Wireframe - an new (old) magazine

It has been something of a pattern over the last couple of decades that print magazines have had a bit of a hard time. Squeezed between the immediacy and multimedia approach of web-based channels like YouTube, Blogger among others and the changing market (reading habits, the “value” proposition and, dare I say it, the reduction in literacy), it is perhaps surprising that so many print magazines remain in circulation. 

Okay, you might think I am being a smidge doomsday-ish with that, but consider this. The wargaming market, in the UK at least, manages three magazines outside of Games Workshop. Can it support three in the long term? Probably not. One is very lightweight and whizz-bang, another is straddling historical and sci-fant with varying degrees of success and the third is a tad po-faced at times. Aside from gimmicky freebies, they don't seem to be doing much to grow their audience but that's another blog post altogether. Other niche (and I call most hobbyist magazines niche) publications continue to thrive but in vastly reduced numbers compared to even a decade ago. Two niches that continue to hold multiple titles are those of general computing and videogames.

True, general computing has seen a decline in titles, PC Format and Personal Computer World being the two that I miss the most, but there is still the ever-readable Computer Shopper and the mixed bag that is PC Pro with a couple of smaller titles still filling the shelves.

Videogaming has suffered a bit more than most due to the rise of YouTube, live streaming and videogames news sites. Those and the obvious immediacy of online media in general, something that the printed word can never match. Whereas twenty years ago you had multiple format specific titles, you now only have one X-Box and one Playstation mag, whilst PC Gamer holds the torch for non-console gaming. Titles such as ACE, Computer and Video Games, Games TM, GamesMaster and Arcade have all left the multi-format arena and now just the industry stalwart Edge remains, but editorially that disappeared up its own arse about five years ago and hasn’t been seen since, so it was with great interest that I picked up issue one of Wireframe at the back end of last year.

All seven issues to date (27.02.19)

Launching a multi-format magazine in 2018 might be seen as something of a brave move and indeed it is. Making it fortnightly even more so and with charging £3 an issue, the publisher could be described as pushing the accepted boundaries even further. The thing is, it works.

Taking inspiration from computing magazines of the 1980’s, Wireframe offers both industry interviews, reviews, features and, in a refreshing change to almost any recent title, how to guides including programming and techniques. The balance is about right, and whilst there is a bit more emphasis on the indie games scene, I cannot fault it for that. Outside of AAA development, some of the most intriguing and exciting titles are indie-developed and big publishers are so controlling with their PR tactics that I rarely feel any anticipation for new releases. And let's not get started on the topic of review embargoes...

In a very real sense, this is a videogames magazine not just about playing them, but also how you make them, and you understand why this approach has been taken when you see who is behind the mag: The Raspberry Pi Foundation. If you are not familiar with the Raspberry Pi, this is a single board computer originally launched as a tool to help get children into programming and teaching them the skills that a lot of current day developers gained during the halcyon days of the 8-bit and 16-bit home computer era (1980’s and early ‘90’s). Expecting to sell maybe 10,000 of these $35 computers, at last count, the various revisions have now sold more than 19 million (and that's a March 2018 figure!)and there is little sign of that ending any time soon. Not only have they brought computer programming, science and home-brew hardware into the 21^st century, they have also brought near-dead operating systems like RISC-OS back to life. Really, it seems like a no-brainer to take the development potential created by the Pi and launch a new publication to focus on the creation of videogames.

The magazine itself is very well laid out and the production values are very high. The paper stock is of high quality and the cover price of £3 is reasonably justified by that. Page count isn’t that high but if you compare it to the monthly mags like PC Gamer, the equivalent page count and price per month is good.

Proper old-school code listings!

Features and reviews are honest and forthright (the Red Dead Redemption 2 review is a corker and avoids the hype train that title rode), and some of the homebrew scene pieces have been eye-opening (who knew boxed Dreamcast and Megadrive software was still being produced?). What really adds to the magazine is the Toolbox section. Published on slightly coarser paper, this is the part where you learn the nuts and bolts of game production - the above picture is of issue seven's Text Adventure how to. This brings the mag back to how I originally found computer magazines in the 1980's, typing out code listings and having a bit of a play about. In that sense, this is very much an new old magazine and all the better for it. It also provides details of additional links online to expand the coverage of the topic discussed and to develop your knowledge further

Seven issues have been made so far, the eighth came out this week and it’s one of the very few publications I buy regularly (in fact, with the exception of one writing and one airgun mag, I have no other regular purchases). It’s a refreshing title to see on the shelves and both entertaining and highly informative. I hope it continues to flourish and for only £3, it's worth a read if you have any interest at all in this area.