? for Dragon1952 - Would a shmups magazine be possible?

Post by **spadgy** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 7:48 am

What might actually be hard is just organising this to happen!

szycag · Post by **szycag** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 8:04 am

shmups don't even have a proper website, just some forums and blogs... now they need a magazine?

unsane · Post by **unsane** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 2:02 pm

szycag wrote:shmups don't even have a proper website, just some forums and blogs... now they need a magazine?

Well, arguably, proper websites have fallen by the wayside vs more interactive sites like forums, blogs and wikis anyway.

JJG · Post by **JJG** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 3:34 pm

I think it would be cool to do a collaborative shmup discussion videa series. Maybe game footage playing while members from here discuss shmups topics. It could all be arranged over Skype.

PC Engine Fan X! · Post by **PC Engine Fan X!** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 12:35 am

szycag wrote:shmups don't even have a proper website, just some forums and blogs... now they need a magazine?

Have a real full-color glossy Shmups magazine to leaf through at your leisure doesn't pique your interest? Think of it as the next medium evolution of the Shmups.org site...it's all possible. ^_~

For Dragon1952,

By including such a bonus DVD (with Shmup Superplays from our shmuppers) or DVD-Rom (with shmup d/l content) would further bolster it as a serious magazine format to consider...this sounds very tatalizing, indeed. I'm surprise that anything like this type of shmup magazine doesn't exist in the Japanese magazine market (but should be). Perhaps, a dual language Shmups magazine -- half of it printed in Japanese and the other half, in English? Pretty intriguing concept there... ^_~

I recall once of seeing this Japanese cooking magazine at my local Barnes & Nobles bookstore a few years back that was written in Japanese -- flip it over and read the English lang. portion and the same articles were presented entirely in English language. Interesting concept that could be applied to any magazine subject matter including the world of Shmups... ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Dragon1952 · Post by **Dragon1952** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 12:53 am

It does to a degree, it's called ARCADIA! Before that GAMEST! That is because Japan has the most viable coin-op market with Asia following suit. These publications exist because they can cover all the coin-op activities not just shooting games.

I am doing some due-diligence on this magazine concept right now, but I am also very busy with my day job. If I could make this work and also continue being a video game design consultant, then I will probably give it a go! Too early yet to determine the feasibilty though.

What concerns me is whether enough players will buy into this as that is going to be important. Seems everybody is so opinionated that if they should disagree with anything this magazine presents it could get trashed and lobbied against it, therefore dying a quick death. I want this to work and become a great tool for the appreciation and preservation of the genre of shmups!

BTW, I believe that everthing printed should be in both English and Japanese. but no other languages as it won't be possible.

Post by **spadgy** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 1:31 pm

JJG wrote:I think it would be cool to do a collaborative shmup discussion videa series. Maybe game footage playing while members from here discuss shmups topics. It could all be arranged over Skype.

A video mag might work really well. In the skateboarding scene they were really popular in the days of VHS and 411/On Video Mag.

Might work particularly well these days as shmups are so visual and all about moving images, and self produced and home-edited video work is so accessible these days. And there's plenty of ways to distribute for free and electronically.

Would never give the tactile benefits of a mag though

Warp_Rattler · Post by **Warp_Rattler** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 2:26 pm

You could take a cue from some of the recent superplay DVDs and include a booklet with the DVD. Obviously as videogames are such a visual media there'd be things you wouldn't be able to do in print but at the same time, there are some things (more academic-type articles, interviews for which there is no video, to name a few) that work much better in a printed format. Again, with a DVD you could really rock the either-or of physical or digital copies: set up a torrent tracker or something for people who would only be interested in downloading the 'zine, and do some sort of print-on-demand with nice cover art and whatnot.

Post by **spadgy** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 5:19 pm

Warp_Rattler wrote:You could take a cue from some of the recent superplay DVDs and include a booklet with the DVD. Obviously as videogames are such a visual media there'd be things you wouldn't be able to do in print but at the same time, there are some things (more academic-type articles, interviews for which there is no video, to name a few) that work much better in a printed format. Again, with a DVD you could really rock the either-or of physical or digital copies: set up a torrent tracker or something for people who would only be interested in downloading the 'zine, and do some sort of print-on-demand with nice cover art and whatnot.

Best of both worlds - sounds good!

Octopod · Post by **Octopod** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 11:55 pm

I was thinking about this and while i have nothing to contribute i wanted to point something out.There is a magazine called video game collector, perhaps you are familiar with it.It seems to come out pretty irregularly and its not printed on the greatest paper but its still pretty cool.However i cant imagine that they have huge circulation.My point being im sure this is something that is definitly possible to do, you may not make much money but if it is a labor of love does it really matter?I think yall should go for it and never mind the nay-sayers.End of (fairly lame)pep talk.

Warp_Rattler · Post by **Warp_Rattler** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 4:11 am

With something on such a small scale as this proposed project, if you're looking to actually make a profit on it, there's a huge chance of heartbreak in the future. It's definitely a labor of love where breaking even is the best thing to hope for, financially. As I suggested before, print-on-demand services help keep the financial damage to the minimum, but you're still going to have people putting in lots of unpaid time and effort.

Post by **spadgy** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 12:36 pm

Might help if the core creators lived in the same area to be able to share the labour of physical assembly.

Where should it be based actually?

Who knows - this could still go big. I think it's best to start with a small profit free fanzine, and then there's still just as much chance it could become commercial. It happened to Viz with extreme results...

Machinehead · Post by **Machinehead** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 2:19 pm

I can see I agree with a lot of you, a tactile piece of reading on shmups is exactly what I need (I can't do much online reading, my eyes start bugging out and I turn on MAME).
Something like this is completely feasable, just look at Strategy & Tactics for the do's and do not's of small time magazines.

If this did get going I'd volunteer to be a part of it, just don't know what I can offer lol

Harlequin · Post by **Harlequin** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 2:31 am

Dragon1952 wrote:It should in addition to what I mentioned in the above post and above paragraph, have to include incredible art pieces, poster pack-ins, bonus monthly full color reprinted (w/permission) Instruction Cards and even the occasional DVD sampler pack-in. Like I said, it has to be a must-have slick and glossy item for every fan that loves and plays Shmup games, or it won't be worth the intensity requirement to create and produce it!

Im sold.

Seriously ill subsribe to this, a great idea.

Harlequin

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:20 am

sven666 wrote:proper paper print is the only way to go, id definetly buy and contribute in any way i could to a dedicated shmups magazine :)

Part out your MVS lot and donate the proceeds to shmups quarterly ;)

Back on topic: No interest. I get all the shmups discussion I can handle (and more) right here. Internet baby, YEAH. I love print stuff, but unless it's some kind of academic criticism, gaming related topics are usually served best in an online format.