P4 on cover of new issue of Play Magazine

[Sseklebeast]

I did not get a chance to look at it but I saw the newest issue of Play at Barnes and Noble and they claim to have the first review of SMT Persona 4. I'm sure they gave it a good review and I wanted to let you fine peeps know. :) Can't wait for it to come in the mail.

[shidoshi]

http://www.playmagazine.com/megaten/images/p4cover.jpg

Man... you beat me to posting about this. *heh* This is Eric (from Play), the guy who did this cover story. In case you aren't familiar with me, I've been a long-time Persona fan, from back in my GameFan days when I helped on the official Persona strategy guide, to creating and launching the first-ever English language Persona fansite (the Velvet Room), to having Persona 3 FES be the only 10 I've ever given in Play.

I say all of that just so that people know where I'm coming from in doing this cover story. I fought hard to get Persona 4 to be our December cover story, and doing what I did for it meant a lot to me, both because it was about a game series I really care about, and also because it was my first cover story ever for Play. It was really important to me that I try to put together something that would be worth reading, and hopefully I've done that.

What will you find in the issue? Almost 8,500 written words about the Shin Megami Tensei universe, consisting of: my three-page review for the North American version of Persona 4, three exclusive interviews with director / producer Katsura Hashino, art director Shigenori Soejima, and composer Shoji Meguro, and a special Q&A with Aeria Games about their English release of Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine Online. The interviews are obviously great, and I (along with fellow Persona fan Dai Kohama from our play japan section) tried to hopefully ask questions that MegaTen fans would want to have asked. I also, however, put a lot of heart into the review: it's not at all your typical list of the good and bad of the game, but more a look at my experience with it coming not only as a Persona fan, but somebody who absolutely fell in love with Persona 3.

Even with ten pages dedicated to this "Shin Megami Tensei special," I didn't have enough room, so we're also running some bonus content on our website, including answers from the three interviews that couldn't fit into the mag, a brief history of the Persona series (nothing I'm sure none of you around here don't know, but you know), and a special contest that we're running in conjunction with Atlus. We're going to be awarding a full 30 prizes, so be sure to check out this extra stuff at http://playmagazine.com/megaten.

Obviously, anybody who works for a magazine wants you to buy said magazine, and I'd love to have some (all) of you pick it up and check it out. Doing this Persona 4 cover story really meant a lot to me, so this isn't at all a case of a game getting on the cover simply because it's the hot new thing or it'll sell a lot of copies. So, if you pick up the issue to check out my Persona 4 stuff, hopefully you'll feel it was worth your time.

[unknown]

The cover art looks awesome, I've never seen that piece of P4 artwork before.

Going to pick up a copy when I can...

[Sei]

^ I agree.

It's always nice to have someone that truly cares and has followed the series writing these things. I was a big fan of Gamefan, and I adquired the first game partly on its coverage in the magazine.

I'll make sure and keep an eye out for it. I just have one question.

What did you think about P4, in anywhere between 1 and 8500 letters? I'd prefer a well reasoned analysis instead of a list of good and bad, also, no spoilers please :)

I kid!.

[shidoshi]

The cover art looks awesome, I've never seen that piece of P4 artwork before.

Soejima was kind enough to do it custom for us.

What did you think about P4, in anywhere between 1 and 8500 letters? I'd prefer a well reasoned analysis instead of a list of good and bad, also, no spoilers please :)

Part of my review was writing about the struggle I had getting over P3. I really, really loved P3, and that love kind of clouded my opinions of P4 at first, and was a bit of hard thing to get over.

I think, when looking at things rationally, P4 is the better game, for a variety of reasons. (And if you want to know those reasons, buy the issue! *heh*) But I think it's going to be very hard for some people to "allow" P4 to be a better game than P3, just like I had trouble doing at first. And, I'll be honest: there is a piece of me that argues with the rest of me and says that P3 was the better game, but I know that some of that comes from knowing what to expect from P4, where I didn't when I first played P3 (and thus it had a bigger overall impact on me).

[Sei]

That's awesome, It's a beautiful piece. I've noticed a lot of cool art on Play's cover, by the way, is it usually custom?. Kind of a tangent, but what happened with Monitaur, still around?

[shidoshi]

Funny story - Monitaur still lives on in the pages of Hardcore Gamer. That magazine started as a kind of revival of GameFan, from one of the guy who runs Double Jump Books (Tim, somebody who was around at the very beginning of GameFan, but wasn't there for long enough or a big enough face for anybody to really remember him). There was a big thread about the history of GameFan on another message forum, where a lot of ex-GF folks were showing up, and he said that he had been wanting to try to get a new mag off of the ground, and finally decided to do so.

