The new Cover Disk - March 2007 (edit - April 2008 )

CranialBlaze · Post by **CranialBlaze** » 27 Mar 2008, 14:24

OK I'm probably the only person full of **** enough to actually moan about this but the new cardboard cover on the disk SUX.

I have borderline paranoid issues with touching the disk surface and i do understand the great expense difference between the new cardboard covers and the older very nice plastic covers, I'm sure the current exchange rate and ESKOM is not helping one bit, but can't we come to a mid range kinda satisfaction for all the paranoid freaks like myself out their??

Maybe have the cardboard thing open up or something with a little piece of prestic to hold the disk down or something, i am more than happy to go shopping to CD Wallets to store them in post purchasing of the cover.

Maybe a poll to help us decide, not that all the readers are actually registered here but the few thousand that are could give some accurate perspective??

I love the MAG and in no way will the new cover stop me from buying it but i just like sticking my finger in the circle and taking the disk out as nicely as possible, i know that statement sounds really weird.

Another Idea, make the cardboard a little bigger so when you pinch the edges it slides out easier??

Well thanks for reading, I am off to the shop to buy a new wallet assuming that my above ideas will probably get thrown out due to economical constraints.

Thanks again for the great MAG and do keep it up.

Edited topic title to reflect correct month and year... OnlyOne

marduke · Post by **marduke** » 27 Mar 2008, 14:40

You sure you're talking about the March cover disc? Maybe you meant the April cover disc? Because I'm sitting with the March cover disc in my hands & if mine eyes are not deceiving me it's in a slim-DVD case (the plastic one's you're talking about)

[edit]
erm, I'm confuzzled now, your title also says March 2007?? Methinks you made a mistake somewhere, or you be livin' in da past

Firestrm_ZA · Post by **Firestrm_ZA** » 27 Mar 2008, 14:41

WTF 8O the march issue came out with a plastic cover as it always has.... are you sure its pcformat and not NAG? or maybe the april issue

???

UrBaN · Post by **UrBaN** » 27 Mar 2008, 14:50

He means April 2008. I must agree, the Slim-line DVD covers ar 10x better. And, unless I'm mistaken, the price of the mag stayed the same?

WAJeff · Post by **WAJeff** » 27 Mar 2008, 14:53

Also realised this, I remember back in the day the CD's used to come in these cardboard cases
The slim line DVD boxes are much better!!

marduke · Post by **marduke** » 27 Mar 2008, 14:54

Not received my copy of April 2008 yet, will check out this new packaging Cranial mentions, will really suck if they changed it. I love the slimline-DVD covers, keeps my disc in mint condition

UrBaN · Post by **UrBaN** » 27 Mar 2008, 14:58

Not only mint condition, but if you stack them in order (like I do

) putting a cardboard slip in the pile, it gets consumed, never to be seen again

Website · Post by **hamin_aus** » 27 Mar 2008, 15:02

Meh.
I usually chuck the PCF disks away and use the nice covers to house my bootlegged pr0n DVD's.

Firestrm_ZA · Post by **Firestrm_ZA** » 27 Mar 2008, 15:05

jamin_za wrote:Meh.
I usually chuck the PCF disks away and use the nice covers to house my bootlegged pr0n DVD's.

:stupid:

pienkie · Post by **pienkie** » 27 Mar 2008, 15:08

jamin_za wrote:Meh.
I usually chuck the PCF disks away and use the nice covers to house my bootlegged pr0n DVD's.

Hahahaha, post of the day?

UrBaN · Post by **UrBaN** » 27 Mar 2008, 15:08

jamin_za wrote:Meh.
I usually chuck the PCF disks away and use the nice covers to house my bootlegged pr0n DVD's.

Jamin this thread is for all PCF readers, not just the sexually deprived ones

Vexo · Post by **Vexo** » 27 Mar 2008, 15:10

I also agree the old covers where much better.
btw My Alien Shooter 2 demo doesn't work anybody else have this problem ?

was looking forward to it

UrBaN · Post by **UrBaN** » 27 Mar 2008, 15:15

Works for me

and rocks! Looks awesome and plays awesomely on a Celeron 2GHz with 512MB DDR400 and a radeon 9250

feel the power

IcePick88 · Post by **IcePick88** » 27 Mar 2008, 15:20

I totally agree with Cranial. It really is a step down to the cover we were used to. I bought a CD wallet for all my dics, so I take them out, chuck the cover, and keep the cd in a pouch. Much easier and much more portable.

I must also comment, the contents of the DVD is not so jam packed like it has always been. And the same for the mag. [April issue]. I'm not dissing the mag, not at all, it is the best thing since sliced bread, but I guess they cannot satisfy everyone, so I will wait for the next issue. hahaha!

CranialBlaze · Post by **CranialBlaze** » 27 Mar 2008, 17:40

Hey you must all remember, it may be a step down on the disk coverage, but that was not my whole point, i at least studied business and i also run a business, so the point that was made earlier saying that the cover changed but the price didn't is true, but their alternative would be to leave the cove disk and change the price, and not to aid our wallets.

I don't think too much it's a bad idea from a business perspective if they want to keep the price of the mag as low as possible they have to cut cost in the least detrimental way to "US" the readers, they could of saved money in other ways, like firing someone keeping the nice disk and hence removing a section of the magazine, making it smaller, less feature full and then we would be complaining even more.

My suggestion is to simply think of a paranoid friendly cover that also fits the tight budget of todays South African market.

