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 wolf40k wrote:

 Scouseboy wrote:
Anyone seen the digital version yet? The announcement went up on the GW site at midnight UK time... when does the app store update?

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?aId=22200010a

Cheers!

Craig

Since Apple's HQ is in California I'm guessing midnight Pacific Time, 8 hours after UK time.

Nope, it's now available in the store, appeared around 1.20am UK time. Woot.

If anyone's interested, the digital version is quite well set out. It looks very nice. It is mildly interactive, it doesn't have the big 'phone book' section listing all of GW's stores and it's $3 cheaper then the normal version (in Australia anyway)

The new subscription price for 1 year will be $100 US! I just found this out tonight from GW. OUCH. I may be letting that subscription lapse when it ends after this issue. Will be the first time in 2 decades I'll go without it, but $100 is nuts even for the "new" White Dwarf.

US price is 7.99 for digital. 1 year is 64.99

 tdwg83 wrote:
US price is 7.99 for digital. 1 year is 64.99

I'm talking about the print. It's $10 per issue cover price, $100 per year subscription. The current cover price before the rise this month is $9.00 per issue and $75 per year.

Links:
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=&prodId=prod1740017a
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=&prodId=prod1740009a

This is the only thing that gives me a little thought to resubscribing since I'm lucky enough to have a store near me.

(Also remember we provide an in-store subscription deal where you subscribe for 12 issues and pay for 8 - pop into your local Games Workshop store for more details.)

 MightyGodzilla wrote:
I honestly can't tell if the OP is being facetious or not. Guess I'll have to head over to the FLGS to see. Mission accomplished, i guess?

sorry i totaly wasnt. i liked it. def worth the money i paid. it was a dollar more than normal iirc... i cant remember tho tbh, its pretty cheap for sumthing i only get once a month

 BrassScorpion wrote:

 tdwg83 wrote:
US price is 7.99 for digital. 1 year is 64.99

I'm talking about the print. It's $10 per issue cover price, $100 per year subscription. The current cover price before the rise this month is $9.00 per issue and $75 per year.

Links:
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=&prodId=prod1740017a
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=&prodId=prod1740009a

This is the only thing that gives me a little thought to resubscribing since I'm lucky enough to have a store near me.

(Also remember we provide an in-store subscription deal where you subscribe for 12 issues and pay for 8 - pop into your local Games Workshop store for more details.)

Yeah, I got that. The point is the iPad version is actually cheaper. As I actually have an iPad, is the up charge worth it for a physical version. I was actually surprised at the price being cheaper especially looking at how GW has priced their other digital content. 80 for a in store subscription wouldn't be too bad.

Now, if i had an Ipad, i would consider getting that subscribe. But I doubt i cannot found better hobby material in the internet anyway...

2am east in the US and I picked up the digital version. $65 for subscription? Yes please. 345MB wow.

Good stuff. Wish I could change the print size and I wish the painting examples were more like the downloadable how to paint guides. Otherwise I really liked it.

I'm critical of the new photos of the minis with the red lighting. To me it really detracts from the detail and paint jobs...I'd rather see them on white background.

I'll check it out. This will be my first WD in over 5 years.

 jgemrich wrote:
2am east in the US and I picked up the digital version. $65 for subscription? Yes please. 345MB wow.

Good stuff. Wish I could change the print size and I wish the painting examples were more like the downloadable how to paint guides. Otherwise I really liked it.

I'm critical of the new photos of the minis with the red lighting. To me it really detracts from the detail and paint jobs...I'd rather see them on white background.

yeah i do know what you mean about the red lighting. but i really love it and it seems they have only used it sparingly in certain places.
there are still some regular pics on plain backgrounds and ones that are setup on a battlefield with the backdrop.

i would almost be keen on a digital subscription but i just love printed books too much, and the stock/weight & quality is really nice.

also, all the new chaos stuff just went up on the GW website!!!

I read it and thought it was meh. No new rules or experimental stuff, no scenarios....not like white dwarf of old. I still wont buy it (just my thoughts not trolling)

That's the new WD cover? Reminds me of old magazines...

 Harriticus wrote:


There are 2 notable improvements, Battle Reports are more detailed (picture-by-picture phases and what not)

Not seen it yet yet, but I'm delighted about this. Compared with the mid 90's battle reports, the recent ones have barely been worth printing.

I'm still a bit sceptical of it. Might grab the new one, but I feel at the moment I'll just end up regretting it and go back to not bothering with them. Well when I'm not required to keep playing one of my armies... -.-

 BrassScorpion wrote:
The new subscription price for 1 year will be $100 US! I just found this out tonight from GW. OUCH. I may be letting that subscription lapse when it ends after this issue. Will be the first time in 2 decades I'll go without it, but $100 is nuts even for the "new" White Dwarf.

