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Nintendo Power to cease publication

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Nintendo Power to cease publication

Old 09-03-12, 09:51 AM
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Nintendo Power to cease publication

I saw this a couple days ago on Mashable:

It looks like Nintendo Power — one of the longest-running video game publications — is shutting down.

For more than 23 years the publication has offered monthly coverage of the Nintendo gaming ecosystem. In 2007, Nintendo stopped publishing the magazine and shifted responsibilities to Future Publishing.

As first reported by Ars Technica, the venerable brand is preparing to shut down after Nintendo and Future decided not to renew a publishing contract.

According to Ars Technica’s source, Nintendo seemed uninterested in taking over publication of the magazine themselves or in creating more digital initiatives to prolong the health of the brand.

Nintendo Power editors initially tweeted what looked to be confirmation of the magazine’s demise but those tweets have now been removed. Writers at Nintendo Power are reportedly being transitioned to other Future publications.

Nintendo Power is just the latest video game magazine to go out of print. In late 2011, GamePro ceased publication after 23 years. In 2009, Ziff Davis stopped publishing Electronic Gaming Monthly — although the magazine was revived by a different publisher in 2010.

If you were anything like me, large portions of your childhood were spent buried in the pages of the original Nintendo Power. I would spend hours pouring over each issue, reading about upcoming games and existing favorites. The first hundred issues or so are tucked away in my parent’s basement, living on as mementos of childhood I’m still unready to discard.
Here's a link to the Mashable article, which provides a link to the original article on Ars Technica:
http://mashable.com/2012/08/21/rip-nintendo-power/

Honestly I didn't know Nintendo power was still being published. I read it religiously in the mid and late 90s, but stopped paying attention to it around the time the GameCube came out since the only current Nintendo console I owned was the Game Boy Advance and I wasn't really that interested in anything Nintendo putting out (and at this point I was firmly in the PS2 camp).
Old 09-03-12, 09:57 AM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

Nintendo Power was an important part of my childhood. I still have the original Final Fantasy strategy guide issue floating around somewhere, along with lots of memories of carefully reading through each issue cover to cover.

Old 09-03-12, 01:01 PM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZtHsWV2t2kY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Old 09-03-12, 02:57 PM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

I wasn't that into Nintendo Power. I was more of an EGM and GameFan kid. Maybe it was because I didn't really get into videogame magazines until the early 90s, and at that point it wasn't all about Nintendo anymore.
Old 09-03-12, 04:07 PM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

Originally Posted by Drexl
I wasn't that into Nintendo Power. I was more of an EGM and GameFan kid. Maybe it was because I didn't really get into videogame magazines until the early 90s, and at that point it wasn't all about Nintendo anymore.
Same here.
Old 09-03-12, 05:51 PM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

Originally Posted by MoviePage
Nintendo Power was an important part of my childhood. I still have the original Final Fantasy strategy guide issue floating around somewhere, along with lots of memories of carefully reading through each issue cover to cover.

I think i have the same guide around here somewhere, but yeah a lot of good memories from my early childhood. Eventually I made the move to EGM like others, but my NES/SNES days always included memories of Nintendo Power.
Old 09-03-12, 07:38 PM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

I loved Nintendo Power. I spent a lot of time with each issue.
Old 09-04-12, 12:44 AM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

I remember putting the original foldout posters on my walls of games like Castlevania 2 for example. Man that was such an awesome magazine way back when. Between this and EGM I was good to go back in my middle/high schoold days growing up. I've looked at a Nintendo Power now and it just does not compare to back then.
Old 09-04-12, 05:18 AM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

Where will Howard Philips work now?

Old 09-04-12, 05:28 AM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

I never really read the magazine, though I had (and still have, though it's pretty ratty) the SNES Player's Guide. It's still sad that the magazine's going away. But I imagine that it's because you can find all the info online for free now.
Old 09-04-12, 03:53 PM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

Originally Posted by DGibFen
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZtHsWV2t2kY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
This one might be more appropriate:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LvCQ_SGcW84" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Old 09-04-12, 04:15 PM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

I started reading the precursor to Nintendo Power at an older friend's house, I believe it was called Nintendo Fun Club and was referenced in Mike Tyson's Punchout. Once it stopped he received Nintendo Power. I definitely enjoyed reading it, especially the counselor's corner segment that helped with tough spots on early games. I didn't subscribe myself though until they offered a copy of Dragon Warrior with it. I loved EGM once I started reading it but it was pre-dated by Nintendo Fun Club and I believe at least the first couple of issues of Nintendo Power. Can't say that I've read a copy in several years but I can appreciate the beginning.
Old 09-04-12, 06:23 PM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

Originally Posted by nickdawgy
Where will Howard Philips work now?

He left in '91...

