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Don't post things like this on Dakka.

Product itself looks good (I like the fact they've included things like the Stormtalon)

Relatively high cost, and the fact they've locked into Apple? irritating as all hell.

PDFs for me, thanks, they can sit alongside all those lovely FFG ones

Liquidice281 wrote:

Cyporiean wrote:

Liquidice281 wrote:The problem with releasing PDF's and ebook files is that the first minute it become available, it will be on the internet for everyone to pirate.

If its cheap enough, people will buy rather then pirate.

I do not believe that at all. Even if the codex cost $5, most people would spend 1 minute to pirate it for free. You have way to much faith in humanity. Why buy every codex pdf for $$ when you can download every pdf in one download for free?

If your premiss were true, then GW would already not be making any money off of their codex releases or black library books because 'everyone' simply pirates them. This simply isn't true. There will always be those who pirate books/music/video/etc. but they represent a small percentage of the overall users of the medium. How many people do you know that use pdfs instead of books where you play? Probably very few. I'm the only one I know that does it, and I have hard copies of every book I have a pdf for. So the idea that most people would pirate their codexes simply isn't true, or they already would be doing it.

Pretty awesome (and surprising) to see this. I don't own the devices that would make use of this, but think its a great step in the right direction, and one which I applaud.

Oh tihs is gak!!! I HATE! ios. I would rather have my ASUS Transformer over ANY ios POS there is out there!

This is an outrage.

Sent from my ASUS Transformer.

Great move by GW, if you ask me.

Sat reading this on my Motorola Xoom and thinking screw you apple, gw please pay attention and release on Google's play store, I'll even pay for it.
Until then I'll have to wait for a pirated cracked copy.

It's certainly making me glad I jumped ship from android to iOS.
iOs just works, so I'll be sticking to my iPad. Doubly so now

So I guess if I'm not going to have any sort of ebook reader in the next few years then I'm S.O.L? Or do people think a generic Windows/Mac OS/Linux digital release is going to happen?

Meh. No matter how great GW's new digital products are, if they're only available on platforms that I don't (and won't) have access to, then I guess they won't get my money.

Still, I'm tentatively excited that maybe this is a sign of better policies to come, though I'm not gonna hold my breath.

Excellent move and by all accounts, so far an excellent product.

I would never begrudge GW for releasing on iOS only. Why not? It's the largest market share by a feth ton and will reach a helluva lot more people than releasing on any other platform. As far as I reckon, they'll be testing the water with this and then expanding beyond onto other platforms.

helium42 wrote:If your premiss were true, then GW would already not be making any money off of their codex releases or black library books because 'everyone' simply pirates them. This simply isn't true. There will always be those who pirate books/music/video/etc. but they represent a small percentage of the overall users of the medium. How many people do you know that use pdfs instead of books where you play? Probably very few. I'm the only one I know that does it, and I have hard copies of every book I have a pdf for. So the idea that most people would pirate their codexes simply isn't true, or they already would be doing it.

Point being that there are no sanctioned GW PDFs. So no one could use them in GW stores. And until recently, it was not at all user friendly to take PDFs with you to a game. And there is still a level of mistrust that people can edit their own PDFs to catch out unsuspecting opponents.

If it was standard practice to refer to a PDF on a mobile device instead of a paper book, then the rate of piracy would be much higher.

So the good thing about this is you wont need the rule book when playing as your army particular rules will be on hand.

Also is it not possible to access ebooks through itunes on the PC so that PC users can still have access. and with the use of icloud i think you will be able to have it on your ipad and your PC.

spaceXjam wrote:this is good news for australia.. we will be paying 30 dollars for our codex now to match the GBP! seeing as the ap store is global instead of the rediculous 59 dollars they are in store

I'm sure they'll find a way to charge us shipping.


And I don't see piracy as an issue. I could download every 40K RPG book FFG makes - I know where to get them. It's not hard. I own every one in hard-cover though and better yet I like having the physical book. And I even own some of the ones I own in hard cover in PDF as well, bought from Drive-Thru RPG.

Kaldor wrote:And until recently, it was not at all user friendly to take PDFs with you to a game.

Based on? Because of?

Kaldor wrote:And there is still a level of mistrust that people can edit their own PDFs to catch out unsuspecting opponents.

