Issue 4
Standard Edition

£25

Issue 4 standard edition cover.

Issue 4
Special Edition

£40

Issue 4 special edition cover Issue 4 special edition cover.

APWOT returns with its fourth issue to open a lushly illustrated portal into the videogames industry and the people and culture that define it. Featuring an extensive interview with members of the Portal 2 team, Silent Hill creator Keiichirō Toyama, Dotemu and many more!

The special edition is of limited quantity and features a special die cut aperture on the cover, revealing another beautiful illustration by Molly Mondoza below.

magazine spread: text: can you save the dog?, and a collection of colourful cartoon creatures

Specs

  • 210 x 270 mm
  • Perfect bound
  • Litho print
  • Die cut aperture special edition with bonus art
  • Printed on 150 gsm Munken Lynx
  • 190 pages

In this issue

  • 13 years after its original release, Eric Wolpaw, Jay Pinkerton, Mike Morasky, Tejeev Kohli, David Sawyer, Ellen McLain, Joshua Weier, Richard Lord and Karen Prell from the Portal 2 team reflect on the iconic first person puzzler's development journey and long term legacy. An in-depth oral history of one of the most beloved games of all time.
  • Endless Scroll: How game studio Dotemu revived the beat 'em up genre for a new generation through titles like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge and Streets of Rage 4.
  • The elusive creator of Mega Man, Akira Kitamura, has contributed to this issue. After leaving the franchise 30 years ago, he reminisces about when he joined Capcom in 1985, and how Mega Man’s design was built around the hardware limitations of the time.
  • Will Freeman gives us an analysis of graffiti as an art form through the lens of its integration into games over the last two decades. Featuring interviews with Jet Set Radio’s Ryuta Ueda, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk’s Dion Koster, Concrete Genie’s Dominic Robilliard and more.
  • Safe Room: The Importance of the Videogame Sanctuary - Margaret Robertson explores the concept of the Save Room, a player's proverbial oasis in the digital desert.
magazine spread: oval framed illustration
magazine spread: red and blue gatefold with text: Stage 1 Punching Up, Stage 3 Street Smart

“As well as a fascinating read, A Profound Waste of Time is a beauty to flip through… It’s a relatively rare look at the creative side of an industry that, to most people, is still relatively opaque.”

Creative Review

magazine spread: Mega Man text and a cartoon angry older man with beard and papers
magazine spread: four graffiti-style gaming avatars
magazine spread: red, white and blue squirling graphics
magazine spread: graphics and text on the NES Power Glove
magazine spread: reptilian video game character