As the winter season marks the ending of one year and an approaching fresh new one, likewise have two recent additions to the online world also marked the demise of one form of media, and heralded the birth of another. Well, maybe in not as drastic a measure as I imply. However, with the launch of AFK Magazine and GamerZines comes the strongest argument for their form of online media to date, while also possibly sledgehammering in that proverbial ‘nail in the coffin’ for traditional printed media. What makes this much more exciting is that this revolution is taking place in the world of gaming, something that many of us gamers heard from droning mothers ‘would never amount to anything’. Ahh, sweet vindication at last!

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Officially announced in October 2006, AFK Magazine is the newest online effort of Karmik Studios, who also created and host the online MMORPG radio station Split Infinity Radio. AFK Magazine will also follow suit, being primarily a digital magazine aimed at the MMORPG community, yet at the same time billing itself as a ‘Step Beyond Gaming’. If I may, it’s one small step for gaming, one giant leap towards the future of how people will soon receive and read, well, anything.

How so? I’m glad you asked. AFK Magazine opens up directly in your browser, for starters. Yep, no downloading nuthin’. Once at their website, clicking on the large View Magazine Now button opens up the full magazine right in your browser. It’s here that things get interesting, and you begin to realize how the times they are a’changin’. If reading webzines is new to you, no worries, just click on the Help tab above the magazine cover for a handy dandy tutorial and explanation of the features available. If you are not new, jump right into the intuitive clicking-and-dragging to open the magazine and start reading. Another tab titled Content will slide out a drop-down menu for easy access to a particular section within the digimags’ 130 pages.

Hey, where’s that music coming from?! Yes, that’s right, it’s coming from the digimag. Instant music to go along with my reading pleasure – wow! Now that’s groovy! Right now there’s only one tune that cycles through play, and it’s rather short. But the implications here are ear-opening. A magazine that comes with audio. Let that sink in for a moment. When you’ve heard enough, just click on the Music tab at top to turn it off.

The digimag also comes in two versions: one with low-res images for <gasp!> dial-up users, and one with hi-res images for the civilized world. One other very nice personal touch added is the graph zoom feature. Not sure what they call it, that’s just my name for it. Click on a certain paragraph or photo in any article, and the view zooms up close to and centers that paragraph or photo on the screen for better viewing. Another click unzooms the view back to the original position. Or, you can just use the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom in increments. Either way, totally far out.

Just one very minor item I found missing is the lack of hyperlinks. There are website URL’s listed throughout the digimag, on advertisements and in articles, but clicking on the text does not open that website up in my browser, as I expected. There’s also no way that I see to select, copy and paste URL’s from the digimag into the browser. I mean, c’mon, do you expect me to actually have to type in the URL? I’m a writer, for frak’s sake, and that’s so 1999. No, really, no worries there. I just bet, if the digimag is any indication of the publishers’ and editors’ state of mind, they are aware of and working on correcting this.

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