Issue 12
Issue 12
This is the most ambitious issue HomeStation Magazine has ever assembled.
Even HSM’s detractors must grudgingly admit one thing: that we pull down some amazing interviews and cover stories. Ralph Baer? Richard Garriott? James Arnold Taylor? In order, that’s the guy who invented the video game, the guy who invented the MMO game, and a Hollywood celebrity responsible for countless character voices in video games, TV shows and movies.
You know the old joke about people reading Playboy for the articles (which has some merit, as it’s a surprisingly academic publication)? Well, even the people who don’t like us end up reading HSM, simply because it delivers something unique and unmatched in the history of Home community media: daily long-form literary journalism that’s far and away superior to any amount of PR copypasta.
Content is king. Posturing and marketing have their place, but content trumps all. And, on this front, the three-way partnership between AlphaZone4, the HomeCast and HomeStation is without peer. And our magazine issues, which drive some of our highest visitor numbers, are HSM’s signature statement pieces.
In the past, however, HSM issues had one drawback: aside from the cover story, nearly all the content consisted of reprinted web articles. We simply chose what we thought was a cross-section of some of our finest work as a team and put a jaw-dropping cover story on it. And, in the early days of HomeStation, this was the best solution we could come up with.
Remember, no one’s tried anything like this before. Yes, there have been other attempts at Home magazines, and there are any number of Home blogs out there, but the HSM formula is a very demanding one: daily long-form articles (currently two to three per day), plus machinima, plus podcasts, plus magazine issues, plus contests — all held to a very high standard. In terms of word count, this team is producing the equivalent of a new novel about PlayStation Home every thirty days. And remember that this is an all-volunteer team, producing commercial levels of work purely for the fun of artistic expression and helping to deepen the Home enthusiast’s connection to this virtual world we all inhabit.
As a publication, we must continue to grow. Any endeavor, if it does not stretch and grow, withers and dies. And so, with this, our twelfth issue…we up the ante.
What you are about to read contains completely new and original stories that have never been published before. Every story in issue #12 — every single one — is one that’s never seen the light of day until now.
More importantly: every single story in issue #12, with the exception of a Q&A with a professional composer, is an interview with a Home developer. This is the first time that any Home media project has ever compiled, into one content release, so many new developer interviews.
What’s in issue #12?
- An interview with Lockwood and LOOT about female Home developers.
- An interview with Lockwood about Mercia.
- An interview with nDreams about Blueprint:Home.
- An interview with nDreams about their upcoming hoverchair, designed by HSM’s art director.
- An interview with VEEMEE about No Man’s Land.
- An interview with Hellfire Games about Home Tycoon.
- An interview with Juggernaut Games about MiniBots and how to build a Home shooter experience.
- An interview with Jamie Evans, a professional composer who’s also scoring HSM-branded machinima.
Assembling this issue was a very arduous and time-consuming process; it required one non-disclosure agreement after another, as most of these stories were assembled weeks or even months ago, before the content was even announced to anyone else. Hell, just to pull this shindig off, we had to first get clearance from SCEA Digital Platforms community management, PR and legal — who were all immensely supportive of our efforts, it must be said.
Further, this issue’s been a challenge because HSM’s Art Director, Managing Editor and I all suffered deaths in our respective families during the making of this issue. Deaths of loved ones who were very close to us. There has been no shortage of other real-world intrusions as well into the lives of those who bring HomeStation to life every day, but while this has caused delays for us with this issue…we endure. This team endures.
Issue #12 is a statement. It’s a statement to achieving something new in the Home community media scene, and a testament to the hard work and dedication of this team. When you crack open its pages for the first time, we think you’ll be quite amazed by what you see.
From all of us at the HomeStation, thank you for coming with us on this ride.
NorseGamer
Editor-in-Chief, HSM
Twitter: @HomeStationMag
…and he won’t even tell the rest of the HSM staff what’s in this next issue. He has been tormenting us for weeks!
And now you see the reason for the secrecy.
Very very very well done. nice layout/colours/articles. I`m not much of a magazine fan.But i actually enjoyed reading this. ty so much.
Bravo!
I am still reading. Excellent work to everyone. Very nice to see all these developers taking some time to give some of their own perspectives.
Excellent read!