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Edge's July cover: Wii remote winged and gilded
We try to tip our hats whenever we spot a magazine cover that catches our fancy, but after having received numerous complaints from the jerks in accounting, upper management recently revised our office dress code to prohibit the wearing of sombreros, bowlers, and Davy Crockett caps. Our heads have been bare ever since the decree was passed down, and we haven't been doing much hat-tipping as a result. Needless to say, we really miss our silly hats.Edge's cover for its July issue is just what we needed to lift our spirits. The UK magazine has a reputation for attractive layouts, inside and out, and this month's artwork is no exception, heralding Nintendo's victory run on gold. Though the image pasted above captures the basic gist, you can see a shot of the full cover after the post break. Ironically, only one Wii game made Edge's review pages this time around -- Mercury Meltdown Revolution. Ignition's labyrinthine title garnered an 8 out of 10; quite impressive considering the magazine's traditionally tough scoring.
Deal of the Day: A year of Famitsu for $390
Are you tired of waiting those agonizing minutes or hours for news to get from Famitsu's website to you? Would you rather wait days or weeks? How about at a great financial expense? If you answered "yes" to these questions, then this Amazon.com deal is for you: $390 for a year of Weekly Famitsu, delivered right to you. That comes out to $7.50 an issue, with (thankfully) free shipping!Actually, this deal is not so ridiculous. Well, maybe it is in the "$400 for a magazine" sense, or especially in the "$400 for a magazine you can't read" sense for some of us, but there's a lot of cool content that is not as time-sensitive as news-- screens, Famitsu's trademark "cross reviews", even ads that are usually pretty fun to look at. [Via CAG]
Famitsu primer for the uninitiated
GameSetWatch's Kevin Gifford published a piece that finally explains what the big deal is with Japanese game magazine Famitsu. Not caring what Famitsu thinks about games is a big faux pas in the industry. Those who dare state publicly they could care less what some random Japanese magazine thinks are shunned in some circles. Most of the time journalists who cite the magazine for being über have never even read it -- but apparently it's respected as the holy grail of game journalism, so in the words of the Beatles, we'll follow their words of wisdom and "let it be."Gifford explains that the multi-editor score card originated with Famitsu and EGM went on to copy it. According to the article, Famitsu's scores actually matter though because they've been said to directly influence sales. The magazine has also not been immune to the shrinking print publishing industry, losing almost 40 percent of its circulation in the last six years. Gifford's piece gives a great rundown of this supposedly venerable magazine. He should have called the article: Everything you always wanted to know about Famitsu* but were afraid to ask pretentious geeks.
Official PlayStation Mag dead, demo disc the killer?
Just as Ziff-Davis and Microsoft's trembling lips meet for the long, slow kiss that is Games for Windows: The Official Magazine, Ziff and Sony are, like, totally breaking up. They say it's mutual, that all relationships must end ... but we all know who's really to blame. It's that ne'er-do-well demo disc, that's who!With the steady erosion of print readership and the growth of online outlets (like Sony's own ThreeSpeech project who, curiously, keep cribbing from OPM) it's no wonder they've reconsidered their commitment to the world of dead-tree gaming journalism. Coupled with their (about to launch) PlayStation Network, capable of delivering videos and demos -- the very same videos and demos that used to come bundled on DVD with every issue of OPM -- the gimmick has dried up.Increasingly, print magazines rely on these gimmicks to provide extra incentive to read all the gaming news you already read online 3 weeks ago. Game Informer has that infinitely valuable shelf space at the nation's largest gaming retailer while Computer Gaming World had to reevaluate and become Games For Windows. What's curious is why Microsoft not only doesn't see Xbox Live as the final nail in Official Xbox Magazine's proverbial coffin, but they use the magazine to distribute exclusive demos, weeks before they hit Live (see: Rainbow Six Vegas). Maybe, with a 60% attach rate for Xbox Live, they realize there's still plenty of offline 360 gamers who can't get their demos from Live.[Update: The fine folks at Ziff contacted us to "clarify that the 1UP Network -- 1UP.com, GameVideos.com, MyCheats.com, the 1UP Show, our podcasts, etc. -- and EGM will cover the PS3, PS2, and PSP in depth with integrated print, video, podcast, and web features through the holiday season, 2007, and beyond." So, there you have it. Don't think Ziff is axing the Sony coverage, they're just axing the magazine.]Read -- Sony's press releaseRead -- Ziff Davis' press release
Zinio offers fix for QuickTime + Flash quirk in their magazines
Zinio, if you aren't familiar, offers magazines in digital format (yes, with DRM), many of them with rich media like embedded movies right in the pages, for Mac and PC. They have quite a selection and they've been around for a few years now, but apparently their latest version (released around the dawn of time) is suffering a quirk due to Apple changing the way QuickTime renders Flash with the latest QuickTime 7.1.3 update, causing embedded rich media to misbehave.Fortunately, they've issued a fix via email, and it goes a little something like this: Close the Zinio Reader, if open Go to the QuickTime pane in System Preferences In the Advanced tab, check 'Enable Flash' After that simple process you should be able to return to your regularly scheduled, though in my opinion ridiculously overpriced, reading.This fix, by the way, is also how you enable iTunes 7 to play interactive booklets from the iTunes Store according to this Apple KB article.
Delicious Library Gambler's Sale enters fourth and final week
You'd better get out those credit cards boys and girls, as the Delicious Monster Gambler's Sale has entered its fourth and final week. For those not familiar with this type of sale: Delicious Monster set aside a secret number of Delicious Library licenses and put the app on a four week sale. Each week, they drop the price by $5. Herein lies the catch: the sale ends when either four weeks are up, or the secret number of licenses is sold - whichever is first.This is the fourth and final week of the sale, and Delicious Library has hit $20. I just purchased my own copy, but only Delicious Monster knows how long you can keep waiting to taking advantage of a killer sale on a killer app.Thanks RP
Get yer free EGMs here, get em while they're hot
The good people at Ziff-Davis have pointed us towards a limited-time offer for a free one-year subscription to their flagship gaming mag, Electronic Gaming Monthly, a $20 value. The deal is being sponsored by World Cyber Games USA, so don't worry about old, Uncle ZD going bellyup after you all grab free subs. The only catch: you gotta do it by Friday or "while supplies last."How to get it: go here, fill out your info, and hit the "Order FREE Subscription" button. Afterwards, you'll be taken to a an optional registration page for the WCG which you do not have to fill out this to get the free subscription.
Another MMO Periodical in the Works
Remember those things we used to read before we had the internet? What were they called? Mag....maga...magazines! That's the ticket. Anyway, according to ICv2 News, Beckett Media has announced a new bi-monthly title to hit stores soon. Beckett Massive Online Gamer will be on the stands in May, and will focus exclusively on the world of MMO's. There are a few new MMO mags that will be on the market soon; it will be interesting to see which ones stick around...
UK magazine publisher up for sale
We brought you news last month that UK-based publisher Highbury Entertainment was in some trouble. Kelvin MacKenzie, the chairman and CEO, left last month after share dealing was suspended, and the group has now been put up for sale.This doesn't look good for the future of Highbury's magazines; the firm is £31 million in debt, so any acquisition would have to be well thought out. Rival magazine publisher Future cannot take on Highbury's games magazines for the same reason they had to pull out of an earlier deal--Future would come too close to a monopoly if they did so. This means that this could be the last of gamesTM, XBM and Play.