Yeah... I'm pretty sure that's a made up problem, especially when you consider just how many companies are doing PDF rules these days.

Depends, remember there is currently that investigation concerning how we are over charged for digital media. Or has that finished in our favour?

Honestly it seems like a good move, not to be picky though but a more simplistic approach of releasing PDFs of the codices would be both cheaper and easier than producing something like this. But, it is a step in the right direction none the less.

Now lets see how they screw it up.

H.B.M.C. wrote:

Kaldor wrote:And until recently, it was not at all user friendly to take PDFs with you to a game.

Based on? Because of?

Kaldor wrote:And there is still a level of mistrust that people can edit their own PDFs to catch out unsuspecting opponents.

Yeah... I'm pretty sure that's a made up problem, especially when you consider just how many companies are doing PDF rules these days.

Computers are heavy.

This doesn't even show the 8" black and green screen the stats are shown on.

n0t_u wrote:Depends, remember there is currently that investigation concerning how we are over charged for digital media. Or has that finished in our favour?

Only just begun. The submission period ended June 1st.

Maybe I'm a pessimist. But I see this as a short lived product line.
GW never stays the course long enough to affect every army.

Any one else remember their Army List product? And how accurate and up-to-date it was kept?

I can see the Codex: SM being out of date as soon as 6th ed drops.
It may have a shelf life of a year before new C:SM comes out.
The book has already been out the length of 5th, how much longer will they give it?

And the price.... is this electronic one up there with the Hard back WHFB Army Books price?
A harbinger of the Codex prices for 6th ed?

H.B.M.C. wrote:

Kaldor wrote:And until recently, it was not at all user friendly to take PDFs with you to a game.

Based on? Because of?

I can't speak for everyone, but until the ready availability of mobile devices able to quickly and easily display PDFs (smart phones and tablets) if you wanted to reference a PDF during a game you either needed to print it out and bring it with you, or bring your laptop to the gaming store.

Neither of which are very user friendly, and both of which will be disallowed in many gaming circles.

H.B.M.C. wrote:

Kaldor wrote:And there is still a level of mistrust that people can edit their own PDFs to catch out unsuspecting opponents.

Yeah... I'm pretty sure that's a made up problem, especially when you consider just how many companies are doing PDF rules these days.

Whatever, son.

Anyone notice the stormtalon in there? If these codices get updated regularly with the FAQ rulings and such... well then money well spent. I have an iPad, I will buy this, everyone else do what you will.

What's cool is that they are doing something new. Sorry to hear it rustles so many jimmies that its not on a wider platform, I'm just glad they got around to it. And I'll be happy to have a rulebook where I can search for rules and stats rather than fumbling around. Memorizing is great when its my codex, but now I can get copies of every codex if I choose to. More please.

So...let's see...

Locked into one set manufacturer, sodding the rest right off.

And releaseing 'digital only' gak?

That can sod right off. I want the Terradon scrolls of binding but I'm not buying a sodding iPad and then their sodding product just for one thing.

That actually looked pretty cool, considering I was expecting a basic pdf upload of the current codex.

Nice to see this. Interesting that it's ibook only but I'm not surprised as it stops people 'sharing' their e-copies. I can't see them ever doing a straight pdf copy. I'll be interested to see if 6th ed ships this way right out of the gate. I think exclusive scrolls are a daft idea, they should turn up in WD first then here. I also wonder how long before we can get WD on the Apple newstand app. I'd subscribe for that.

iOS, really?

Start somewhere, anywhere, but not there.

GW may be money grubbing, customer-unfriendly and blessed with an inflated sense of their own importance, but they're charitable, humble saints compared with Apple.

A nice move I suppose, but I prefer my codex not to require overnight charging.

Liquidice281 wrote:

Cyporiean wrote:

Liquidice281 wrote:The problem with releasing PDF's and ebook files is that the first minute it become available, it will be on the internet for everyone to pirate.

If its cheap enough, people will buy rather then pirate.

I do not believe that at all. Even if the codex cost $5, most people would spend 1 minute to pirate it for free. You have way to much faith in humanity. Why buy every codex pdf for $$ when you can download every pdf in one download for free?

That's true in some cases - a friend of mine pirated the 'pay what you want' Radiohead album, despite it being available for download officially for $0.01!