And hey, i found this months issue to be quite entertaining they have had better, but come one guys they tell us whats happening this is not some tabloid were they make up things as they go along, if they did, we would not be paying for it.

Personally i would not mind paying an extra rand for the nice cover but i am one person hence my suggestion to put it to a vote if 70%+ or whatever figure they deem to be the majority would prefer the old cover and be willing to cough up the extra dough then I'm sure they wont argue too much. At days end they gotta try and please everyone all at the same time.

We are all different and want different things so lets cut them some slack and see, maybe it gets put to the vote and maybe the price goes up, and we get our pretty disks, maybe the price stays the same and we invest the price difference in a decent wallet.

UrBaN · Post by **UrBaN** » 27 Mar 2008, 17:49

Valid points Cranial and I don't think anyone was disagreeing with you.

Personally, as much as I love ladies, If cutting the cover model would save production costs I'd happily see a game photo or similar on the cover - how often do you see the cover of the mag anyway? (Unless you're Jamin, but that's another story)

CranialBlaze · Post by **CranialBlaze** » 27 Mar 2008, 19:46

Woah, now lets not get too extreme, ok i actually agree with you.

Yet again the market comes into play, like you said game image, or lets take another example of say a new ram module. Take a moment too look @ the shelf were you buy your magazine (for those who actually don't have subscriptions), my store for example actually has a dedicated shelf for PCF they separate it from all the other mags.

But still, take a look @ the shelf and at a glance which one actually catches your eye?? If you removed the cover model and replaced it with the same idea every other magazine, it would look just like every other magazine and even though we all know its is not like every other magazine you gotta also think future the potential clients.

I do not remember the stats and please PCF correct me if i am wrong, but i remember a response to a female gamers letter in one issue possibly many years back were she asked why they always used female cover models, mildly implying the sexist nature considering there are female gamers too. PCF responded saying they had tried the non-female approach for one issue and had an amazingly high drop in sales and the demographic is that most "computer geeks" so to say are male and to buy a computer mag with a well built man on it was a bit of a no no.

For the unknown just at a glance without properly reading the name PCF could be classed int he same genre as FHM or GQ, but take a man and put it on the cover and all of a sudden homophobia kicks in and most guys just wont buy a mag with a "hot" man on the cover fearing silent ridicule from the person not actually reading the name of the magazine that is being purchased.

Sorry bout the long post but i really did study business and do have an intimate knowledge of why these things are being done.

Zana · Post by **Zana** » 27 Mar 2008, 20:19

I would be glad to render cover pictures

as employment....
You dont have to look for models to photo-shoot, since they exist in bits and bytes on disk...and close to the real thing.., personaly i dont find the models anoying or irritating, but dont unserstand what they got to do with computers, unless they "borg" or something. I liked the cover models with the metallic swimwear since it gave a techy effect to them.. perhaps you can draw or paint circuit diagrams, programming code, PC board patterns etc on there skins like body art or fake tattoos...

But i am upset to hear that the cover disks are kept in cardboard, alot more customers will be complaining about damaged disks...(since shop staff or postal staff realy toss the post hard), i had recieved disks from overseas from freinds, and they were in plastic cases, often opned the parcle where the cases had been converted to shards... fortunately the disks were fine... if they were in cardboard... the disks would have been in shards...But its all for the best to keep the price from changing to often , since hardly anyone can keep up with inflation... its worse if you unemployed, and do odd jobs... and the quicker the money goes for what less you can get out of what little money you earned...Eskom is going to cause alot more damage and price hikes from next week.

Love and hugs
Danielle
((^_^))

UrBaN · Post by **UrBaN** » 28 Mar 2008, 07:43

Well, seems to me we're all basically agreeing on the same point

I wasn't contesting that a female cover model is great

and yes, it is eye catching!

It was merely a suggestion of ONE way to cut costs. I'm sure there are others too, all of which would probably detract from the mag as a whole and draw complaints from some or other area. As you say, PCF have to try to satisfy everyone, which I'm sure is a difficult task.

Anyway, regardless of what the cover disk ships in, I'll buy the magazine as it's the contents that interests me - the cover disc has always been a handy add-on, but my PC is so cr@p these days I can't play most of what's on the disc

CranialBlaze · Post by **CranialBlaze** » 28 Mar 2008, 07:58

Guess it is time for an upgrade aint it??

UrBaN · Post by **UrBaN** » 28 Mar 2008, 08:14

Definitely...have to save though, hopefully by....December I'll have enough for what i NEED

CranialBlaze · Post by **CranialBlaze** » 28 Mar 2008, 10:14

I pretty much upgrade too often, my Dominator 1066 came yesterday now i need a new board, my board wont allow me to adjust my FSB so that i can utilize the full 1066 i can get the pair @ max of 1000, no real loss but i know that i can boost my CPU even further and still match the 1066 barrier if i get something decent, hoping for something like the asus p5n-d

UrBaN · Post by **UrBaN** » 28 Mar 2008, 10:26

What do you do with the old stuff? Assuming it isn't damaged, it may be a cheap route for me to go, upgradewise?

PM me if you have things to sell.

marduke · Post by **marduke** » 28 Mar 2008, 13:11

On my way to the post office to pick up my copy, & see what all the hoohaa is about

Firestrm_ZA · Post by **Firestrm_ZA** » 28 Mar 2008, 14:16

man this cardboard sleeve sucks balls...

but thankfully the hardware reviews kind of make up for it