Matthews Simmons Marketing has announced the launch of Games Quarterly Magazine, a promotional magazine, which will be distributed free to retailers to give away.  Most of the content of the magazine will be 'advertorial' and display ads supplied by the advertising manufacturers, interspersed with occasional articles from industry notables such as Marcelo Figueroa, John Kaufeld, Kenneth Hite, Peter Adkison, and Peter Wacks and cartoons from John Kovalic and Magic the Gathering artist Dan Frazier.  The magazine will carry a 'cover price' of $3.95 for perceived value, but will be available free to retailers, who can order from their game distributors.  The first full color, 64-page, 8.5' x 11' Games Quarterly Magazine has an on-sale date of April 30.

MSM is shooting for a circulation of 85,000 with 49,000 copies shipped to retailers via distributors, 10,000 mailed directly to stores, and 26,000 mailed directly to top game consumers registered with GenCon and GAMA.