), NCsoft, Video Games Live, Yahoo! Games, Gen Con, Intec, and others. Earlier this year, the ECA also announced that it has acquired respected politically charged video game industry coverage blog GamePolitics. Founded this year, the ECA aims to educate and advocate for gamers at a consumer level rather than an industry level. Its founder and president Hal Halpin was the founder of the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association, which this year merged with the Video Software Dealers Association to become the Entertainment Merchants Association.

Membership to the ECA runs $19.99 per year, and confers various benefits including discounts and trials to various industry publications, services, and events.