For sale: One games mag

People will sell anything on Ebay, apparently. Even entire magazine operations.

As print publishing continues to suffer (though some of us are doing quite well, thank you very much), and even Internet magazines struggle to grab a slice of an ever-shrinking advertising pie, it seems that some publishers are turning to increasingly desperate measures to keep their products afloat.

Tim Lindquist was determined not to let his brainchild Hardcore Gamer to go the way of so many other niche publications in recent months that he put the whole kit and kaboodle up for sale on Ebay.

The deal included copyrights, registered trademark rights, intellectual property rights, back issues, subscription lists, customer lists, vendor lists, employee contracts, distribution contacts, public relations contacts, advertising contacts, Web sites and domain names associated with Hardcore Gamer, including HardcoreGamer.com and around 30 other domain names.

Lindquist also suggested that the new owner could look forward to a tantalising list of perks including VIP treatment at trade shows and advance copies of unreleased games.

With a reserve of $US42,000 based on last year's profits, the auction got a lot of interest, but no actual bids, until a mystery buyer stepped in and asked the publisher to end the auction.

Lindquist is currently in negotiation with the secretive benefactor.