Just reading back over my last post, it does come out a little more vitriolic than I intended. Don’t get me wrong, I stand by everything I said. It’s just a little one-sided in its representation of my opinion on the mag is all.

I’m not really jealous of American magazines, they suck almost as much as ours (not quite as much, because they at least have original copy); but I am envious of the UK because they have Edge. Why can’t we have a decent mag out here in Aus? I’ll ignore the Australian edition of Edge: I mean, who wants regurgitated UK content a month after it comes out (besides, obviously, readers of Australian GamesTM)? I’ll pay exorbitant air-freight prices, thank  you very much.

There’s a challenge for you JBTN: give us something like/better-than Edge.

JBTN, as they would – apparently – like to be known, are a new, hot-off-the-press game magazine. “So what?”, I hear you ask, “I’ve already got a wide variety of Australian gaming mags to choose from, just bursting with US/UK content/reviews/idioms (GamesTM, I’m looking at you). Why would I want another?”. Well, there isn’t a single review, preview, or cheat inside: only interviews with installation and comic book artists, news on upcoming game to film adaptations, AND – and this is where it gets annoying – constant reminders that we Gamers, the avant garde of postmodernism and pop-culture, the Great White Hope of Humanity, are a subculture.

Did I mention that Gamers are a subculture? Because Gamers are a subculture. Gamers are real people with real feelings. If you poke them, do they not say: “I’m telling Mum”? This is a magazine for us, the Gamers. For us. Gamers. Us. La-la-la.

Guys, if you have to keep pointing it out, you aren’t really representing a subculture. That kind of stuff is supposed to be assumed knowledge. Individuals in a group have no need to reaffirm their own identity to others (within the group) in such a way. Who’re you trying to convince: us (whoever ‘we’ might be), outsiders (whoever ‘they’ might be), yourselves or, more likely, your publisher?

I hope to see more from JBTN (and you just know they agonised over that abbr. “JMPBTN? JMBTN? JPBTN?” Well, I would have …) because, frankly, I expect more from them. This issue smacked of being scraped together from whatever they could get their hands on. I mean, c’mon people: a short story from the POV of a cat who’s ignored by their game-addict owner? Hel-LO Filler! If there really is a need for such a niche publication, then why isn’t there sufficient content to fill it respectably?

My girlfriend pointed out – when I voiced my initial disbelief that this wasn’t just a US/UK reprint – that there’s literally a surplus of such niche magazines at the moment. These guys have a few things going for them: the inclusion of your artists’ media (á la design magazines) is neat, and the gaming industry is coming into its own, even in Australia. There was only a single ad in here (for Splinter Cell, inside the front cover) so, maybe once they’ve gotten a handle on this whole “magazine” thing, we’ll see ourselves a damned interesting publication. Good luck, guys.