Edge Issue 134 *Official Thread*

[Magnakai]

I don't mean to sound inflammatory, but I find it funny how there are names that only, or almost only seem to post in the Edge threads.

[Ady]

[Redeye]
You are absolutely right to point out his hypocrisy... maybe it really is written by different people.

I'm convinced it is now, too. RedEye is the new Lloyd Mangram.

This month had Americanisms in it (ie "math") for a start...

RedEye's column was not "constructive", it was "destructive". We know **** all about the product and certainly not enough to say it will fail. Then again, wasn't he saying the GameCube would die in the same way the Dreamcast did not so long ago? I think he's always been pretty anti-Nintendo.

I wouldn't go that far, though perhaps one of the people who writes that column is maybe...

That said, his article in GC Equip was pretty damning and failed to make any real point. In fact, it read like one of the staff writers, especially when he started condescendingly lecturing about how great 2-bit pop music was...

[bangaio]

Edge's little 'Nintendo BS' feature was also very childish, IMO.

I think you'll find that was a picture from a web site that they had nothing to do with that just demosntrated someones opinion on the new idea.

[Ady]

I can read thank you very much.

Either way, cutting and pasting straight from someone's website is hardly news.

[TM]

It is pretty funny, though.

Oh, and it wasn't a cut-and-paste (the quality wasn't up to it), it was sourced directly from the artist.

But, hey, like you care.

[Crispin]

People take EDGE far too seriously anyway. It has an alcoholic and Mr. Biffo write for some of it's best bits for goodness sake (despite loving Billy Hatcher to bits, he's right). The best sections are Out There and Reset. It's not really meant to be serious, apart from codeshop, possibly. It's just meant to treat the readers as having a reading age over three.

What could they have put in the BS place anyway? Some mock-up that's horribly off the mark? With say, a silver and orange colour scheme?

[mid]

Definitely funny, yes. The quotes floating around from developers all excited about it seem to point at them knowing something more than just a second screen; it would be great to hear something about that. Otherwise, RedEye was right - this won't be achieving anything that one larger screen wouldn't.

Overall, its a really mixed issue this month. For every minus (the frankly terrible dismissals of the likes of Psyvariar in the budget article, and the absence of references to several those titles having been previously reviewed properly) there was a plus (the reviews are now far more informative than they used to be, for instance).

[mid]

With say, a silver and orange colour scheme?

Actually, you mock, but I was browsing through old Edges at the weekend, and noticed an article on the Gamecube unveiling. Complete with the five colours Nintendo were claiming to launch with; Black, Silver, Gold, Purple and Pink. Yes, Pink.

[D-SG]

Yes, Pink.

Now that would have sold me a GC on the spot.

[bangaio]

I can read thank you very much.

Either way, cutting and pasting straight from someone's website is hardly news.

well then its not childish, just sloppy but still made a good point by hilighting one opinion.

I thought it was a good issue, Biffo is the king of games journalism as we know it. At the end of the day Edge is a ?4 magazine, treat it as such, and face the fact that games and the indutry and the associated appendages have all changed. wahey yeehah sailor.

[Matt Hughes]

Having read through this thread, I am surprised people are getting so worked up about things. Edge is still a decent enough magazine. I read through this month's issue after reading some of your comments with a due sense of impending doom, yet it never came.

It hardly costs a bomb to read Edge - ?4 a month is hardly a massive financial outlay. I know the magazine has been going for a while and has had (at most times) a pretty good product, but times move on. If it ain't selling enough copies comparatively speaking then changes need to be brought about.

Future Publishing aren't out to please a certain type of gamer without a care for how many copies it sells - their main aim is to maximise profit. If Edge's target audience isn't bringing in the cash then maybe it's time to look elsewhere and broaden the magazine's appeal.

[bangaio]

apply above logic to anyting on any forum, remove irrational hatred of copmanies (go oin think about it, it is irrational) and just discusse said game, magazine, product and the web would be a happier place.

[tankplanker]

Improving the product is one thing, changing it for a completely different market base is another. The later requires great expense, can alienate the majority of your previous customers (even more than if they weren't happy to begin with), and does not automaticly mean you are going to be successful, in fact the opposite is usually the case.

Basic branding courses and CRM sales guff talk about the importance of identifying your most profitable customers and increasing your cross sell to them (things like retro, the 10 issues for the 10th aniversery) and so on.

If Edge isn't selling, Future need to address the real reasons* why it isn't selling rather than scrabbling around for a new market, unless traditional printed games magazines are being squeezed by the Internet and bespoke publishing.

[TM]

If Edge isn't selling

It's selling around 27K, which is more or less what it's been selling for years.

(Actually, the latest ABC results revealed that it now has a total of five more readers than it did six months ago. I think my family has started buying it again.)

[Concept]

But what's exactly going on with the current readership stance?

Is there any pressure to significantly change the magazine's content to a wider audience, or is it pretty much just business as usual in terms of production and editorial control?