Apple has provided publishers with the ability to offer subscription-based content in the App Store. This means any publisher that sells access to magazines, newspapers, music or just about anything else, can sell us periodic subscriptions for a set price. Money for the subscriptions will be acquired automatically through the same billing system Apple currently uses with iTunes.

Amazon is selling one-year subscriptions to four well known gaming magazines for $5 each. For roughly the cost of one subscription at normal price, you could have all four magazines delivered to your home. The available choices are Official Xbox Magazine, Official PlayStation Magazine, Nintendo Power, and PC Gamer. There’s something here for everyone. OXM does come with the free DVD under this deal as well.

Nudity and sexual themes in general are among the most heavily censored subjects but, despite this trend, some developers have managed to find tasteful ways to include them into their stories. With this idea in mind, 2K Games has partnered with Playboy Magazine for its upcoming game, Mafia II.

Mafia II will recreate the world of organized crime during the late ’40s and the ’50s in the US. Players will control Vito who will get involved in various criminal activities reminiscent of a Grand Theft Auto game.

The magazine industry is notoriously tough to keep a publication afloat in, as evidenced by the end of Electronic Gaming Monthly. Magazines able to stay in print will have face another economic issue as two major distributors begin raising rates.

Folio reports that the distributor responsible for 20 percent of mass market magazine distribution has announced a 7 cents-per-copy increase on all copies distributed. In addition…

The 1up group just announced that their flagship PC gaming magazine Games for Windows: The Official Magazine is moving entirely to the online world. In an announcement on 1up.com posted yesterday, site director Sam Kennedy stated that the magazine will “be transitioning from a print publication to an online-exclusive destination here on 1UP.com. The move is being done to help focus our efforts to where PC gamers spend most of their time: on their PCs.”