Any boxed sets coming with that subscription? How about some LE minis in recognition of the new mag?


No?


Pfft..... typical GW being GW. "OH LOOK!!!...... nothing new! Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, MORE your munnies!!!"

For those complaining about the subscription deal, there is another deal that they have, not sure if it will be continuous.

However if you go into one of the stores, you can pay for 12 editions for the price of 8, so it would be $80 for americans, and basically they give you voucher style things that you then redeem for an edition, allowing you to skip editions as well.

Not sure if only GW stores will be taking it, but seems pretty cool, and drops the price again.

Quote from their site
Also remember we provide an in-store subscription deal where you subscribe for 12 issues and pay for 8 - pop into your local Games Workshop store for more details.

I think that will be a standard deal, the online digital subscription gives you 4 issues free if you sign up.

I've downloaded the iPad version, and I'm quite impressed. the 360 pictures are nice and zooming into the new pictures to get a close look at detail is a handy feature.
I'm not too enthused about the price, but all magazines are expensive these days, even more so out in Saudi, if you can get them (and I've never seen WD out here)

I thought it was good, certainly an improvement from the old WD.

It was OK - I can see glimmers of improvement. I don't think there is any more or less content than previous issues. Yes, the mag has more pages now but this is tempered by the larger font size and slightly smaller page size being used now. They still have the hugely bloated and redundant section detailing every GW stockist in the world for some bizarre reason. They also spent roughly 50 pages of this month's issue detailing the new releases which seemed slight overkill to me. They still insist in giving space to Jervis Johnson, who this month tried convincing us that they removed force restrictions so that people could collect what they want rather than to sell more models (which I think is actually the primary driver behind it). Jervis also let slip that his vision of GW is as a seller of collectible models; Jervis is of the opinion that collection comes first and everything else (painting, gaming) comes secondary to that. Interesting viewpoint but it ties in with the upper echelon aim of selling toys first and rules as a poor relation - kind of explains some of the direction that the GW games have taken recently; as a driver of model sales rather than tight rulesets.

On the plus size, the quality of the print media seems better and I think the design aesthetic is good - I quite like the retro, 'back to basics' look of it all. The battle report seemed OK and well laid out; plenty of pics and photos (although I wish they would include some of the overhead map/graphics things that show movement, hits, kills that sort of thing. Also, I have an existing sub so can continue to pay the old direct debit price (I assume until such time as I cancel?) rather than the new cover price. I am not sure I would pay £5+ for it if I wasn't already subbed - it wasn't that good, it is still a glossy catalogue but you can see they are trying, so credit to them for that. Hopefully this marks a return to form once the new team settles in.

I'm surprised noone has mentioned the new 'The Rivals' column yet.

It's only 6 pages, but it's actual tournament armies (Dark Elves and Vampires), includes tactics and their thoughts on their army selection, followed by a mini battle report.

There's also a good two page 'Angron: Genesis of a Primarch' article, which is kinda neat too.

Finally, don't dismiss the last handful of pages there are actually some proper articles in there (This month in the design studio) that are fairly interesting, if not a bit randomly placed.

Am I correct in saying that in the US and Australia, there is a price difference between more expensive paper versions and the cheaper digital version? Like, a couple of dollars? Because there's a difference in price in the UK versions of one whole penny, likely to mirror the usual £x.x9 price rhetoric in the app store.

Gotta say, if other countries get a not-insignificant digital price reduction and the UK doesn't, I'll be proper fuming.

Cheers!

Craig

so Awesome

 Scouseboy wrote:
Am I correct in saying that in the US and Australia, there is a price difference between more expensive paper versions and the cheaper digital version? Like, a couple of dollars? Because there's a difference in price in the UK versions of one whole penny, likely to mirror the usual £x.x9 price rhetoric in the app store.

Gotta say, if other countries get a not-insignificant digital price reduction and the UK doesn't, I'll be proper fuming.

Cheers!

Craig

I think the digital version is more expensive in the UK, because of UK taxes on books. I have heard that ebooks in the UK have the same taxes as regular books. From what I heard the book tax has something to do with compensation to authors for having books freely available in libraries.

Even at the cheaper price, I think that the digital version is a terrible deal. It lacks on one of the only improvements in the mag, the new paper. If GW was smart they would give the digital version away for free, like Heavy Gear does, or sell it for a buck. (For those of you who have not seen it, check out an issue of GearUp. They have experimental rules, stories, illustrations, etc., like a proper mag should have.)

That doesn't sound right...

Although, I think you are broadly on the right lines.

