RETRO: Multi-Format, Throw-Back Video Game Magazine - KICKSTARTER

[Greg2600]

I'm going to back it, but does this really have a shot at reaching $50k?

20K attained, with 20 days to go, so chances are good.

I like the idea, and I like the list of contributors, but could you not have made a more original name? I mean, do you think that Retro Gaming magazine is going to actually allow you to call your magazine "Retro" without a fight?

I'm not sure what the legal ramifications are, given that Retro Gamer is based in the UK. However, just simply out of causing confusion, I would agree they should have used a different name.

Frankly this kind of magazine is what Digital Press was for many years. I'm sorry to have missed that era, and look forward to a new US-based magazine for collectors.

[Bojay1997]

20K attained, with 20 days to go, so chances are good.



I'm not sure what the legal ramifications are, given that Retro Gamer is based in the UK. However, just simply out of causing confusion, I would agree they should have used a different name.

Frankly this kind of magazine is what Digital Press was for many years. I'm sorry to have missed that era, and look forward to a new US-based magazine for collectors.

I think there is less of a chance of an infringement claim from Retro Gamer than there is from GamesTM Magazine that has a magazine compilation they put out every six months or so called "Retro" which is also published by Imagine Publishing. I know they distribute that particular compilation at news stands throughout the US and in Barnes and Noble and Frys. https://www.imagineshop.co.uk/index....s/retro-vol-6/

I'm still on the fence on this one. While the contributor list is impressive, without a strong and experienced editorial hand guiding things and a solid distribution and advertising sales component, this will become a very short-lived publication once the KS money has been burned. The fact that limiting advertising seems to be part of their business plan doesn't make much sense to me, but maybe they have some other means of generating revenue beyond subscription sales.

[Kaboomer]

I am excited to announce we will be adding another notable face to the pages of RETRO. This is the guy I am probably most excited about bringing on board this team and I am sure any of you who grew up reading EGM back in its heyday will be excited too! Just confirming a couple things and then all will be revealed.

[Kaboomer]

I am excited to announce that legendary gaming journalist and long time EGM Editor in Chief, Ed Semrad is coming out of retirement to contribute to the pages of RETRO!

[Canadian Psycho]

Ed Semrad? Wow, didn't see that one coming! I'd love to know if he still has fondness for early 90s gaming and if he still owns some of his favourites from the era.

I still have the late 1990 issues of EGM (and plenty others!) with Mario World and Mega Man III on the cover; first gaming magazines I purchased with my own money too. Good memories.

[Kaboomer]

Ed Semrad? Wow, didn't see that one coming! I'd love to know if he still has fondness for early 90s gaming and if he still owns some of his favourites from the era.

I still have the late 1990 issues of EGM (and plenty others!) with Mario World and Mega Man III on the cover; first gaming magazines I purchased with my own money too. Good memories.

I guess he has a huge collection, protos and what not from his days at EGM. We will be interviewing him for the mag as well as having him as a contributor

[Atarileaf]

I don't do the whole kickstarter thing (what happens to donated funds that don't reach their target?) but I would sub to this magazine for sure. I'm assuming it would be available to us Canadians?

[Bojay1997]

I don't do the whole kickstarter thing (what happens to donated funds that don't reach their target?) but I would sub to this magazine for sure. I'm assuming it would be available to us Canadians?

If they don't reach their target, nobody gets charged, just like every Kickstarter. Indiegogo and some of the other newer crowdsourcing platforms allow partial funding, but that's one reason why many backers won't back projects on those sites structured in that way. I know I won't back a project like that. Honestly, the way this particular Kickstarter is structured is basically like a subscription preorder, so I'm not seeing the harm in just pledging if you're going to subscribe anyway.

[Flam]

did my part, threw in $35

I do have a question. Is it possible in Kickstarter projects to have a person, who already has a substantial amount of funds, to create a project, wait for 29 days to see how much backing they get, then on the last day fund the difference themselves, as not to lose all the donated funds. What I'm getting at, is it possible for the creator of this project to come in at the last minute and donate whatever the difference would be to reach $50k?

[Bojay1997]

did my part, threw in $35

I do have a question. Is it possible in Kickstarter projects to have a person, who already has a substantial amount of funds, to create a project, wait for 29 days to see how much backing they get, then on the last day fund the difference themselves, as not to lose all the donated funds. What I'm getting at, is it possible for the creator of this project to come in at the last minute and donate whatever the difference would be to reach $50k?

I believe there is a cap of $10K per donor on Kickstarter, although there have been various claims on Kickstarters such as the ones that were part of the Ouya funding match program that the campaign organizers were creating fake accounts to pump up the contributions to hit the target and therefore qualify for the funds from Ouya. So, in theory, if someone really wanted to commit fraud or was wealthy enough, they could just pledge the difference to collect the contributions. Of course, they will lose about 10% of whatever they pledge to Kickstarter and Amazon Payment fees, so it's not a free way to make money by any stretch and they still have a legal obligation to deliver whatever they promised to the contributors.

[postulio]

I like the idea of a RETROGamer competitor, if only because I started buying them late and missed a whole ton of great issues which are hard to get now (btw, use that code at checkout, CLASSIC, $7 an issue is totally doable).

I really dont like the guys behind this though. GameGavel sucks and the guy who runs it is a complete tool (sorry). He was on these forums before he launched the website and established a very low opinion of himself, in my mind. All he cares about is making a couple of bucks.

That podcast is pretty bad too, too biased and I just can't take it seriously.

I also despise Jeff Green....



If the people behind this were more credible I would bite, but these really aren't the guys I want to support, mostly because I just don't trust that the output would be good.

