Magazines Are The Way To My Blackened Heart

My wife made my Tuesday by picking up an issue of Games TM for me, my favourite gaming magazine. Give me a magazine about anything and I'll be happy for hours. But when I get this one, I positively float. It's been documented. Somewhere, there is video. I like to get my magazines at the News Depot here in London. It's a rare and dying beast of a story, a lonely unicorn of business. If you're ever in London, and you like words on a page, make a point of visiting. In this current climate of downloads and online magazines, I'm not sure how much longer it will be around. Perhaps in an attempt to get people to actually buy a magazine, this issue of Games TM took an approach I hadn't seen before. It was encased in cardboard. I've seen the plastic bag approach, but never an actual box. I wondered about that. Is there a psychological barrier there? While many people don't mind tearing open a plastic bag on a magazine they have no intention of buying, does a bit of cardboard with an art design deter them? Does it deter enough people? Will other magazines adopt this approach? Will magazines one day come with a bio-lock that will only open once it determines you can read and know what a dictionary is? One can hope.