Retro Gamer Now On IPhone

[the_hawk]

I noticed this in my latest GAMES TM magazine, some old Iphone rubbish that is going to destroy our magazine and make it only available to people with the latest awfull bit of kit from apple..

Bye - bye Retrogamer - We will miss you...

I doubt it would kill the magazine any more than the DVD scans would.

[Opa-Opa]

Once they start making money from it they will drop the paper issues..
With no printing or distribution costs they can make a far bigger profit, making the paper version too expensive to produce and ship.

It might not happen in the next few issues but it will happen, after all the magazine is about profit to a company such as imagine and droping the paper issue would increase those profits.
With DVD scans you only get magazines that are already available as a paper release, once it all goes digital you can say goodbye to those..

[SirClive]

no way. They will not get enough people to divert from paper to make it worthwhile. However as a secondary income stream it is a winner.

[the_hawk]

Once they start making money from it they will drop the paper issues..
With no printing or distribution costs they can make a far bigger profit, making the paper version too expensive to produce and ship.

It might not happen in the next few issues but it will happen, after all the magazine is about profit to a company such as imagine and droping the paper issue would increase those profits.
With DVD scans you only get magazines that are already available as a paper release, once it all goes digital you can say goodbye to those..

I sincerely hope you are wrong.

The last 15-20 issues of Retro Gamer have consistently been fantastic. I haven't read a magazine cover to cover like I do with RG since the old YS & Crash days.

[Dudley]

I noticed this in my latest GAMES TM magazine, some old Iphone rubbish that is going to destroy our magazine and make it only available to people with the latest awfull bit of kit from apple..

Bye - bye Retrogamer - We will miss you...

That's a doom-laden 1 sided way to look at it.

1) Retro Gamer isn't terribly well distributed on paper. People discovering it in the iphone store could well end up buying paper copies. And even their digital copies will keep the main mag afloat.
2) Equally it'll mean that the mag will live on after it would otherwise have died completely. Long term RG is doomed simply because magazines are doomed. The Pc isn't any less popular than it was in 1994, but PC Format sells 10% of the copies and it has neither a digital edition or official scans DVD. RG will do better because it's a journal rather than a periodical as such but in 10 years time there's going to be many, many fewer mags on shelves anyway regardless of the work of pixelmags.
3) If it's only "the latest bit of kit from Apple" then it wouldn't take off anyway. If it moves that way it'd be available on just about everything and by that point wimpering about the lack of a paper one is pretty much on the level of complaining that you can't buy RG on stone tablets, Fifa 10 on the Spectrum or the latest Springsteen album on 8-track.

It's a very positive move for the future of the mag, paper or otherwise.

[Opa-Opa]

However as a secondary income stream it is a winner.

So it's fine to charge loyal subscribers for something they have already paid for..? I can understand selling it as a digital version to people that don't normaly buy magazines, gaining a larger readership and increasing revenue but this seems like the begining of the end of paper magazines.

If I got a digital copy along with my sub's copy every month that would be cool, I could look at it on my PSP when I was bored in a waiting room etc, they (imagine) would only have to include a download code with my sub's copy and I could download it for free, i'm not against a digital version of the magazine, I just want it along side my paper one and want to be able to use it on any device I feel like.

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

You raise an interesting point Opa-Opa, but why should you be given it for free? After all you don't see people saying. I've already got Die Hard on DVD, why should I have to buy the Blu-Ray version? I'm sure that some sort of deal will eventually come along that will give subscribers a better discount over those who are buying it fresh, but it doesn't normally make good business sense to give away something for nothing. After all, you're not being forced to buy it, it's just there as an option.

[Opa-Opa]

you're not being forced to buy it, it's just there as an option.

At the moment..

The thing with your DVD/Bluray arguement is that you would be paying for the media and packaging, which will cost the production company a certain amount of money to get produced and shipped etc but with the digital version of any magazine (not just RG, I'm not having a pop at you guys) the magazine is already made, it's already put together and it costs next to nothing to make all the time the paper version is being made.
Do you get paid twice because you are now making two different magazines, one paper and one digital.. Because we have to pay twice if we want a digital copy..?

Many DVD/Bluray films include two versions of the same film, maybe a directors cut and the cinema release so why cant the subs have a digital copy included in the price of the paper one for which we have already paid for in advance..?

