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I was interested.

Right up until I saw the price.

Then I became quickly disinterested.

Yes, it does cost money to create and develop these things. However, its not a "new" book. It is a new format for existing information. There is no feasible way this should cost the same as their physical copy. Half would be a stretch.

The limited platform development also puts me off.

Seems cool but I’m with others... the price is pretty ridiculous for an ebook. I understand that some people think it is hard to program an ebook and add these features... I assure you it is not, somebody with programming experience could bang something like this out in a weekend. I've digitized my ork codex as an epub file and use it on an ereader and on my samsung galaxy nexus. same with my vanilla marines blood angels and eldar codexes including links in the army list. click on a unit's name in the army list section and it takes you to their corresponding page, same for rules... the pop out boxes are kind of neat but also not hard to program and I might just prefer how i coded mine but i prefer going to the actual codex page with one click. note also you can jailbreak these files and use em a epub files its a bit of a pain and buggy but possible and with some corrective coding should maintain most functionality


gw is on the right track though. I think if they correct the price and were charging significantly less they'd see an increase in sales of digital caudexes. I'd like to own a copy of every army codex and if they were about 10-15 bucks a codex i'd be buying every single book so that'd be 16 books or $160- $240 of digital files purchased. but at $42 i just can't see spending $672 on codex’s to have em fit on my tablet/phone, I could build a few small armies for that.

good review though yakface and i am glad GW is moving towards the 21st century

Thanks for the review Yakface, it is well presented and has given me something to think about as I own several marine armies and an Ipad. On another note I read the advert for it on their website but could not actually find it to buy/download, do you have to go into the Ibooks app or the App Store?

Reaper Man 2020 wrote:Thanks for the review Yakface, it is well presented and has given me something to think about as I own several marine armies and an Ipad. On another note I read the advert for it on their website but could not actually find it to buy/download, do you have to go into the Ibooks app or the App Store?

It's in the iBooks store, do a search for games workshop and you should find it.

Hey, dunno if this is true but I heard if you have a newer ereader you can get an ipod emulator that might be able to read it, is that true?

I remember the days when you were lucky if the computer had 64k of ram... a Gig seems like more than enough to me :p

When you've got a memory as bad as mine, being able to click on the keyword and find out the rules is a godsend. I spent ages last week trying to work out how fast a fast skimmer went as it didn't have it in the codex and it didn't have it listed with the normal vehicle movement values; it was hidden in the special rules part of the rulebook.


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BewareOfTom wrote:Hey, dunno if this is true but I heard if you have a newer ereader you can get an ipod emulator that might be able to read it, is that true?

You won't get these books to run on an ipod emulator as it need iBooks 2 on an ipad to run.

Ok so found the codex in the Ibooks store and was a bit shocked that it was £24.99 seeing as the codex is still only £20 in england, this has persuaded me to wait and see if they support it by updates and fixing errors before I spend out on it. A real shame, I would love to have it on my ipad!

Reaper Man 2020 wrote:Ok so found the codex in the Ibooks store and was a bit shocked that it was £24.99 seeing as the codex is still only £20 in england, this has persuaded me to wait and see if they support it by updates and fixing errors before I spend out on it. A real shame, I would love to have it on my ipad!

Actually, the print book is £25.00 now.

Oh must have just gone up, bought my DE codex just in time!

An excellent Review, yakface.

There is one thing I was asking myself while reading this. 6th edition is only a month away and the next Space Marine Codex will probably be come soon after it. So why even bother with the "old" book at this point?

Supposedly, the newer 5th Ed book were authored with 6th Ed in mind - ie. written to be fully compatible. Also, apparently the digital codex has a few minor changes in rule wording to it's paper counterpart.

Probably, but Space Marines will probably the 3rd 40k codex for 6th edition at the least.

Talking about e-book formats, GW have published the rules and codexes in PDF format in Japan for years, and they are free.

I imagine the concept is to drive purchase of the models.

IMO you cant beat a real book in your hands. GW will never give you anything for free. If the do updates you will be charged for them. And new versions will come and you'll be charged for them. If fail cast is anything to go by forget comprehensive support as well.
The price shows GWs greed. Once an e book is written and finished its very cheap to reproduce. They price it the same as the physical book pure ....greed.

The distribution costs of an ebook is actually higher than you think as the e-retailers want quite a large cut for hosting costs, bandwidth, automated updated (if this is available), credit card handling fees.. the list goes on and on.

Yes the codex is expensive, but you get a lot for your money. It's not like you're getting a substandard, or cut down product here... it's more up to date than my print copy is

I'm hoping 6th Ed and the next Flyer wave is something of a litmus test on updates. Let's see 6th Ed force a few Errata for the SM Codex, and see if GW updates the digital codex to match. It would set a good barometer on what to expect.

My hope is that errata and new units get added in to a digital codex update for free (or very cheap, like $1), while fullscale new codex releases would require a a new purchase.

endtransmission wrote:The distribution costs of an ebook is actually higher than you think as the e-retailers want quite a large cut for hosting costs, bandwidth, automated updated (if this is available), credit card handling fees.. the list goes on and on.

Yes the codex is expensive, but you get a lot for your money. are tjen they would sell moreIt's not like you're getting a substandard, or cut down product here... it's more up to date than my print copy is

I happen to work in publishing and can tell you the cost of books is less than 25% the cost of printed version. This includes all handling, credit catd etc. Go on amazon and compare kindle prices. Its just greed. I also agree with an earlier point that if codexs were cheaper they would sell mote figures.

do the new ibooks codex work on ipod aswell as ipad???

Due to what I'm use to....I feel much better with the actual "book" in my hand then a digital DL on my Ipad. I at least know where I need to skim to to look up some item, power, or whatever at a moment notice. Guess I value what I spent my money on...does that mean I'm materiallistic?

Aquillia wrote:do the new ibooks codex work on ipod aswell as ipad???

No, iBooks 2.0 is an iPad only format currently.

Now that the 6th edition Errata/FAQ amendments are up has the digital codex received an update to reflect the changes? Specifically, for people who already purchased it?

Their support for things like this is pretty crucial as to whether or not I'm going to choose to support this with my own purchase.

terrainguy wrote:Now that the 6th edition Errata/FAQ amendments are up has the digital codex received an update to reflect the changes? Specifically, for people who already purchased it?

Their support for things like this is pretty crucial as to whether or not I'm going to choose to support this with my own purchase.

Nothing yet.

But they also haven't put up any new products either, so still waiting to see what their next step will be.

Bummer, though I remain hopeful. I'm drooling over the "demo" and am really hoping they update it and release the full 6th edition rulebook on it.

I too will be really interested to see if they support with updates, I won't be buying it until I am convinced they will.

Reaper Man 2020 wrote:I too will be really interested to see if they support with updates, I won't be buying it until I am convinced they will.

Actually, it has been updated with 6th rules. Just delete and re-download it.
The stupid thing is that I learnt it here on Dakka. There is not pop-up or anything saying 'hey, your 'dex has been updated!'.

Wiered!

Yeah, the SM digi-codex has been updated stealthily. I need to update my review, plus I want to add in the info gleaned from the release of the Necron digi-codex too.

Well GW just posted on their site about the new digital books, and saying "marine codex, Now updated!"

Just wondering from those who have them, how many mb are these codexes?

Ah, so the new digital space marine codex is officially updated for 6th with 6th rules and such? Did they include the new Stormtalon?

Question about galleries- are there 360s for all the models or only a select few?