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Post by The Qu on Aug 21, 2012 14:13:48 GMT -5
Rest in piece, my friend. You've had a good run, but your time in the sun is over.I'm kinda bummed about this, even though I haven't had a sub to Nintendo Power since 2005 or so. But it's part of the Nintendo Fandom, you know? Plus, it was one of the only magazines still around. I think Game Informer is the only one left. EGM and Game Pro have died. I think the Official Playstation is still around? Kinda hoped Nintendo Power would outlive that one.
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Post by Nester the Lark on Aug 21, 2012 15:44:33 GMT -5
Nintendo Power was such a great part of my childhood. There was no Internet back then (at least, not for common folk), so print magazines were how we got the latest gaming news. I looked forward to NP each month, and always read it cover-to-cover. Pouring over the maps was like the print version of a YouTube longplay. And of course, there was Nester, whom I was obviously a big fan of, and have since thoroughly adopted as my online persona. And now it follows GamePro into the classic gaming magazine graveyard. Perhaps even more disheartening, tho, is that this represents Nintendo's continuance of severing any direct connection with its fans. No official Nintendo forums. No official Nintendo magazine. No official Nintendo community. Then again, this place was always better than the official forums anyway. RIP Nintendo Power. Viva la NinDB! 
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Post by Fryguy64 on Aug 21, 2012 18:50:17 GMT -5
Obviously Nintendo Power was never released in the UK. Instead we got a string of Official Nintendo Magazines, although one has to wonder how much life is left in ANY print medium any more.
Sales figures for magazines across the board are about on a par with cassette tapes. The strangest thing is just how much prominence they're still given.
It sucks for the team, of course, and I hope they all find roles elsewhere, doing what they love. I may not have read the magazine, but its influence is certainly felt across the videogame magazine industry worldwide.
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Post by Da Robot on Aug 21, 2012 19:10:57 GMT -5
Never read it obvisoly but it's sad to hear that it's going to end. At least it ends with a "planned" final issue instead of just cutting out and ending. Next month a massive Wii U exlcusi . . . Oh shit we're canceled now you're never gonna know!From the sounds of it, sources are saying they still had trouble with getting info out of Nintendo. Which is pretty screwed up. "But our source says that Nintendo, which was always "difficult to work with," was uninterested in renewing that contract or in taking part in a number of digital initiatives that Future saw as necessary for the long-term health of the brand. He added that Nintendo doesn't seem interested in taking over direct control of the magazine again"(Nintendo and Future representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story). Perhaps even more disheartening, tho, is that this represents Nintendo's continuance of severing any direct connection with its fans. No official Nintendo forums. No official Nintendo magazine. No official Nintendo community. They do all this and yet they end up doing a 180 (or possibly a 270 since it's taken them this long) and create the whole MiiVerse online infrastructure thing for Wii U. Nintendo can be so random at times, unless there goal was cutting costs from multiple (North American) community aspects and than focusing all on this online MiiVerse (hopefully worldwide) for the future. AVGN NP video. |
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Post by kirbychu on Aug 22, 2012 7:31:58 GMT -5
Perhaps even more disheartening, tho, is that this represents Nintendo's continuance of severing any direct connection with its fans. No official Nintendo forums. No official Nintendo magazine. No official Nintendo community. From what I've read over the last couple of days, it sounds as though Nintendo haven't had much (if anything) to do with Nintendo Power since they sold it off to Future Publishing in 2007, anyway... It's sad, but honestly I'm surprised gaming magazines are still around at all. I don't know anybody who still buys them... all the news published in them usually finds its way to the internet at least a month before the magazine hits shelves (or, if they have magazine exclusives, the moment somebody gets their copy early), and what gamers aren't using the internet these days? |
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Post by Nester the Lark on Aug 22, 2012 12:17:15 GMT -5
From what I've read over the last couple of days, it sounds as though Nintendo haven't had much (if anything) to do with Nintendo Power since they sold it off to Future Publishing in 2007, anyway... True, but what I meant was how Nintendo is increasing its distance to its fans. Back in the late '90s and early '00s, Nintendo had a very active official fan community. Perhaps even one of the first of its kind on the Internet. They had forums, a chat room (with game counselors in it), and a website with contests and a Q&A column with Dan Owsen. They even had an online summer camp called Camp Hyrule. And does anyone else remember the Luminoth Temple? (Or am I still not supposed to talk about that?) We see similar communities today with Capcom-unity and Sega's official forums, but Nintendo? They've gone completely the other way. No more chat room, no more forums (aside from tech support, which doesn't even have tech support staff in it), and their website kinda sucks. Even their official Twitter and Facebook pages feel closed off. Good luck getting them to respond to comments or inquiries. I've had other game companies reply to my tweets, but tweeting at Nintendo is like talking to a brick wall. It's interesting. They once mentioned something about not being able to respond, which suggests that it's some kind of policy. Seems like a strange stance to take. Anyway, that kinda turned into a rant. Sorry about that. But it's like Nintendo Power was the first official Nintendo fan community. It was the brainchild of Minoru Arakawa who wanted to nurture that community. So, the end of the magazine feels like the final end to that era. |
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Post by mrmolecule on Aug 22, 2012 12:40:46 GMT -5
They used to have a massive online game database with full release dates for everything, tips, a description of the game, tons of screenshots...that all disappeared around 2007. They had even announced that the Game Line was being cut but all the information would be released shortly. That never happened.
