Changes To The 5 Year Rule!

[E-Day]

I have a hard time considering the PS1, Saturn and N64 as retro myself.

[KiwiArcader]

Personally, I class any console that is no longer being sold brand new by the Manufacturer as "Retro". Therefore the PSX is now classed as retro as they no longer sell the PS1 version anymore ... same for the original X-Box/Gamecube. The PS2 meanwhile is definitely NOT retro. I don't really take game developers into account in my determination of what is retro ... simply whether I can buy the console and official accessories brand new.

In light of that I personally don't see an issue with magazines later than 1999 if they are geared towards consoles no longer manufactured/marketed by the manufacturer. OoPA have the same philosophy ... they make decisions based upon console availabilty more than a year date ... and to my mind that makes a lot of sense.

The BIG problem that blurs all of this is not what is classed as retro nor even a year date now .... it's whether the publisher has any intentions of making their content available via digital distribution for products like the iPad etc. If Future decide to make PC Gamer or Amiga Format available as PDFs for iPad/Android etc then we no longer have a moral mandate for scanning and preserving their content. Given the huge uptake in the iPad it may simply be a matter of time before current publishers decide to jump on this bandwagon. If they factor in the popularity of old games now being sold via Wii VC or XBox Live or Playstation Network (RARE's releasing Banjo Kazooie in HD for Xbox for example) they may see a revenue stream for their older content and not just current titles.

That's where OoPA actually have a better risk management structure than RM. They have been talking to publishers regarding making content available legitimately. The fact that they have got Newsfield and a few others onboard has helped the preservation cause as it has given it some legitimacy and other publishers are taking note, the results of which will be seen in the coming months. The big problem with them is that they are fewer in numbers than RM when it comes to contributors, and the time it takes to scan content and clean it up to a level that does justice to the publishers is sometimes considerable as people like E-Day can attest to.

Unfortunately, the majority of people who come to our sites are not interested in preservation ... merely getting a free read at the expense of the publishers. Hence the continual questions over why haven't we got new stuff?

[E-Day]

The Publisher of EGM has mentioned a few times to Facebook followers about making all the EGM issues available on iPad. I welcome this and any other publisher who does somethign similar. The more they do, the less we have to do. There will be some who think it should be up to us for some reason, but I would rather see the publishers doing it. If they give us a reason to close our doors here by making all their stuff available, that would be a good thing. Until then, I don't want to come close to stepping on their toes

[KiwiArcader]

The Publisher of EGM has mentioned a few times to Facebook followers about making all the EGM issues available on iPad. I welcome this and any other publisher who does somethign similar. The more they do, the less we have to do. There will be some who think it should be up to us for some reason, but I would rather see the publishers doing it. If they give us a reason to close our doors here by making all their stuff available, that would be a good thing. Until then, I don't want to come close to stepping on their toes

Me too. And given they possibly still have the master files they can get them online without all the hassle people like us have with having to scan/clean them etc.

That 108 mag pile of Atomic mags I received the other day also had DVD's with the first 50 issues in digital format and they were 750dpi versions of their original masters. So it is just a case of creating a Paintshop Pro script to crop them,resize to 300dpi and 1920 resolution and I have perfect copies for my iPad. Fantastic .... I've converted 11 or so already and they look great. Now if they'd just make them available to everyone .... free or cost is irrelevant ... . that's another mag we don't have to think about.