Gaming on the Go

To the editor – I stumbled on your on-line magazine today. The title lured me in because I thought of the fictional character “The Escapist” created by Michael Chabon in “Kavalier and Clay.” Nevertheless, I read on, as my 7 year old son enjoys playing various games on the Game Cube (e.g. Sonic, Mario Sunshine), and I am curious about the industry. While I, a 43 year old, do not have the patience to sit and learn how to play the more complicated games properly (like Madden Football), I recognize the allure of the games and the pure fun they can provide.

The quality of the writing for your first issue was excellent so I will revisit The Escapist magazine in the future.

Michael Rosenthal
Philadelphia, PA

To the editor – In response to Mr. Tynes Contrarian article, I think he misses the point of mainstream gaming.

“When gamers celebrate the fact that gaming has gone mainstream, that it’s everywhere, they’re dancing on Nintendo’s grave.”

He then argues that mainstream gaming is equivalent to the path of least resistance for developers. I couldn’t disagree more. The videogame crash of the early 80’s was a direct result of an avalanche of poor quality games. This coincides with the “seven platform” development methodology. A single game, seven platforms, crappy on each. This is not the new direction of gaming. His argument sounds more like a warning of a second videogame crash than anything else.

So what rescued the American game industry in the late 80’s? Nintendo. They pushed their 8-bit system into a market… rather, they *created* a market for a product no toy store buyer thought would sell. The rest, as they say, is history.

Nintendo is now creating another market for games and gamers that Mr. Tynes does not understand. That’s OK. The games are not for him. But while he is shaking his head at Nintendogs, Trauma Center, and Electroplankton, Nintendo and their customers will happily support each other into the next age of gaming.

Fuji8bit

To the editor – Just a note to congatulate you on the first Escapist. Learned about it in Kotaku (or wherever, there are so many news sites around these days).

Anyway, a very nice format. I chose the HTML version. Beautiful layout there, easy to read, nice paragraphs… The articles were somewhat old stuff, but reasonably well-written, and sort of updated the hardcore on these age-old issues of mainstream, art and the label of a gamer.

Keep it coming.

Joonas Laakso
Finland

To the editor – Just wanted to let you know that I think the first issue is great. Aside from the stories, which are excellent, I’m particularly impressed by the widescreen-format page layout… It’s gorgeous, especially when I full-screen it on my laptop’s cinematic display. Normally I hate PDF’s because their page dimensions are horrible for viewing on my computer screen, but thanks to your foresight this is possibly the only PDF that I can actually view full pages on without scrolling.

Keep up the great work!

Atul Varma[/strong]

To the editor – First of all, let me congratulate everyone involved with The Escapist on producing a fantastic piece of editorial journalism. To my mind, the magazine encapsulates the tone and thought-provoking subject matter that the best (and generally now defunct or mutated) print magazines produced in the last few years. The only thing I can imagine might add to the experience would be a forum of some sort, to discuss each article (with appropriate moderation to avoid discussions degenerating too far). However, as you seem to be styling the magazine as an internet- distributed print magazine, perhaps this is inappropriate. Finally, the notion of having a single game or product advertised in each issue is a good one, and I wish you the best of luck in securing some top-quality sponsors.

I have only one (minor) criticism, related to the “Gamer Like Me” article by Jennifer Buckendorff. As a major article in the high-profile first release of a flagship magazine, I can’t help but feel it’s a little unwise to mention “the kid who only plays GTA after school – and loves it”. In the current climate of gaming coming under heavy fire (in many cases for adult games being sold to minors), this could be misinterpreted. Perhaps I’m being over-sensitive – I play GTA and enjoy it greatly, and haven’t yet felt the need to release my latent gaming-borne rage onto society… Still, if you plan to be held up as a publication that celebrates the greatness of gaming, perhaps extreme sensitivity to these sorts of public issues (however wide of the truth they may be) is in order.

Anyway, congratulations again on a fantastic first issue; I look forward to a long series of interesting articles to read.

Simon “Rolphus” Rolfe[/strong]

To the editor – I just learned of your online publication via a post on slashdot regarding the article, “Culture Wargames,” by Kieron Gillen. It is probably the best essay I’ve ever read dealing with gaming as a new medium.

I was quite pleased to discover the high quality of content throughout the issue and that the editorial direction of the publication will fill a void in gaming publications since the days of Nintendo Magazine: that of the adult, educated individual seeking more from their reading than the latest press release/new game info. Fortunately now that a whole generation of gamers has grown up, you have an audience large enough to support the more esoteric essays that lead to more thoughtful conversation around the watercooler than the “holy crap, you shoulda seen the move I pulled last night” variety.

Thank you for a great read. I wish you much success with the new publication.

Rob
Kansas City, MO