A number of other ex-GF staffers were going to be part of the mag (myself included), but then dropped out before the first issue was started. Who really "owned" certain aspects of GameFan was a bit of a touchy subject, but he went ahead and brought Monitaur back from the dead for the mag.

As for the covers, I think we try to get custom art when possible, but it isn't always the case.

[sora4126]

Wooow... I want that magazine art on my wall. XD

I so wanna get a copy of this magazine, good thing I have a bit of downtime tomorrow. Too bad bad I'm out of money. :very_sad:

[Sseklebeast]

Man... you beat me to posting about this. *heh*

Doh! Sorry, I did not see a thread about it so I figured I'd start one. The cover does look awesome though! :D

[Enzo_Kensei]

Eric L. Patterson! I knew it. I thought I'm familiar with that name and now I finally remembered. I read your review about the Persona 3 FES if it's worth the upgrade, If I'm not mistaken, it was you who gave the game a 10 out 10. I couldn't quite believe it. But I said to my self before buying it, (Eric I believe in your review) and guess what, Persona 3 FES really rocked my summer. Looking forward for your review on Persona 4. I'm getting it soon. The cover is awesome. :)

[Skyrocket]

Man, the stores around here only have the November issue. :(

[sora4126]

http://playmagazine.com/megaten

That contest on the site doesn't have an age selection for 18. It says "Under 18" And then goes to "19 to 24". I see how it is, more people are plotting against me! : paranoid :

[Crabman]

So buying this edition of the magazine!

[SickleCellAnemia]

So buying this edition of the magazine!
Id buy it for the Valkyria Chronicles poster.

[unknown]

^I just noticed that.

[StrikeRaider]

Oh man I must be tripping. I had a dream like that once. Same pose with the sword and the card. No awesome persona though.

Sexy piece of artwork huzzah!

[shidoshi]

That contest on the site doesn't have an age selection for 18. It says "Under 18" And then goes to "19 to 24". I see how it is, more people are plotting against me! : paranoid :

Ah, the little things one overlooks. I'll get that fixed, and don't worry, your entry will go through just fine.

[frequency]

I don't really buy printed press myself (besides the paper... but that's different!), but I'm definitely picking this up if I see it at a newstand. Very beautiful cover. And Valkyria Chronicles AND Metal Slug posters. That's way too much prettiness to turn down.

[Mokkun]

Great job shidoshi on the play magazine for persona 4 I liked the ps3 articles too and very nice cover for this one.

Play magazine is my favorite video game magazine out there well worth subscriptions for this stuff it's such a nice quality magazine which I hope will be around for a long time. =)

[Nightrayne13x]

Hey shidoshi :)

I saw "on the other site" where someone pretty much copied word by word your entire work for all to view (and thus not really appreciating your work and efforts and is kinda chitty). I saw that you posted there also about it (at least I think it was you since you made all the right references indicating so) and gonna follow up with a post (nightwind) and try to get his complete plagiarized topic removed...

That being said, I never really heard of play magazine before (though I have not been in the magazine trend for a long while). Having a gaming magazine step up to do a huge cover of persona 4 already won me over though :) I'll be picking up the magazine ASAP!

Thanks again for your efforts of making this happen. It makes the P4 experience all the more sweeter :)


*edit* He deleted all the topics with your copied work and then locked the topic. Nothing to worry about anymore.

[Saburo Hikari]

I don't really buy printed press myself (besides the paper... but that's different!), but I'm definitely picking this up if I see it at a newstand. Very beautiful cover. And Valkyria Chronicles AND Metal Slug posters. That's way too much prettiness to turn down.Agreed. P4 AND Valkyria Chronicles AND Metal Slug goodies makes this magazine a must have for me! Hope it's at Barnes & Noble or Gamestop...

[Luna]

I'll be getting a copy at barnes & Noble

Tell ya what I think when I get it =D

[Airu]

Hey Eric =) thanks for the indepth review. I want to buy the magazine really =3 but I'm afraid it might contain some spoilers.
'Cause I tried very hard over the past months to avoid all spoilers, and fortunately 'till now, I only know off some of the main characters of the game (mostly 'cause they're printed on the game's box).

