40k releases on iBookstore

[Voice of Reason]

Yay more corporate hate across the internets.
You know why Emperor Palpatine was like "go ahead, strike me down and your journey to the Dark Side will be complete"? because he had a clone ready to transfer his body to - Luke's hate wasn't going to get Luke anything.

--

My only problem is the cost. For those who are actually involved in digital publishing (my fiance and myself to a small extent), there is little sense for the increased price, even with the 360 views, double the pages and so forth.

There is also little sense in limiting it only to the iPad.

On the other hand, looking at it from a technologically aware point of view, I can see how someone might have convinced GW that it's the way to go - Each of the devices require their own formatting and publishing process. The iPad is one of the most capable of all the eReaders, but some people will be more than happy with just having updated PDFs instead of the super-fancy-awesome Ferrari ebook. Some people like the Ford and are okay with that.

To further play devil's advocate, I'd worry a little bit about the amount of work they're making for themselves if every document is going to have that much put into it. I mean hell, even the scrolls of binding have 9 pages, video and painting guides? How long can that keep up? But then again, A lot of what's been provided (from what I've seen) is just a digital collection of all the other publishing they've been doing elsewhere on the web and in their magazines - so really, it actually makes sense for them to make this move - repackage the content and sell it again. It's one of the ways how top-end Webcartoonists and savvy illustrators actually make a good living.



TL;DR:
I can see both sides of it. Am I happy? not really, because I don't (yet) have an iPad... so while I knew the digital versions were coming (remember the letter I got from Mark Wells CEO back in July?) I'm a little disappointed that it came out in this format and at this price.

I do look forward to actually seeing it in action instead of on a video...

[coredump]

I love when people that hate apple, and have no apple products, claim that apple hates their customers. Yet the actual Apple cusotmers don't say that....

This product was made utilizing an authoring tool created by Apple and distributed by free. See all of those cool pop ups and the scrolling windows and 'dock'? Those are all integrated with the authoring tool, which is what makes it so easy to create.

Which is also why it is only available on the iPad. As soon as other platforms create a similar authoring tool,they may port it over.

Also, I am pretty sure the Apple tools and processes make it much harder for these iBooks to be copied and pirated; another reason they probably picked Apple.

From people that have actually bought it and used it, it has a bunch of really neat features. Such as being able to click on a rule to get the definition, instead of having to flip to several pages to get all the pertinent rules.

[rainthezangoose]

GW are greedy and evil and will use any weak excuse to charge more.

Still its ironic, if this stuff comes a regular thing with all codexs on there, people who 'Jailbreak' and the like will end up with free codexes *laughs evily* anything to stick it to gw.

after there latest price rise i pretty much quit.

[Voice of Reason]

Thanks, Coredump, I didn't know that about Apple's authoring tools - and when I bounced it off my Fiance, she said the same thing, except that it only works on Macs. there are also quite a few terms and conditions that limit where you can sell it - that is, itunes only, which also helps explain why it's only available there. Perhaps some of the functionality is also what limits it from going to the iPhone.

Hyperlinked rules in books are incredibly useful - I think one of the best examples of well done books are the Paizo Pathfinder rules. Not only can you buy the PDF from their website, but the PDF has more than enough cross-referential hyperlinks.

Neat Features? ok. but $40 neat? hmmm. and that I still need a current iPad to run it? grumble. I guess I'll be looking into that sooner than I was really wanting to. Especially if they're going to be releasing more content regularly (frakking drooling over 6th ed core rulebook as a digital book)

[demoric]

You don't need a "current" iPad. It works fine on a first gen iPad. I downloaded the sample and found it to be very nice, but I couldn't bring myself to buy it yet. Maybe once they have all the armies I need and 6th edition I will buy them. Hopefully it wil drop in price to $25-30. However the painting guide was reasonably priced.

[housecawdor]

Jun 2, 2012 13:42:27 GMT captainbirdbum said:

although i can see why gw and them have teamed up. they both are money grabbing monopolising corporations that care little for their own consumers.

