Matt’s Somewhat Serious Bit
I’ve been writing for websites in one capacity or another since 1999, and there’s one thing that really gets me angry about this industry – the need for publishers and developers to constantly prop up magazines, and prolong their inevitable demise. It’s really about time that the playing field was levelled, especially in Australia where web-based media are treated like second class citizens, despite having to work harder than their print magazines counterparts; Nintendo Australia won’t issue reviewable game code to websites, Sony Computer Entertainment Australia would only issue seating to print media for their E3 2006 conference, and so on.
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If the pages of these mags were perferated and twin ply, they'd be worthwhile
Perhaps the biggest issue of all is in terms of advertising. Magazines secured the largest share of the marketing dollar, yet at the same time have dwindling market shares. The Australian’s Media section (which appears on Thursdays) just happened to list out the latest readership figures for the magazines (not circulation, you have to divide these figures by 4 for the estimate of circulation). It just so happens that they list a handful of video game magazines in there list – here’s the excerpt for those who don’t buy the paper;
- Hyper: 64,000 (down 12.3% since December)
- Official Xbox Magazine: 150,000 (up 8%)
- Official PlayStation 2 Magazine: 177,000 (down 9.2%)
- PC Powerplay: 120,000 (up 10%)
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Whereas these mags give you stuff you can't get for free online
Now, I am not totally against magazines – I feel they have their place, but they need to adapt. Seriously – let us take care of the up to the minute news – with magazine lead times, any of the news presented in each issue is weeks, if not months out of date. Magazines need to focus on bringing something to the table that website’s can’t offer. That’s not an awful lot, but you think they could use their existing clout to produce interesting content – more special interest articles and features, rather than belated (and in many cases, inconsistent and overly generous) reviews.
In order to remain relevant, magazines are going to have to step up to the challenge, and either offer content that websites cannot match, or become increasingly specialised. It’s not easy – perhaps the single biggest draw many magazines have (especially the console rags) are the demo discs, and all three hardware companies will have methods in place for distribution of demos over the internet. What the print industry can do about their increasing irrelevance is entirely up to them, but I am sick and tired of industries expecting other parties to step in and save their livelihood when they are threatened by new technology. Adapt or perish!
Quotes of the fortnight
"You can upgrade to whatever size of drive you like. You can put in any drive that you like - it is a computer, after all." - Phil Harrison, Sony Worldwide Studios
So it’s a computer now? That’d explain the price, but for that much, are we getting all of the functionality of a computer? Does he even realise that the bulk of the PlayStation 2’s 110 million user base just wants to play some damn videogames?
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With arrogance comes shiny heads
"We have built up a certain brand equity over time since the launch of PlayStation in 1995 and PS2 in 2000 that the first five million are going to buy it, whatever it is, even it didn't have games." - David Reeves, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
It’s a truthful statement (look at the ownership numbers for 3DO et al), but it shows that Sony is far too arrogant for their own good. Sony’s recent behaviour is reminiscent of…oh…mid 1990s Nintendo – sans the overwhelming profitability, of course. Such arrogant behaviour cost Kyoto market leadership, but without Nintendo’s money making mascots and other factors (a decent movie schedule for one), the entire Sony corporation, not just SCEI could be in all sorts of trouble. As Eric Bana used to say “It’s a shermozzle”
Blast from the Past
In the days before Pro Evolution Soccer and FIFA, the soccer game market was an open playing field, with almost every developer having a shot at a digitised version of the greatest game on Earth. Konami’s home console football ambitions can be traced back to Konami Hyper Soccer, a little known PAL-only (which was uncommon then) release from the twilight of the NES years.
Released sometime in 1992 between the Italian and American World Cups, Konami Hyper Soccer allowed players to command one of 24 teams in either solo or two player matches. Before each match, players would be able to assign bonus points to their squad’s attributes for an unprecedented level of customisation, as well as being able to select their formation (including unconventional ones, like the 1-3-6, all out attack). It’s possible to see that Konami Hyper Soccer is the foundation on which many of the company’s future football games were built – especially the more arcadey ISS games.
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Who needs a face when you're good at football?
The game had a diverse range of techniques, unlike many other soccer games at the time- players could execute advanced moves like the bicycle kick, flying headers, volleys and even banana kicks. It also had a separate game-within-a-game for match-deciding penalty shoot outs, which also happens to be where the game reaches its highest levels of intensity.
While having a decent single player component, Konami Hyper Soccer’s main strength was its multiplayer game. The game was a mainstay for many years amongst my extended family, and much in the way of blood, sweat and tears was spilt until the NES’ eventual demise. Konami Hyper Soccer is one of the NES’ "gems in the rough"; it’s most certainly an underappreciated classic, and well worth seeking out.
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Ronald am shoot! GOOOAAAAAL!!
Easy Feedback
I’ll be honest – Easy Mail’s a bit of a failure. Gamers are lazy people – and going out of your way to write me a letter that’s probably going to net you a bit of abuse isn’t really worth the effort. So I thought that each edition, I’d throw a topic out there for discussion in the forums.
Do you still read gaming magazines? Do you think it’s time magazines were taken off life support? What can magazines do to differentiate what they offer? What do you think websites could do to put the final nails in the magazines’ coffin? Post your answers in the forums.
or j/k then. I can't hear the tone of your voice over the internet 
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