Shrapnel to Take on Wargamer.com?

[Gandalf Parker]

PLEASE take this as purely a hypothetical answer:
But IF a gaming mag had a slight tendency to provide more reviews about certain games, then it MIGHT gradually affect the redership which keeps returning to it, and it MIGHT slew the votes abit to a foregone conclusion. In fact, since such sites specialize in certain types of games that will oviously be true anyway so certain companys will have an advantage depending on how many of that type game is in their catalog.

Personally I dont read wargamer very much because those arent my kinds of games. Most of the articles dont interest me (strategy yes, war not so much). I AM interested in the new mag site since I am very interested in independents that are developing games. Im hoping this is NOT a site where WarGamer will be the obvious "other choice" because that happen if it becomes another site with a tendency to notice war games over other types. We will see how far across the spectrum they are willing to travel. No, make that able to travel since I believe in their willingness. If they can stretch it as far as... hmm what? Childrens teaching games? Maybe Moraff's games which my wife loves. Oh I know, a writeup on the game "Tranquility". Thats about as opposite from a wargame as it gets.

[Dave Erickson]

Will Shrapnel's magazine review ALL new games on the day they are released (to heighten the impact on sales), or just Shrapnel's own releases? What I'm asking is whether or not there will be timing coordination between the magazine and ALL publishers, or just some?

(Oops, this post shows up as a response to Gandalf, but it's really to anyone who cares to answer.)

[Gandalf Parker]

By description its supposed to be just about the indies. And I do tend to believe that is what is planned.

Of course a couple of things have to be fought to pull that off. One is that they need to get writers on board who can work on that goal. Another is that they need to find the indies (hence the pre-announcement and a call for contact by any indie developer/publishers). And finally, anyone involved in the project might have to consciously make an effort not to give hints about their own personal preferences.

"Shrapnel" is a great name for a publisher who has their eye on the marketing niche of indie developers doing strategy wargames. And they have done a great job of it. Im not sure if widening their publisher coverage would be good or not. I certainly wouldnt feel pressed to recommend it. So there is a slight dilemma in that we have Shrapnel who obviously loves and actively develops strategy wargames, backing the new magazine for covering all indie products.

They will have a rough go in the early days gathering material. And they will obviously have a wealth of information on their own games, their own developers, and some side surfing on the interest of their own genre. Yet they cant rely on that wealth of material without seeming to have created a biased magazine.

Anyone who believes in their sincerity and wants this project to succeed, feel free to pitch in. Even if its dropping little tidbits of names for your favorite indie developers. Better yet, pitch the mag to indie developers and have them contact the mag for inclusion.

[JDC]

Which indies have you contacted so far?