PCF R42?

Ike · Post by **Ike** » 01 Feb 2008, 21:45

Am I the only one that noticed that pcf costs more? Is this just in my area?

No offense but each month I stand in front of the magazine rack and debate why I should buy pcf... It's thin and seems to be gaining more ad's in each edition... now with the extra R2 on top of that is the mag still worth it?

DarkRanger · Post by **DarkRanger** » 01 Feb 2008, 22:37

I don't buy the PCF anymore, because of that.

more adds, less SA work, more copying from uk, it's *****.

bootsie · Post by **bootsie** » 01 Feb 2008, 23:14

DarkRanger wrote:I don't buy the PCF anymore, because of that.

more adds, less SA work, more copying from uk, it's ****.

i have to agree with u--- adds adds adds
content is old or to new for sa
the price seems to much (must be the rand/dollar

)
the magazine loosing weight by the month, probly on a realy gud diet!!!

PureFire · Post by **PureFire** » 02 Feb 2008, 02:22

im prob gonna get flamed here...
i dont buy pcf anymore either. for a long time already, not just coz of the sudden price increase. yeah, its not much...
but the standard isnt what it used to be imho.

i started buying the much more expenxive uk edition...
but found that even there, i wasnt really getting my moneys worth.
so i went to the opposition.
though, to be honest, i also dont buy that as regularly anymore either.
i get my tech fix from the net now...
much cheaper, way more current!

one thing, im not saying nag is a better mag. but it is a better read with more editorial (and im excluding the other formats, im only concerned with pc stuff).

anyways... like i said, im not buying any tech mag anymore unless there is REALLY something that i havent read about on the net in some or other form.

Dust · Post by **Dust** » 02 Feb 2008, 07:36

Ya, i mean, that extra two rand will come in handy hey. You just cant go waste two rand like that. Just think if you could save that extra two rand a month hey, it'll be a wopping R24 a year! Just think of all the other goodies you could buy with that! Honestly though, I didn't even realise there was an increase in price.

GatsbyDyt · Post by **GatsbyDyt** » 02 Feb 2008, 08:11

Ive got the same feelings. . .unless the size of the mag increase im not gonna buy it. I mean I get thru the mag in like 30 mins. I know about the economics involved and the cost they have to cover and the exchange rate but I still cant justify spending R42 and a very thin mag.

Post by **Nab** » 02 Feb 2008, 11:52

Hey guys, this is by no means a justification of the price or me speaking on behalf of the company, but please understand that the UK brand and their content attract massive licensing fees. Due to print lead times we also walk a very fine line with regard to content age; if we are too early the mag feels foreign and if we are too late we get a beating from the web, but either way we will get complaints. It's not possible to replace all the UK content because in ZA we don't, for instance, have access to the game studios, news agencies, big industry players or 30 staff members that they do, so we love using their resources especially since we pay for them. We are however, trying very hard to add more local meat to all the mags and since the printing process requires page increments of 16 pages you will definitely know when we do(FYI, there hasn't been change in page count for some time). As editorial, we would love nothing more than an ad free mag but if we did print one it would definitely be our last. On a personal note I would also love to know why so many vehement haters of the magazine find it necessary to constantly berate us on our forums, we are more than willing to take criticism, we all read every letter and email we get from our readers and we always follow the reader survey results religiously. We are not some distant entity, we are right here and we listen. Stacey has been scared off these forums by the barrage of personal insults she received just for being female, Deon – who often drops everything even on deadline to give tech support – received similar treatment so you can guess how much argument there is for keeping the forums going in their minds. As a result, the readers who appreciate the mag and who we need to be close to us are now being distanced by a few trolls who think the only way to change anything is to extort us with threats of not buying the mag or by mocking us on our own forums.

cYcLIc · Post by **cYcLIc** » 02 Feb 2008, 12:05

Ads not Adds.

bootsie · Post by **bootsie** » 02 Feb 2008, 22:50

Nab wrote:...As a result, the readers who appreciate the mag and who we need to be close to us are now being distanced by a few trolls who think the only way to change anything is to extort us with threats of not buying the mag or by mocking us on our own forums.

Don’t think anyone threatening you guys, maybe you should view our comments as constructive criticism and make a positive attempt to make changes. Much of PC format is cut and paste from the net. It won’t be long before everyone else starts to notice this. We all use to buy the mag even though we had access to the net.

Post by **Stuart** » 02 Feb 2008, 22:54

bootsie wrote:Don’t think anyone threatening you guys, maybe you should view our comments as constructive criticism and make a positive attempt to make changes. Much of PC format is cut and paste from the net. It won’t be long before everyone else starts to notice this. We all use to buy the mag even though we had access to the net.

Whilst I think nab did sorta get the wrong end of the stick I do think it is quite difficult to take "I don't buy the mag any more because ..." as "constructive criticism" designed to help. In all honestly, how constructive can we really be if we don't even read the mag any more?

Post by **Nab** » 03 Feb 2008, 00:47

bootsie wrote:Much of PC format is cut and paste from the net. It won’t be long before everyone else starts to notice this. We all use to buy the mag even though we had access to the net.

Just to clarify, what you are saying is that the content was not on the net before and now we copy paste? I can't agree with that bootsie, we (PCF UK and ZA) do all our own reviews, features, guides etc. We use the internet very intensely for research and fact checking, but who doesn’t? While hardware and game reviews are admittedly a dime a dozen, I like to think it makes a difference where your reviews come from. A decent review is about more than just a product being evaluated, it should be entertaining at the least not to mention appealing to your specific readers. The mag is also more than reviews and is full of guides, exclusive editorial, local opinion, news and so much more that you won't see anywhere else because actual people work hard to make it.
When we ran a screenshot with a bunch of home-growns on a bf2142 server they went bananas. Why? Because print still means something, it can’t be edited on the fly and it can’t be deleted ad hoc, it’s permanent and because of that wide open to criticism. What you are saying is similar to accusing the Star of copying news24 because they ran the same news piece. What do you expect? I apologise because I am starting to whine a little but we work our asses off and it’s downright offensive to be told we copy paste.