I'm afraid I'm going to take the same cynical stance.
Although it does look good, and does seem pretty cool, I couldn't help noticing a few things from earlier comments.
It is more expensive than the regular codex, which is odd for an ibook (even factoring in the new stuff) - you can get most ibooks for 2/3 of the original price, and don't forget it'll only get more expensive as time goes on.
The advertisement of the stormtalon in coredump's video annoyed me slightly - maybe because I just don't like it, maybe because I see it as games workshop pushing the new model on us. I know that they've made the transition from small to large business, and that they're into making as much money as possible, but still...
Also, my recent paranoia about the decrease in age of gw's target market has caused me to look at some of gw's moves in a different light. To me, they now aim at (in my humble opinion) middle class 8-14 year olds, who have the money (well, their parents do) to buy this kind of thing, and will have an ipad. This annoys me, looking back at the 'good old days' (which I have not witnessed myself) of 1990-2005.
This heavy commercialisation of gw, slightly exploitative marketing and alienation of some of their target market leaves me cold to this release. Sorry about that :/
TL;DR Gw trying to make more money of people whilst alienating others.

[coredump]

Couple of other things to note.

While this is more expensive than a paper codex, it also does more. Yes if it was simply a digital copy of a current codex, I would expect a price drop.

In the UK, part of the price increase is VAT, which doesn't apply to the paper codex. In Australia, the ibook is actually cheaper than the paper codex.

This has much more than simply cross referencing hyperlinks. When you are looking at scouts and click on Infiltrate, it does not take you to that rule, it opens up a small window with the rule inside.

Unless GW stops making paper codices, this doesn't hurt anyone. If you have an iPad, and what it, you can get it. Otherwise nothing has changed for you.

I really don't think most middle class 12 yr olds have an iPad. Definitely not enough to target them as a market. This seems like something GW is aiming more towards the adult market.

[Illithid]

Jun 3, 2012 3:35:05 GMT coredump said:

In the UK, part of the price increase is VAT, which doesn't apply to the paper codex. In Australia, the ibook is actually cheaper than the paper codex.

This has much more than simply cross referencing hyperlinks. When you are looking at scouts and click on Infiltrate, it does not take you to that rule, it opens up a small window with the rule inside.

Unless GW stops making paper codices, this doesn't hurt anyone. If you have an iPad, and what it, you can get it. Otherwise nothing has changed for you.

I really don't think most middle class 12 yr olds have an iPad. Definitely not enough to target them as a market. This seems like something GW is aiming more towards the adult market.

Well written Coredump! I for one love a paper copy of everything I own, but am happy to see something cheaper in Australia for once.

I am not a 12-14 year old - in fact I am in my 30's and welcome the fact that they have caught up with the digital age. The fact is, this is the direction that most things are heading. Music is now bought often as singular songs (iTunes) instead of whole records, books can be bought in both formats.

Although GW may make money from this, they would have to be brain-dead to not tap into the technology side of things. I can carry around every codex and rule-book on what some have deemed a "clumsy" iPad OR I could carry around a few dozen codexs. I know what I will prefer to take to a tournament - and it is not the dozen codexes.

Digit format is the future. It will take time for people to adjust, but that is the direction that the world is heading at the moment - in 10 to 15 years, there will be a new format which will probably have the eBook generation up in arms, complaining about how they prefer their current iPads instead of the new device.

You can roll with the times or stick to the old - luckily, we have both options still in this day and age.

[housecawdor]

Don't take any notice of me, I'm just bitter that I don't have something to read this on .
I wonder if they'll keep releasing codices at this standard, they sort of have to now that they've released one. Coredump, if they are aiming this towards the adult market, why are they? Surely they could make more money using their resources to produce something for their much more numerous younger aged market.
btw, I admit I know next to nothing about economics, this is just my opinion.

[Hive Carnithrope]

NO WAY! Palpatine had a clone???

[Inquisitor Stingray]

Jun 2, 2012 14:57:57 GMT Voice of Reason said:

Yay more corporate hate across the internets.
You know why Emperor Palpatine was like "go ahead, strike me down and your journey to the Dark Side will be complete"? because he had a clone ready to transfer his body to - Luke's hate wasn't going to get Luke anything.

Well, while this is true, Palpatine did not succeed in replacing his body, since Carnor Jax among others sabotaged the Emperor's supply of clones.

*EDIT* That slightly irrelevant point aside, the idea of selling pdf (or similar) books of the codices is a great idea. Especially if they put so much effort into all of the army booklets.