Also the iphone/apple thing just stinks of another apple/imagine colaberation designed to sell more of those phones, just as the reviews in retrogamer are all iphone and not "mobile phone games" the digital copy of the magazine is an "iphone version" and not a digital version I can use on any mobile device I chose..

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

Apple/Imagine collaboration? We review far more iphone games than mobile, because that's what publishers send us. It's also the main reason why you rarely ever see Wiiware/VC stuff in the mag, because Nintendo's reviewing system is completely different to Sony's and Microsoft's.

We're a retro mag first and foremost, so chasing games isn't a priority. We review what we get sent. If that's a collaboration then you have a completely different idea of priorities for a retro mag than I do. However, I would like to say that's it's nice to see a really well argued argument from everyone. Here's hoping it continues.

[CraigGrannell]

it doesn't normally make good business sense to give away something for nothing

While I agree with this, there's also good business sense in 'reward'. As I noted earlier, MacFormat now provides subscribers with individual logins to a section of the website that enables them to download—for free—digital copies of the mag. This means overseas subscribers get faster access to the content, and people also have an archive. It's a great incentive to subscribe, over and above basic discounting.

Of course, MacFormat's circulation is higher than Retro Gamer's, and so I guess the economics are different, although, interestingly, games™'s circulation is roughly the same.

Also the iphone/apple thing just stinks of another apple/imagine colaberation designed to sell more of those phones, just as the reviews in retrogamer are all iphone and not "mobile phone games" the digital copy of the magazine is an "iphone version" and not a digital version I can use on any mobile device I chose..

You go where the money is, and create content that's hard to torrent. That's just basic fundamental good business sense these days. Users of Apple devices are significantly more likely to pay for apps, and the sheer number of Apple devices out there combined with the app ecosystem makes it extremely easy for a publisher such as Imagine to potentially gets its content into the hands of new users.

Moaning that Retro Gamer is somehow 'collaborating' with Apple makes no more sense than Live's Retro Gamer collaborating with Microsoft, what with its DVDs pretty much only containing Windows-based emulators. As for mobile games, Apple's platform has the most games and the best content, and so surely it makes sense to cover it more than other systems? I'm sure if Windows Phone Series 7 becomes massive, relevant games for it will get reviewed in the mag.

[pforson]

Darran,

The majority of us were not requesting the digital copy for free, however we feel that the current pricing is unfair for subscribers of the paper edition. You state that it is likely in the future that a better deal will be offered to subscribers who would like both - which is great. I'd rather you offered this now however, because I really hate waiting.

[Dudley]

You raise an interesting point Opa-Opa, but why should you be given it for free? After all you don't see people saying. I've already got Die Hard on DVD, why should I have to buy the Blu-Ray version

Actually you kinda do and you actually blunder into a better analogy.

Several blu-rays come with a digital download copy on a 2nd disk that you can load into Itunes....

The majority of us were not requesting the digital copy for free, however we feel that the current pricing is unfair for subscribers of the paper edition. You state that it is likely in the future that a better deal will be offered to subscribers who would like both - which is great. I'd rather you offered this now however, because I really hate waiting.

Absolutely. While the arguements for free certainly have merit, they shouldn't cloud that most people accept that there are costs. While I keep my RGs I don't, for instance keep my 360s, I don't have the space. The ability to have a really cheap way to keep copies to refer back to without my house becoming a giant paper castle would be worth... ooh... let's say 99p a month.

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

Good point Dudly. I totallu forgot about digital copies on Blu-Rays, which is rather embaressing as I have over 280 of them

I'll certainly ask about a cheaper price for subscribers when I'm back from my hols.

[Bub&Bob]

So, I bought this app yesterday just to have a look.

Positive points-
It looks pretty nice, even on the ipod's small screens
The quality is so much better than the PDF discs
Its great having RG to hand if im bored

Negative points-
Interface is a nightmare - I was tapping and swiping like a crazy person and very little happened on many occations
£2.99 is just too much - I would be happy to pay the difference between my subs price and the normal cover price

Overall, I am quite impressed - I can see how its more suited to something like the ipad but I don't think it spells the begining of the end of printed media....just yet!

[Dudley]

Yeah it's utterly mind boggling on a system with proper pinch zoom, where the app understands pinching, it simply zooms either completely in or completely out.

That bit is madness.