play.d magazine

[Xephon]

I want to start by thanking the admin here for allowing me to tell you all about this (or shamlessly pimp it, if you prefer).

I've been involved in the setting up and writing for a new PDF based magazine called play.d, you can view an early taster here:http://www.playd.co.uk/

Be aware some of the content may change before the final version, but it gives you a rough idea of what to expect.

There will soon be an opportunity submit letters too, so any feedback-good or bad-would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for taking the time to have a look and thanks again to the admin here.

Chris.

[Xephon]

Hi guys-just a reminder that the first issue of play.d is now available for download (http://www.playd.co.uk/) and it's completely free!

There's a lot of hard work that's gone into it, so we'd love to hear what you all think-good and bad, it all helps.

Thanks again to admin for allowing the shamless pimping of the mag.

Chris.

[Jusatsushi]

Really impressed with what I've read so far, looks nice too! Good work Xephon and team!

[razu]

HL2 better on xbox because the platform is worse? Are you drunk?

It's like an impersonation of a magazine! That smells of wee!! Keep up the... work.

[Xephon]

Thanks for the kind words and "feedback".

That's the problem with guest reviewers and a short lead in for this first issue. The quality of writing will improve. My own included.

My contribution to the Retro vs Modern feature for example, that was actually over a year old and if I'd had the time, I would have re-wrtten it. But with an entire news section, a column and two reviews to get in, plus my work here, I simply didn't have the time.

We're pretty proud of what we've achieved. We have a proofing, editorial and score system that will hopefully bear better results in the months to come. But we can do better, I'll admit that.

But you've focused on one small part of the magazine. I hope you'll go back and have a look at the rest of it. I'd recommend Metaphor Pioneer, the column by Dave Douglas on page 64. If it's not for you, fair enough, but don't write us off after one issue.

[erhgiez]

Ive not had chance to read all of it but from what I have read so far it was good although I saw the word fanboy in there quite a few times which I thought was unnesessary and reminded me of gamefaqs. The magazine definatley seems to be aimed at the hardcore gaming audience and I felt that having a cover such as Toca was a waste. When you had stuff like MS5 and JSS in the reviews as well which have awesome artwork instead of generic cars crashing which seem to grace the cover of every pre pubesent Playstation magazine. But other than that I look forward to reading the rest of the features especially Vagrant Story.

[dot eater]

Just had a quick look through; quite impressed, at 68 pages it's the biggest pdf magazine I've come across so far. I've not read it in depth yet, but a couple of thoughts:

Design is a bit variable. There's some good stuff there, but it's a bit cluttered. Take page 26: you've got the text flowing around Genjuro (is that him? not played Samurai Shodown for a while) but with screenshots scattered around spoiling the effect. And the lookback section has a big Vagrant Story splash at the beginning, then skips to Cannon Fodder, which looks like a bit has been lost.

Did you get permission to use any of the artwork you've got? There's a lot of what I imagine are licensed images in there. May or may not be a problem now, but the website mentions going to an advert supported model further down the line. The Escapist is ad supported and you'll notice they use almost zero licensed images.

Also: what ergheiz said about fanboy. Using terms like that and saying chav doesn't look that good from an editorial standpoint.

[Xephon]

The magazine definatley seems to be aimed at the hardcore gaming audience and I felt that having a cover such as Toca was a waste. When you had stuff like MS5 and JSS in the reviews as well which have awesome artwork instead of generic cars crashing which seem to grace the cover of every pre pubesent Playstation magazine.

We were aiming for the ground between gamesTM and Edge, so thanks for that, but as with everything there's room for improvement. On the TOCA artwork, I'd actually preferred another image from the game, but it was down to the designer in the end. We had better games to go on the cover I thought and an even better cover planned, but that was just not possible in the time remaining. Maybe next time!

Just had a quick look through; quite impressed, at 68 pages it's the biggest pdf magazine I've come across so far. I've not read it in depth yet, but a couple of thoughts:

Design is a bit variable. There's some good stuff there, but it's a bit cluttered.

Thanks for that. I actually went through the mag and "de-cluttered" most of it with the designer, there was another pic on the final page of the MegaTen review that was dropped for example. I missed that one you mentioned. Less is more as they say.

In regards the artwork, the majority was from Games Press, with others from publishers themselves.

The slang terms you refer to are in gerneral use anyway-I use fanboy at the end of my Vagrant Story piece, but as a general refrence, not in any dregatory manner. I've been accused of being a SEGA and a Sony fanboy. God knows how that works. But slang terms wouldn't normally be acceptable.

The splash page was intended to seperate that section from the rest of the mag, when I first saw it I thought it was a bit jarring too, but I think it works.

Thanks for all the feedback so far guys.