Add to that, the fact that I have to import it from somewhere =( So I need to know if the review contains any major -or minor xP- spoilers ^_^

[Kakizaki]

Shidoshi, maybe you can help me out with this then as it has been bugging me for years...In a mid 96 issue of GF, the one with Soul Edge on the cover, there is a nice little one pager about Devil Summoner (I believe Casey wrote the article) making it to the U.S. What the heck ever happened with this and how close was it?

[XenoAcid]

PLAY and Persona 4
http://kotaku.com/5097767/is-this-the-last-ps2-game-magazine-cover

[onlylunch2]

Heyhey! I just bought and read the magazine. The article was amazing and very well done. It was the equivalent of a 5 course meal, so my P4 craving has been satisfied until the release date! I hope you will write an article in another play magazine when P5 makes its appearance.

For all of you who read this thread but havent/dont want to buy the magazine: DO IT! The article is nice and long, has lots of information, spoilers are at an absolute minimum (i admit theres a few, but they are minor and the game is 2 weeks away from release), and theres a ton of other information about other great games that are out or coming up. So in short, I REJECT YOUR OPINIONS AND REPLACE IT WITH MY OWN!! the magazine is worth the 9$ and if your too cheap to spend that, then you dont deserve P4 :P

jk, buy P4 you damn fanboy/fangirl XD

[Skyrocket]

I was finally able to score a copy at Borders today. :)

[onlylunch2]

goood, gooood. everything is going according to plan...

[Olethros]

^ Huh? (I get the reference, I just don't get it's usage here).

[Birdpoopman]

Although this has little to do with the cover story, I thought it would be worth noting that Play Magazine has a contest going on right now. The winner of the contest will receive:
- A copy of Persona 4
- One Social Link expansion pack
- One North American art book
- A copy of the limited edition reprinting of Persona 2

The link to enter the contest can be found here: http://playmagazine.com/index.php?fuseaction=SiteMain.Megaten&submit=1

:)

[whitesquall86]

hi i was just wondering if persona 4 is coming to new zealand?

[onlylunch2]

no idea, buy from internet and have it shipped. problem solved.

[Enzo_Kensei]

Or your local gaming store might ship some Persona 4's. Just visit there, once in a while.

[shidoshi]

Although this has little to do with the cover story, I thought it would be worth noting that Play Magazine has a contest going on right now. The winner of the contest will receive:
- A copy of Persona 4
- One Social Link expansion pack
- One North American art book
- A copy of the limited edition reprinting of Persona 2

The link to enter the contest can be found here: http://playmagazine.com/index.php?fuseaction=SiteMain.Megaten&submit=1

:)

Actually, that has a LOT to do with the cover story, as it's part of the "bonus content" to go along with the magazine stuff.

And, just to be clear... the winner doesn't get all of that. There are 30 winners in all, and you'll win either P4 + the Social Link pack + NA art book, OR a copy of Persona 2, OR a copy of the import P4 art book.

[unknown]

I want that copy of the import P4 art book or a copy of P2.

[cj iwakura]

Funny how the second prize is easily the best(re: rarest) one.

[dunno001]

Second prize is also the one I want. I've got everything on order for the grand prize (nor do I plan on waiting for January), I already own a copy of P2, but the artbook... mmm... the artbook... *looks up* I'm going to need another shelving unit for them soon... but P4's more than reason enough to want it!

[cj iwakura]

The interviews are great.

[THEWINE]

no idea, buy from internet and have it shipped. problem solved.

Is New Zealand an NTSC or PAL region? I thought it was PAL.

[onlylunch2]

it is pal i believe, but i mean buy a NTSC ps2 and have it shipped with p4 so you dont have to wait for pal release

[Azure_Tai]

I'm new to the Persona games but i quickly began a fan of this series, and I'm looking forward to buying P4 in December, btw how much is the magazine because i really want to read the review.

[onlylunch2]

its 9-11 $ CND so around there. and do it, i read the article and its really worth your time. the magazine itself has a ton of other interesting articles.

EDIT im relatively new to persona as well, i started at P3

[Azure_Tai]

Thx, and i cant wait to get my hands on the magazine and read it

[unknown]

What does the Valkyria Poster look like?

[onlylunch2]

truth be told i havent looked at it yet

[Sei]

I love your sig picture, it's quite cute!

[Enzo_Kensei]

I love your sig picture, it's quite cute!

I agree. :)

[onlylunch2]

thanks, 11 more days folks!

[Enzo_Kensei]

Never been this fast! hehe... I'll be playing Persona 4 most of the time in my vacation. :D