Game Developer June/July Issue Gets Prophecy, In-Game Ads, Best Of E3

The latest issue of Game Developer magazine, the sister print publication to Gamasutra.com, and the leading U.S. trade publication for the video game industry, is in the process of shipping to subscribers and is available from the Game Developer Digital service in both subscription and a new single-issue formats. The cover feature for the June/July 2006 issue is an exclusive postmortem for Quantic Dream's critically acclaimed Indigo Prophecy, with exclusive art, described as follows: "On paper, pushing for increased emotion, original play concepts, and new methods of storytelling all in the same game sounds like the ravings of a madman." It continues: "Indigo Prophecy may not have hit all of these points perfectly, but it has blazed a trail of innovation, and raised the bar for the integration of story and gameplay. In this postmortem, David Cage tackles everything from narrative to digital puppetry, and tells us why changing publishers can save your game." An extended version of this feature will appear on Gamasutra in the future. In addition, the magazine features an in-depth 'State Of The Industry: In-Game Advertising' report, noting that advertising in games is a burgeoning way to add revenue to games, closely tied to licensing, but quickly growing beyond that age-old practice. In this industry overview, Paul Hyman discusses the major players and how they plan to put ads into your games. Finally, a technical feature focuses on the fact that the next generation of consoles all sport more RAM and better processing power, but the optical drives reading your discs may not keep up as you would expect. In this feature, Neversoft's lead programmer Brad Bulkley offers tips and tricks for streaming your way to a seamless game world. The issue is rounded out by regular news, code, art, audio, and design columns, as well as a 'Best of E3' round-up, product reviews and game art features. Worldwide paper-based subscriptions to Game Developer magazine are currently available at the official magazine website, and the new Game Developer Digital version of the issue is also now available, with the site offering six months and a year's subscriptions, alongside access to back issues, all for a reduced price. There is now also an opportunity to buy the digital version of June/July 2006's magazine as a single issue. Newsstand copies of the magazine will also shortly be available at North American outlets including Barnes & Noble and other specialty bookstores.