Feel like checking out Ray Barnholt’s labor of love, Scroll magazine? That actually wasn’t a question. Feel like it.

Thanks to “one too many printing gaffes,” Barnholt has reduced the price of the downloadable edition of the Dragon Quest-themed Issue 2 to “free forever,” providing an excellent opportunity to see what the magazine’s about.

I suspect that once people get the chance to e-thumb through an issue, Ray will see increased sales in the future, because Scroll is totally great and makes you feel good about enjoying video games. If you’re like me, you could use a bit of a reboot in the fandom department after E3.

Find: Nintendo DS/3DS release dates, discounts, & more 

See also: More posts on Scroll

tags / scroll / magazine / ray barnholt / jc / gaming

I’m a bit late telling you all about this, but in case you hadn’t heard: Ray Barnholt, formerly of 1UP and currently continuing to impress with his Game Center CX episode guide, has created a new game magazine pretty much all on his own.

Scroll is intended as a “journal of video game appreciation,” without either the fanboy or pretentious modes of posturing. Just, you know, video games, and how it is fun to play some of them. Which sounds perfect!

The first issue is available now through MagCloud for $10, and apparently it’s already a success, with sales breezing past 100 (what Ray called his “oh shit” number). PDF copies are forthcoming, at least before issue 2.

tags / scroll / magazine / zine / ray barnholt / jc

1UP/Retronauts’s Jeremy Parish and his team of writers published the third issue of GameSpite Quarterly, now available to purchase with three different editions, each boasting a different 8-bit hero — collect them all! (or don’t, if you prefer to spend your money sensibly)

Titled “The Encyclopedia of 8-Bit Heroes”, this issue profiles dozens of video game characters from the NES/SMS/GB/GBC etc. days, covering recognizable stars such as Samus and Tetris’s I Block, as well as obscure figures like the Cheetahmen and Parodius’s Takosuke.

The $16 standard edition features 280 pages of profiles, while the $12 budget edition has 160 pages, covering only “the most important of classic game heroes”. The 314-page hardcover deluxe version of GameSpite Quarterly Issue 3 is priced at an expensive $40, but it also promises eight extra characters, as well as articles on perfect rentals, noir titles, and Winter 09/10’s new releases.

You can read the issue’s Foreward and Table of Contents at the above link. For those of you interested in purchasing a copy as my Christmas gift (Hardcover Deluxe plz), feel free to use this Contact form to notify me, and I’ll send along an address you can ship the book to.

tags / gamespite / retronauts / magazine / ec

This deal ends in an hour and a half (or sooner if Amazon runs out of stock), so jump on it now if you’re interested!

I accidentally let my subscription lapse this month, just as the magazine published at least three items I wanted to read: a New Super Mario Bros. cover feature, an in-depth article (and Nude Maker interview, I think?) on Infinite Space, and a preview for Shiren the Wanderer Wii. I had to pick up a newsstand issue with the cover all cluttered with text, like a chump. I made this face at the counter — :o/

tags / deals / amazon / nintendo power / magazine