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Edge #131 (UK) - Transformers Armada

Submitted by Zaph on

Transformers Armada in Edge #131, including the front and back covers, the inside cover and an eight page article with heaps of images.

Here's a shot of the cover, from the Edge publishers website:

http://www.futurenet.com/futureonline/magazines/em/images/131.gif

Submitted by Aven on Tue, 25/11/03 - 8:24 PM Permalink

I will of course get it, but Armada is the worst version of Transformers :( Give me G1 any day :)

Submitted by Fluffy CatFood on Tue, 25/11/03 - 10:20 PM Permalink

This game looks so good, shame I dont have a ps2 otherwise I'd snap it up in a second. I can only hope it comes to GC or PC in the future.

Submitted by souri on Wed, 26/11/03 - 12:20 AM Permalink

Yeh, I did manage to catch one episode of Armada one Saturday morning, and I can understand why a lot of G1 transformer fans (who are all grown up now) hate it.. too flashy and pokemon like.

The games however - the G1 Transformers game made by developers in Japan has been written off as pretty darn crappy, while Melbourne House's Armada game was described as the best in Atari's line up of new games. [:)] Oh, and that magazine shot looks awesome! Optimus looks pretty gritty. He needs some turtle wax! [:)]

Submitted by Red 5 on Wed, 26/11/03 - 1:33 AM Permalink

Wow that's a great looking render, extremely realistic looking metal texturing :)

Sorry to go O/T here, but speaking of Edge magazine, does anyone know if the Edge 'Equip' magazines are available in Australia? The issue I'm after is 'The insiders Guide to the future of Xbox'. I emailed the publisher a few weeks ago but have unfortunately had no response... I've been told this issue features some of my work so I'm quite eager to get my hands on a copy.

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Wed, 26/11/03 - 2:04 AM Permalink

I've got it - it's pretty good. If you can get it in NZ, you'll be able to get it in Aussie.

Submitted by Aven on Wed, 26/11/03 - 2:06 AM Permalink

They had them all down here in Canberra. I only bought the PC one though as that was the only one i was interested. The Civic Bus Interchange newsagent also had the Arcade Edge issues, but they sold out VERY quick. It's just a pity that IDN isn't as easy to get here in Canberra :(

Submitted by souri on Wed, 26/11/03 - 2:31 AM Permalink

iDN = International Designers Network magazine?

Submitted by Aven on Wed, 26/11/03 - 3:08 AM Permalink

That be the one Souri. I have only found one newsagent in Canberra who stocks it and they only do so every 6 months or so. Although there isn't a lot to the mag, it is great for showcasing up and coming artists/companies.

Submitted by Red 5 on Wed, 26/11/03 - 4:54 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by JonathanKerr

I've got it - it's pretty good. If you can get it in NZ, you'll be able to get it in Aussie.

Cool, I'll have a hunt around for it then... has it been out long?

Submitted by souri on Thu, 27/11/03 - 3:02 PM Permalink

I used to buy IDN magazine regularly, but after purchasing so many issues and finding nothing I'd consider relevant or even remotely interesting, I stopped buying it. They do try to cover all aspects of design like print, motion graphics, fine art, web, photography, 3d, short film etc so if you're not interested in every aspect of design (and it's a very large scope), you'll tend to skip a lot of pages..

Also, since it tries to cover the entire asia pacific area, there's often overseas student profiles (doing the same typography collages and stuff that I used to do when I was a student), design conferences in Asia, profiles of designers in, say, Shanghai etc most of which I don't really find that interesting..

Being a print magazine, they'd be a month or more behind on software reviews, trial software on the cd's etc. I think the breaking point came when I bought an issue strictly for the cd, but they had put the content in directories with "/" and other odd characters.. I'm guessing they compiled the cd on macs, and I'm sure you could view it fine on them, but it was impossible to retrieve anything on the cd with a PC.. so anyway, I sent a complaint off to their email address, and they sent some small design booklet as a form of compensation..

and that's my little rant on why I don't buy IDN magazine anymore in this Transformers Armada thread.. [:)]

Submitted by souri on Thu, 27/11/03 - 3:15 PM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Fluffy CatFood

This game looks so good, shame I dont have a ps2 otherwise I'd snap it up in a second. I can only hope it comes to GC or PC in the future.

Actually, that's an interesting question. Why doesn't Atari Melbourne House do ports of their titles, like Grand Prix Challenge and especially a title as popular as Transformers Armada is, over to other formats (PC, Gamecube, Xbox) ??
I know it's a numbers game with a multitude more PS2 units out there, but hey, if there's money to be made on other formats..

Submitted by Aven on Thu, 27/11/03 - 6:48 PM Permalink

Thanks for your view on iDN Souri. I have to admit that I never had any problem with their CDs, except for the fact that the movies were always horibly compressed :( I guess that I like design in most of it's forms, so the idea of a new angle for every issue didn't really bother me.

I have never understood the reason for having 'PS2 only' or 'Xbox exclusive'. My original idea was that they wanted exclusive titles to sell more of their console, but then I wondered why? If what I have learnt over the years is corect, then all of these big companies actually lose money off selling consoles and try to make it up with software. That is the reason why piracy is such a big issue and why games cost so much. So wouldn't you want to release games on other systems to help make more money off a game? If Sony just signed up say another new Capcom game, wouldn't they want to just try to become a publisher for it (even though Capcom are their own publisher), and publish it on all systems known?

Now back to Armada. I will pick up that EDGE the next time i see it (like I pick up most of their issues :P), and have a lookie at it. I love a lot of the transformers designs in it, its just that the cartoon is arse (although it may become better soon with Unicron appearing :D), and the toys are utter junk. Poor kids cartoons nowadays. They always seem to get the shaft somehow.

