From: ross@kaos.b11.ingr.com (Ross Erickson)
Subject: WHAT IS GAME BYTES?  (repost)
Keywords: game bytes magazine
Reply-To: ross@kaos.b11.ingr.com
Organization: Intergraph Corporation
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 01:03:38 GMT

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WHAT IS GAME BYTES??
 
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Quite frequently, I get email from around the world asking a common
question, "Just what is Game Bytes anyway?"  Hopefully, this short
message will help explain just what this is, where it comes from, why
it's here, and where it is going!
 
Game Bytes started out as an idea of mine to produce a high-quality,
user-supported gaming magazine that utilizes the electronic networks
prevalent in the world today.  I didn't want to create "another"
paper newsletter; instead I wanted to use the high-speed
distribution capabilities of today's electronic networks.
 
Truly, I wanted this to become the "Computer Gaming World" of the
electronic age.  Instead of the traditional page after page format
of the paper magazine, the innovative idea was that the magazine 
would run on the PC.  With some programming help, and some hard work,
we developed a method that incorporates actual screen images from the
games being reviewed.  So, not only do the readers get a comprehensive
review of the games, they get to see what the games look like--on their 
own screens!  Needless to say, this has become a very popular feature.
 
The next step was to establish an easy to use, yet flexible, interface
that makes it very simple for the reader to access the information
presented in any order.  The programmers and I worked on this step
for several months, but finally had an interface we were happy with.
Through the gracious efforts of several people on the Internet, we
had enough articles to publish the first issue.  Looking back, it
wasn't as strong as we wanted it to be, but it was a start.
 
There are several points to be made about the philosophy of Game
Bytes:
 
1)  We aren't "sponsored" by any game publisher or vendor in any way.
 
2)  Currently, we aren't charging any fee, subscription, or other
    "price."  However, we have learned painfully that the money is indeed
    significant, and we welcome donations or contributions of any kind
    to help us continue to publish Game Bytes.  Anything will help.
 
3)  At this time, there is no advertising in the magazine of any kind.
    Again, considering the investment we have made, in time and money, 
    to keep this going, we may be forced to consider some advertising 
    in the future.  We hope to delay this as long as possible.
 
4)  We are actively showing Game Bytes to many software vendors (and
    making some positive impressions) and intend to work closely
    with them in the future.
 
5)  Contributing reviewers/writers are not paid, other than with our
    deepest gratitude and our promise to publish their work for all to
    enjoy.  In the future, this may change, but it's too early to tell.
 
6)  Game Bytes will be distributed over the following facilities:
       a) FTP sites - as many as possible, but FIRST on WUARCHIVE
          (128.252.135.4) in the /pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS directory, and on
          ULOWELL (129.63.32.1) in the /msdos/Games/GameByte
          directory.  If others are very popular, we'll send them
          there too.
       b) Mail server - We are working on creating an automatic mail
          server at my site that will, upon request, uuencode and
          mail each issue to those without FTP access.  Contact 
          Anthony Galway at tony@pico.engr.mun.ca for more details
          about getting on this distribution list.
       c) Compuserve - In the GAMERS forum, Library section 16 (Other
          Magazines).
       d) America On-Line
       e) BBSs - At this time, we upload each issue to several large 
          BBSs, including EXEC-PC (the world's largest BBS), and 
          actively encourage those who download it to spread it to 
          their local BBSs.  Game Bytes is also pleased to be able to
          utilize the more than 2000 BBS systems that are the official
          distribution points for Apogee/ID software products.   
          The home board for this is Software Creations.  They
          can be reached at 508-365-2359 (2400 baud) or 508-
          7423 (9600/14.4 V.32bis).
 
7) Game Bytes will be produced in two versions for each issue.  One
version will have the full pallette of screen shots included and will
be quite large, but never larger than 1.44 MB.  The other version will
include exactly the same articles, but will not include any screen
shots at all, and will thus be much smaller.  This smaller issue may
be uuencoded and posted to the Usenet newsgroup, comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.
 
8) Game Bytes will be produced once a month, for the time being.
 
9) Game Bytes coverage includes IBM/MS-DOS games in the diskette and
CD-ROM formats, Super Nintendo cartridges, and Sega Genesis cartridge
and CD-ROM formats.  For popularity and space considerations, we are
not covering the old Nintendo (NES), the portable cartridge game
systems, or the Turbo Graphics 16 systems at this time.
 
Game Bytes, in a nutshell, presents the following "types" of
information:
 
1)  Reviews - These are user contributed articles from
    players like you and me who have experience with the product in
    question.  They are intended to be judgemental and advise readers
    whether the product is a worthy purchase or not.  Reviews are full
    length, comprehensive articles.
 
2) First Looks! / Previews - This section is devoted to giving readers 
   a sneak peek at games soon to be released or just released.  The very 
   short articles are merely a quick synopsis of what the premise of the 
   game is, an quick evaluation (if possible) and, generally, several 
   screen shots, when available, are included with each article.
 
3) Editor Notes / Miscellaneous - This section is devoted to articles
   and columns that do not "review" or "preview" a particular game product.
   As editor, I write a regular column called "A View From the Edge"
   which is a general observation about issues in the gaming industry.
   Interviews with gaming's "luminaries"--people such as Richard 
   Garriott, Chris Roberts and Damon Slye--will appear in this section.
   Also, this section will host a "rumors" column where interesting news 
   items are published.  Things like running games under OS/2, gaming
   peripheral news, hints, walkthroughs and other miscellaneous articles 
   will be found in the this section.  We accept submissions of articles 
   of this nature as well and, in fact, encourage them.
 
4) Vendor Notes / Announcements - We have reserved some space for the 
   software vendor community to publish their press releases announcing 
   new products, future plans or special promotions to the reading public.  
   Occasionally, we will include appropriate screen shots as well.
 
5) Letters - Simply stated, this is YOUR forum to post your feedback,
   inquiries, and general commentary about Game Bytes to us.  We ACTIVELY
   encourage you to write to us.  The "intro" article listed at the top
   of this column has details about how to get in touch with Game Bytes.
 
So, where do we go from here?  There are a lot of opportunities to
take this even further.  If everybody had CD-ROM drives and multimedia
ready machines . . . but you don't, so we'll proceed slowly.  We don't 
intend to change our strategy much over the coming months.  We simply 
want to be known as a solid source of regular gaming information.  At 
some point, if finances dictate, we may have to offer subscriptions to 
the magazine where a diskette will be mailed to you each month, but we 
hope to avoid this for as long as possible.  Your contributions and 
donations will help tremendously in this regard.
 
If you feel you have something to say or add to Game Bytes, PLEASE
feel free to contact me and we'll most certainly consider it.  I want
to publically say thanks for the very warm welcome many of you have
expressed to me about Game Bytes.  Your response has been
overwhelming.   We hope to hear from many more of you, too.  As an open
invitation to all:  PLEASE consider writing some reviews/previews or
gaming articles of any kind to be published in Game Bytes.  Without
you, we have nothing.  Thanks again for your consideration.
---------------------------



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|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|  Ross Erickson             |                                     |
|  ross@kaos.b11.ingr.com    | Read GAME BYTES Magazine!  Found    |
|  205-730-4019 - voice      | on ftp.ulowell.edu and              |
|  205-730-6445 - fax        | wuarchive.wustl.edu.  Check it out! |
|  Internet: 129.135.252.87  |                                     |
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