Great to see GW finally doing this, better late than never and all that!

But being a moaning git, I can always spot something to moan about, and in this case; the price. Seriously, why does going anywhere near GW always feel like I am having a groin thrust repeatedly in my face with someone saying "you, like that, huh? Say you like it you female dog!"

Liquidice281 wrote:

Cyporiean wrote:

Liquidice281 wrote:The problem with releasing PDF's and ebook files is that the first minute it become available, it will be on the internet for everyone to pirate.

If its cheap enough, people will buy rather then pirate.

I do not believe that at all. Even if the codex cost $5, most people would spend 1 minute to pirate it for free. You have way to much faith in humanity. Why buy every codex pdf for $$ when you can download every pdf in one download for free?

Ever heard of this little thing called Steam? It has proven beyond doubt that convenience coupled with a fair price will make honest men out of... I don't know how many people, exactly, but certainly enough to make it very profitable. I personally don't know anyone who still pirates games.Heck, we retroactively pay for games we finished years ago, with no intention of playing them again.

lord_blackfang wrote:Ever heard of this little thing called Steam? It has proven beyond doubt that convenience coupled with a fair price will make honest men out of... I don't know how many people, exactly, but certainly enough to make it very profitable. I personally don't know anyone who still pirates games.Heck, we retroactively pay for games we finished years ago, with no intention of playing them again.

Intersting analogy with Steam as they sometimes give pre-order exclusives or steam exclusives. I wonder how people would react if the eversion contained an extra IC or two from the Black Library novels. For example would people pay £4.99 for the stat blocks for Talos and his company from the Nightlords books? On pricing, how much is Apple's cut?

lord_blackfang wrote:

Liquidice281 wrote:

Cyporiean wrote:

Liquidice281 wrote:The problem with releasing PDF's and ebook files is that the first minute it become available, it will be on the internet for everyone to pirate.

If its cheap enough, people will buy rather then pirate.

I do not believe that at all. Even if the codex cost $5, most people would spend 1 minute to pirate it for free. You have way to much faith in humanity. Why buy every codex pdf for $$ when you can download every pdf in one download for free?

Ever heard of this little thing called Steam? It has proven beyond doubt that convenience coupled with a fair price will make honest men out of... I don't know how many people, exactly, but certainly enough to make it very profitable. I personally don't know anyone who still pirates games.Heck, we retroactively pay for games we finished years ago, with no intention of playing them again.

Interesting choice for comparison; Steam is pretty much the Marmite of digital distribution platforms, people either love it or loathe it and I know there are plenty of communities that pirate games just to avoid having to use Steam.

lord_blackfang wrote:

Liquidice281 wrote:

Cyporiean wrote:

Liquidice281 wrote:The problem with releasing PDF's and ebook files is that the first minute it become available, it will be on the internet for everyone to pirate.

If its cheap enough, people will buy rather then pirate.

I do not believe that at all. Even if the codex cost $5, most people would spend 1 minute to pirate it for free. You have way to much faith in humanity. Why buy every codex pdf for $$ when you can download every pdf in one download for free?

Ever heard of this little thing called Steam? It has proven beyond doubt that convenience coupled with a fair price will make honest men out of... I don't know how many people, exactly, but certainly enough to make it very profitable. I personally don't know anyone who still pirates games.Heck, we retroactively pay for games we finished years ago, with no intention of playing them again.

Games are a separate issue though due to the compatibility and ease of use issues. Finding cracks and patches for old games that I've lost the activation keys for is a true nightmare. There's no such drama with music, PDFs and movies.

I'm going to assume, without researching it, that you can get these to work on a Windows PC/Laptop. Then I'm going to assume that the dex will be pirated within the next day or two.

EDIT: Quick little search shows how to remove Apple DRM. My little netbook just found a second wind!

Milisim wrote:Why Apple? God damn it they suck ballz... I dont even know anyone with one... This sucks gives us an android or even PC PDF or something for gods sake!

GW aspires to be like Apple. They are trying to keep their releases secret, and over charge for their products. If only they were under investigation by the government for collusion and price fixing then they would be a winner.

All of this being said, I think this releasing these files for the iOS is a better move than not selling any digital files.