Project Lore

[caption id="attachment_9363" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The Official Maga, eh?"][/caption] One of the most unexpected things to come out of BlizzCon 2009 had to be the revelation of an official World of Warcraft magazine.  With many flavors of print media dieing off, magazines, newspapers, etc, the introduction of an all-new property was unexpected, to say the least.  I know quite a few people that outright laughed at the prospect of a new gaming magazine, let alone one dedicated to a single game.  But this is WoW we are talking about, and Future Publishing is banking on that. Even though most of my writing is of the digital sort, I maintain a soft spot for magazines, books, and newspaper.  There's something special about a presentation that isn't procedurally generated.  One that is designed, from scratch, to flesh out the meaning of an article or highlight the important details.  You also cannot deny the appeal of picking something up because the cover perked your interest.  How many times have you picked up your friends laptop from the coffee table because the Yahoo frontpage intrigued you? The very notion of an official WoW magazine intrigued me, so I hunted down Future's booth, signed up for a two-year commitment and scored a murloc plushie as a reward.  I then proceeded to chew Dan Amrich's ear off for more than an hour.  He was passionate about the project, and more than willing to talk to the public (or press) about the upcoming product.  To hear him tell it, the WoW magazine is to be a rebirth of gaming journalism, focusing on thenitty gritty aspects of this massive game with top notch production (thick glossy paper!) and writing.  It won't try to compete with the fast-paced Internet hubs like WoW.com, MMO -Champion.com or ProjectLore.com.  Instead the magazine is to leverage it's official connection to Blizzard, and a longer stewing time to produce pieces that would be interesting to any Warcraft lover.  The premium price of $69.95 for the two-year commitment also means that it will be ad free, although I honestly can't see it staying that way for long. Dan Amrich sold me.  I was pumped over the prospect of having something to read while I drop the kids off at the pool.  Then he left, bringing his talent full circle to Activision itself, and causing some concern. Future stated right away that the magazine was still coming, and has now made good on that promise with a lengthy preview (there is more content in the preview than most magazines have in total) and some attractive cover art.  It's doubtful that the inaugural issue will make it in 2009, but if the preview is anything to go by, Amrich's vision is still well intact. You will not be able to pick this bad boy up in newstands or your local Borders.  It is subscription only, just like WoW.