EG, "The Uk does not charge VAT on books, however, Ebooks are a digital product and therefore, VAT is charged as normal."

This seems to agree with this The Bookseller. Com

jgemrich wrote:$65 for subscription? Yes please.

I've got "digital subscriptions" to a couple of other magazines, such as Premier Guitar. They're free. Normal magazines make most of their money on adverts. The issue cost is really the cost of producing a physical copy, as the content cost is covered by the adverts. These adverts exist in the digital version, and so without a production cost, the digital copy can be given away for free.

Except GW. GW doesn't take outside advertisers. Even though half the magazine is adverts, it's all adverts for their own stuff, so they make no money here. Hence, you're paying for content and production. This explains why you're paying nearly twice the industry standard for a magazine, and considerably more than industry standard for a digital copy.

Just got my copy through the door this morning, and I gotta say it looks stunning. The content has much improved too, no doubt further improvements could still be made (get rid of the 10 pages of store info for a start and replace it with more articles on terrain building, kit bashing, painting guides, battle reports, competitions and I'll be very happy) though for the first issue in a new line up it's a good start.

Just finished looking through my copy.
Not overly blown away, I have to admit.

The Plusses: (and bear in mind that I'm a graphic designer, so I'm likely to be both picky and nerdy)
- nice paper. Feels really nice. Thicker too.
- like the spot varnish on the cover
- liking the gatefold pages (even if they seemed a bit redundant and only there to wow the masses)
- overall aesthetic was okay, but not exactly revolutionary.
- I *think* I like the new masthead, but having said that I think it may be a bit flat in that dark yellow.
- NO WHITE BACKGROUND ON THE COVER. Hallelujah! Praise be to the designer who convinced them to change to a coloured background. Huge improvement

The Minuses:
- odd layout on the cover with the blurb nest to the masthead. What's with all the space to the right? Really distracting.
- having the gatefold pages so near the front makes it hard to flick through (yes, I know that's a VERY picky comment)
- it really bugs me that they have three fonts for no good reason. Font 1: titles. Not bad, I think I like it... maybe.
Font 2: body text. Not bad, I like it.
Font 3: for describing the photos. Really distracting! And the numerals are far too heavy next to the photos. Why not just stick to two fonts??!! (insane graphic designer moment there - apologies)
- photos of miniatures - why on earth use a red spotlight on them? It gives them a weird red highlight... And way too much dead, empty space around the miniature.
- battle report photos - ? I was totally distracted by the players (hamming it up) in the shots , and the others just seemed really confusing. Having said that, I haven't read the report yet, so it might make more sense when/if I do.
- while I do like consistency in design, the red and black throughout the whole magazine for the titles got a bit dull. Have different colour identifiers for each article!
- content: was there any difference? I didn't notice much. The kitbashing was welcome, but skimmed the surface and barely told you how to do it, but neglected to give any step by step guidance.
- 'Paint Splatter' "Paint Splatter contains a wealth of handy painting tips and ideas to inspire your own hobby. From techniques we've been using this month, to which colours are used on the Studio miniatures seen elsewhere in this issue , there's painting advice for everyone."
Really? I must have the wrong magazine then. The are NO painting tips here at all, only colour swatches and pictures, but NO EXPLANATION on how to DO the techniques shown. I think this is appalling. They're wasted pages and arrogant and lazy. They don't help ANY hobbyist trying to figure out what's been done on the miniatures shown. What a waste! >rant<
The warpstone 'tutorial' shows six steps. The first two seem COMPLETELY pointless to me!
- back cover - total waste
- random painting of Gandalf? wtf?

To be honest, the ONLY thing that sold me was the inclusion of some Jes Goodwin design sketches towards the back - why weren't they at the FRONT???

I do NOT see any major improvement in content. The redesign is okay, but not stunning, and it's mostly smoke and mirrors. The guys at the store valiantly tried to give me the subscription speech, but eventually gave up when they saw I was plainly not interested.

I just thought that this would be worth noting with all the talk about price increases. Here in Denmark, WD still costs the same as it used to (60DKK), so all I got was a rise in quality compared to what it used to be. I already kinda liked WD (because I have never experienced the glory of the older mags), so I think this is a pretty good deal, and I will definately be picking up the new issue on monday.

I'm glad there are a few people seeing past the "Emperor's New Clothes" effect and highlighting that aside from looking pretty, not much has changed.

GW has entered a really cynical phase of wanting you to pay for everything separately, so that means no decent painting articles because they want you to buy the digital painting guides (which is dumb at the moment, because not all of their customers own ipads). It won't be long before they put a paywall on their website so you have to subscribe just to look at their miniatures... I'm only half joking here