Blippar has turned ShortList magazine into the world’s first interactive game magazine cover using visual discovery and augmented reality, say the publishers.
Not content with just having an interactive cover, the partnership sees additional interactive content embedded throughout the magazine.
Top features in the magazine include:
• 20 greatest retro games feature, which readers can scan for free gaming apps allowing them to play the likes of Space Invaders and Outrun on their mobile devices.
• 2013 new games preview, which readers can scan for exclusive trailers for GTA V, Tomb Raider and more.
• Assassins Creed 3 feature, in which people can photograph themselves in the assassin’s hood.
• Renowned street artist Nick Gentry, who paints on old gaming discs, produced an exclusive painting for this issue worth thousands. Readers can scan the page to view a video of Nick creating the piece, and can also enter a draw to win the painting.
• The Playlist features an exclusive outtake from Alan Partridge’s new dvd, and an exclusive video of Ian Rankin reading the first chapter of his new book.
• An exclusive shoot with Ricky Hatton ahead of his return to the ring will give readers a chance to spar with Hatton.
Jess Butcher, CMO of Blippar commented: “We are so excited about this partnership – not only does it add new dimensions to the world of print media, but it’s never been done before. This is taking mobile visual discovery to a whole new level and will become a new way for print media to take back some of the readership that they have lost through the growth of the internet.”
Martin Robinson, Editor of ShortList commented: “We’d been planning a gaming special for ShortList which celebrated retro games as well as new releases, and thought it would make for an exciting magazine first if people could somehow ‘play’ our cover. Having seen Blippar’s work with sister title Stylist’s Olympic edition and recent Estée Lauder and Bailey’s cover wraps and ShortList’s Skyfall interactive commercial cover wrap, ShortList decided to partner with Blippar to achieve the world’s first playable gaming cover.”
Martin Robinson, continued: “In consultation with Blippar, ShortList have chosen to feature the 80s platform game classic Chuckie Egg on the cover, which readers can Blipp to then play the game instantly on their phones and tablets exactly as it appears on the issue. ShortList has excelled itself in making the entire issue interactive, with every story – gaming or non-gaming – having some kind of Blippable content.”