[Kaboomer]

I like the idea of a RETROGamer competitor, if only because I started buying them late and missed a whole ton of great issues which are hard to get now (btw, use that code at checkout, CLASSIC, $7 an issue is totally doable).

I really dont like the guys behind this though. GameGavel sucks and the guy who runs it is a complete tool (sorry). He was on these forums before he launched the website and established a very low opinion of himself, in my mind. All he cares about is making a couple of bucks.

That podcast is pretty bad too, too biased and I just can't take it seriously.

I also despise Jeff Green....



If the people behind this were more credible I would bite, but these really aren't the guys I want to support, mostly because I just don't trust that the output would be good.

With all due respect, I ran ChaseTheChuckwagon.com first and then bought out the domain name GameGavel.com from the "tool" who started it over here after he failed with it. I don't think you are talking about me For God's sake, almost everyone has been using "my" GameGavel.com for free the past five years so I am making nothing from it.

[Flam]

I believe there is a cap of $10K per donor on Kickstarter, although there have been various claims on Kickstarters such as the ones that were part of the Ouya funding match program that the campaign organizers were creating fake accounts to pump up the contributions to hit the target and therefore qualify for the funds from Ouya. So, in theory, if someone really wanted to commit fraud or was wealthy enough, they could just pledge the difference to collect the contributions. Of course, they will lose about 10% of whatever they pledge to Kickstarter and Amazon Payment fees, so it's not a free way to make money by any stretch and they still have a legal obligation to deliver whatever they promised to the contributors.

Let me state that I really don't care if someone were to use this tatic, the way I look at it, I'm receiving what I was willing to pay for. Actually I'd perfer if they did have money stored to make up the difference should they come up short as I'd really like to see this thing happen.

[Bojay1997]

Let me state that I really don't care if someone were to use this tatic, the way I look at it, I'm receiving what I was willing to pay for. Actually I'd perfer if they did have money stored to make up the difference should they come up short as I'd really like to see this thing happen.

I disagree. The whole idea of Kickstarter is to obtain enough funding from the "crowd" to prove whether some business or artistic concept is viable or not. When people screw with the system for personal gain, they destroy the very core of the crowdfunding concept and ultimately, their incentive to be responsive to the interests of the community diminishes. Frankly, project creators should be willing to risk their own funds on projects, but that shouldn't be part of the crowdfunding if for no other reason than they lose 10% off the top which is a stupid investment on their part.

[portnoyd]

Derpy hooves!

[Greg2600]

I like the idea of a RETROGamer competitor, if only because I started buying them late and missed a whole ton of great issues which are hard to get now (btw, use that code at checkout, CLASSIC, $7 an issue is totally doable).

I really dont like the guys behind this though. GameGavel sucks and the guy who runs it is a complete tool (sorry). He was on these forums before he launched the website and established a very low opinion of himself, in my mind. All he cares about is making a couple of bucks.

That podcast is pretty bad too, too biased and I just can't take it seriously.

I also despise Jeff Green....


If the people behind this were more credible I would bite, but these really aren't the guys I want to support, mostly because I just don't trust that the output would be good.

Please no personal attacks. I don't see how you can question the credibility of the contributors when most of them have written for successful magazines in the past, and published highly regarded books?

[Kaboomer]

We have it on good authority Bob Mackey will now be joining the RETRO contributor team! This just keeps getting better and better! Can't wait to hit our goal and start officially bringing this mag to market! Lots more exciting news to follow so stay tuned.

[JSoup]

Please no personal attacks. I don't see how you can question the credibility of the contributors when most of them have written for successful magazines in the past, and published highly regarded books?

Can't speak for postulio, but from my perspective, it's pretty easy to question credibility, seeing as I don't know who any of these people are. I've read the same magazines and websites the rest of you did over the last 20 years, I was just looking at the game guides and screenshots, not the puff pieces and opinions. The only reason I know these people are "all-stars" or "legends" is because you all told me they were.

[Bojay1997]

Can't speak for postulio, but from my perspective, it's pretty easy to question credibility, seeing as I don't know who any of these people are. I've read the same magazines and websites the rest of you did over the last 20 years, I was just looking at the game guides and screenshots, not the puff pieces and opinions. The only reason I know these people are "all-stars" or "legends" is because you all told me they were.

Yeah, I'm really not sure why this whole campaign has been premised on name dropping an increasingly long list of people who used to write for magazines. I'm in the same position as you are in that I've read all the major magazines since Electronic Games in the 1980s through the mid-2000s or so and while I am familiar with many of the people on the list, I wouldn't consider myself a fan of any of them. The reality is that there are tons of former video game writers out there and the cream of the crop generally moved on to more traditional journalism or some other field when the magazine business started to die out. I suspect everyone on that list would be happy to work for anyone willing to pay them for writing about video games, so I don't see the value in amassing that list of potential contributors. I'm not very interested in opinion or even reviews for the most part which is why I really like Retro Gamer as it's primarily an interview and historical publication with just a small selection of news and reviews for recent "retro" releases. Personally, I think this campaign would have been funded by now if instead of focusing on the contributor list, more emphasis was put on the business model and the content (it seems like everyone on the list could have been asked to write a piece on spec for a sample issue that could have been released at the beginning of the campaign) and a good business case was made for how this magazine can be a success in an increasingly small magazine marketplace.

[badinsults]

I have to agree with that assessment. If a short sample issue (say 25 pages) were made up to showcase their vision for the magazine, it would really help this along. And don't say it couldn't be done. Nintendo Age produced a lot of nice high quality e-zines that were about that length with no budget at all.