Nintendo Power redid itself in 2005 and was a cool magazine again, but it slowly went downhill more and more. The Future changeover obliterated the contests (where 3rd Prize was always a T-shirt), the posters, and more.
The cancellation of the Nintendo Player's Guide was a blow. They were always so much better than the Prima ones.
I grew unimpressed with the Wii (and wasn't excited about the Wii U), but the loss of Nintendo Power definitely seems to end the whole Nintendo era as a whole.
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Post by The Qu on Aug 22, 2012 15:11:46 GMT -5
Man, I loved the merch NP gave out. Everyone knows the posters. A local retro shop is literally wallpapered in dozens of them. Battletoads, Super Face Ball 3D, Megaman 2 & 3, Super Mario RPG. I myself have the Metroid Prime 2 and Mario RPG ones up.
Then there were the other extras. The official soundtracks, like Jungle Jams for DKC, or the Melee symphony. The t-shirts- I've got a Twilight Princess one from the contest. The comics. Remember Super Mario Adventures?
This definitely ends an era of Nintendo.
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Post by Da Robot on Aug 22, 2012 16:42:38 GMT -5
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Post by Nester the Lark on Aug 22, 2012 17:54:34 GMT -5
Here's an old commercial for NP that I remember seeing a lot. It's so early '90s!
And here's the Angry Video Game Nerd's parody of it:
And now that song will be stuck in my head for the rest of the day....
♪ Get the power... Nintendo Power... ♪
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Post by Da Robot on Aug 30, 2012 17:35:53 GMT -5
Two former staff members (Jason and Jenni) talk about their days working on NP as well as a bunch of other NP staffers.
Nintendo Power Staffers rememberPaul Shinoda, Writer Working from notes from Japan, I cited Falco’s last name as “Lombardi” in the Star Fox 64 player’s guide. I got it wrong. It was supposed to be “Rambaldi,” after Carlo Rambaldi, Italian sfx artist, whom Miyamoto admired. It appeared as “Lombardi” in official U.S. publications for YEARS.
Nate Bihldorff, Writer Anyone who ever worked the Player’s Pulse pages remembers those giant bins of letters that arrived every month. It always blew my mind seeing those stacks, and whenever I felt burned out, opening a few letters would remind me of how it felt to be a kid with a new Nintendo game. While we all tended to write for as broad an audience as possible, in my mind, I was always writing for my ten-year old self that would have been writing those same letters—trying to reach back across the years to make that kid smile. |
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Post by kirbychu on Aug 30, 2012 17:39:48 GMT -5
Paul Shinoda, Writer Working from notes from Japan, I cited Falco’s last name as “Lombardi” in the Star Fox 64 player’s guide. I got it wrong. It was supposed to be “Rambaldi,” after Carlo Rambaldi, Italian sfx artist, whom Miyamoto admired. It appeared as “Lombardi” in official U.S. publications for YEARS.
Wait, don't they use Lombardi officially in the games now? This guy's mistake has become canon! XD |
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Post by nocturnal YL on Sept 7, 2012 12:22:44 GMT -5
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Post by Nester the Lark on Sept 7, 2012 12:28:47 GMT -5
^ Awesome! ;D Howard Phillips (the real one) actually posted on his Facebook page a special Howard & Nester comic that the staff of NP made especially for him as a going away present. You can read it here. |
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Post by Arcadenik on Sept 8, 2012 7:55:51 GMT -5
I miss Super Mario Adventures and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past comics.
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