Posted by Zaph on

Transformers Armada in Edge #131, including the front and back covers, the inside cover and an eight page article with heaps of images.

Here's a shot of the cover, from the Edge publishers website:

http://www.futurenet.com/futureonline/magazines/em/images/131.gif


Submitted by Aven on Tue, 25/11/03 - 8:24 PM Permalink

I will of course get it, but Armada is the worst version of Transformers :( Give me G1 any day :)

Submitted by Fluffy CatFood on Tue, 25/11/03 - 10:20 PM Permalink

This game looks so good, shame I dont have a ps2 otherwise I'd snap it up in a second. I can only hope it comes to GC or PC in the future.

Submitted by souri on Wed, 26/11/03 - 12:20 AM Permalink

Yeh, I did manage to catch one episode of Armada one Saturday morning, and I can understand why a lot of G1 transformer fans (who are all grown up now) hate it.. too flashy and pokemon like.

The games however - the G1 Transformers game made by developers in Japan has been written off as pretty darn crappy, while Melbourne House's Armada game was described as the best in Atari's line up of new games. [:)] Oh, and that magazine shot looks awesome! Optimus looks pretty gritty. He needs some turtle wax! [:)]

Submitted by Red 5 on Wed, 26/11/03 - 1:33 AM Permalink

Wow that's a great looking render, extremely realistic looking metal texturing :)

Sorry to go O/T here, but speaking of Edge magazine, does anyone know if the Edge 'Equip' magazines are available in Australia? The issue I'm after is 'The insiders Guide to the future of Xbox'. I emailed the publisher a few weeks ago but have unfortunately had no response... I've been told this issue features some of my work so I'm quite eager to get my hands on a copy.

Submitted by JonathanKerr on Wed, 26/11/03 - 2:04 AM Permalink

I've got it - it's pretty good. If you can get it in NZ, you'll be able to get it in Aussie.

Submitted by Aven on Wed, 26/11/03 - 2:06 AM Permalink

They had them all down here in Canberra. I only bought the PC one though as that was the only one i was interested. The Civic Bus Interchange newsagent also had the Arcade Edge issues, but they sold out VERY quick. It's just a pity that IDN isn't as easy to get here in Canberra :(

Submitted by souri on Wed, 26/11/03 - 2:31 AM Permalink

iDN = International Designers Network magazine?

Submitted by Aven on Wed, 26/11/03 - 3:08 AM Permalink

That be the one Souri. I have only found one newsagent in Canberra who stocks it and they only do so every 6 months or so. Although there isn't a lot to the mag, it is great for showcasing up and coming artists/companies.

Submitted by Red 5 on Wed, 26/11/03 - 4:54 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by JonathanKerr

I've got it - it's pretty good. If you can get it in NZ, you'll be able to get it in Aussie.

Cool, I'll have a hunt around for it then... has it been out long?

Submitted by souri on Thu, 27/11/03 - 3:02 PM Permalink

I used to buy IDN magazine regularly, but after purchasing so many issues and finding nothing I'd consider relevant or even remotely interesting, I stopped buying it. They do try to cover all aspects of design like print, motion graphics, fine art, web, photography, 3d, short film etc so if you're not interested in every aspect of design (and it's a very large scope), you'll tend to skip a lot of pages..

Also, since it tries to cover the entire asia pacific area, there's often overseas student profiles (doing the same typography collages and stuff that I used to do when I was a student), design conferences in Asia, profiles of designers in, say, Shanghai etc most of which I don't really find that interesting..

Being a print magazine, they'd be a month or more behind on software reviews, trial software on the cd's etc. I think the breaking point came when I bought an issue strictly for the cd, but they had put the content in directories with "/" and other odd characters.. I'm guessing they compiled the cd on macs, and I'm sure you could view it fine on them, but it was impossible to retrieve anything on the cd with a PC.. so anyway, I sent a complaint off to their email address, and they sent some small design booklet as a form of compensation..

and that's my little rant on why I don't buy IDN magazine anymore in this Transformers Armada thread.. [:)]

Submitted by souri on Thu, 27/11/03 - 3:15 PM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Fluffy CatFood

This game looks so good, shame I dont have a ps2 otherwise I'd snap it up in a second. I can only hope it comes to GC or PC in the future.

Actually, that's an interesting question. Why doesn't Atari Melbourne House do ports of their titles, like Grand Prix Challenge and especially a title as popular as Transformers Armada is, over to other formats (PC, Gamecube, Xbox) ??
I know it's a numbers game with a multitude more PS2 units out there, but hey, if there's money to be made on other formats..

Submitted by Aven on Thu, 27/11/03 - 6:48 PM Permalink

Thanks for your view on iDN Souri. I have to admit that I never had any problem with their CDs, except for the fact that the movies were always horibly compressed :( I guess that I like design in most of it's forms, so the idea of a new angle for every issue didn't really bother me.

I have never understood the reason for having 'PS2 only' or 'Xbox exclusive'. My original idea was that they wanted exclusive titles to sell more of their console, but then I wondered why? If what I have learnt over the years is corect, then all of these big companies actually lose money off selling consoles and try to make it up with software. That is the reason why piracy is such a big issue and why games cost so much. So wouldn't you want to release games on other systems to help make more money off a game? If Sony just signed up say another new Capcom game, wouldn't they want to just try to become a publisher for it (even though Capcom are their own publisher), and publish it on all systems known?

Now back to Armada. I will pick up that EDGE the next time i see it (like I pick up most of their issues :P), and have a lookie at it. I love a lot of the transformers designs in it, its just that the cartoon is arse (although it may become better soon with Unicron appearing :D), and the toys are utter junk. Poor kids cartoons nowadays. They always seem to get the shaft somehow.