I didn't know that Lamepro stopped last year. So the only ones left are store affiliated ones (Gamestop's and Best Buy's) and the PS3 and Xbox mags?

Nintendo Power was great back in the day, when it was the only system I owned and there was no internet. I picked up a free sub a few years ago, and was actually impressed because they were more independent than they used to be and would give critical reviews to 1st party games; plus they had some interviews with Japanese creators. But out of the three big companies, the sheer lack of output for the Wii helped to kill it... there would be months where I didn't even bother looking at the magazine because there were only a couple of games I was even interested in.
Old 09-04-12, 06:41 PM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

Originally Posted by fujishig
Nintendo Power was great back in the day, when it was the only system I owned and there was no internet. I picked up a free sub a few years ago, and was actually impressed because they were more independent than they used to be and would give critical reviews to 1st party games; plus they had some interviews with Japanese creators.
Yeah, videogame magazines were all lot better before the Internet came along and you could find everything online for free. I'm not saying that sarcastically; I really do think game magazines in the 90s seemed to be more in depth than they are now.

But out of the three big companies, the sheer lack of output for the Wii helped to kill it... there would be months where I didn't even bother looking at the magazine because there were only a couple of games I was even interested in.
This was my reasoning for dropping Nintendo power in the early 2000s except then it was because of the poor game output for the Gamecube (and at that point I was already in the PS2 boat and wasn't that interested in the Gamecube).
Old 09-04-12, 06:44 PM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

Yeah, for instance Next Generation had some really great, in-depth industry articles. There are probably still game journalists posting stuff like that online, maybe I just haven't found it (certainly there are a lot of great sites with historical views on the industry).
Old 09-04-12, 08:07 PM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

Originally Posted by fujishig
I didn't know that Lamepro stopped last year. So the only ones left are store affiliated ones (Gamestop's and Best Buy's) and the PS3 and Xbox mags?
Electronic Gaming Monthly came back early last year and is still around, albeit every other month (haven't changed the title though!).

I never had a sub to NP. A friend did along with GamePro and I would read his issues and he would read my EGM and Next Generation issues.
Old 09-06-12, 08:47 PM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

Originally Posted by big e
Yeah, videogame magazines were all lot better before the Internet came along and you could find everything online for free. I'm not saying that sarcastically; I really do think game magazines in the 90s seemed to be more in depth than they are now.
You're more right than you may know. When this was announced I decided to buy up a complete run of the early years (issues 1-77, basically 1988 through 1995) for nostalgia purposes. Flipping through the magazines, I'm amazed by the depth of this magazine. For starters, entire issues devoted to covering a single game (Super Mario Bros. 3, Ninja Gaiden II, and Final Fantasy, plus a couple of in-depth inserts for Super Mario Bros. 2 in issues 7-8). But just regular issues would have complete maps, detailed strategy, etc.

And then beyond that they had the comics and fan art and stuff. They were fun, and I say that not from nostalgia but from actually flipping through them recently.

The Internet has filled that void now with sites dedicated to games, but it's very fragmented. No site singlehandedly produces the quality content that Nintendo Power did in the early days of its run.
Old 09-07-12, 12:26 AM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

Originally Posted by fujishig
Yeah, for instance Next Generation had some really great, in-depth industry articles. There are probably still game journalists posting stuff like that online, maybe I just haven't found it (certainly there are a lot of great sites with historical views on the industry).
Hell. Yes. Next Gen was the best gaming magazine hands down. And I've heard there are articles like that out there these days, I haven't seen them myself though.

But back to Next Gen...if the game they reviewed got 5 stars...you make an effort to play that game, no matter the genre. It was usually pretty hard to get that rating. Here we have DVD Talk Collector's Series, which doesn't get handed out that often either, but Next Gen did it even more rarely.

Nintendo Power...well that hasn't been owned by Nintendo for years, so it has been "gone" for a while, at least for those of us who read it in the 90's....and I was a late comer, '97-03 or so.
Old 10-16-12, 06:15 PM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

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Old 10-16-12, 09:08 PM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

Wow, that was highly entertaining thanks for posting. It got me sidetracked for a while watching all the other Howard stuff from the 80s. Such nostalgia for me who as a young lad joined the nintendo fun club, calling the 800 number and talking to a live person to get through a tough part, and playing all those early games...mario, excite bike, kung fu, rad racer, mike tyson, double dragon, etc.
Old 11-29-12, 09:50 PM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

On the left: the final Nintendo Power cover. On the right: the first Nintendo Power cover. (From Kotaku)

Old 11-29-12, 10:14 PM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

That's pretty sweet. I've got a pretty nice collection of issues 2-around 100 I think? I just wanted to get the issues from NES through SNES or N64.
Old 11-29-12, 11:00 PM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

If anyone's bemoaning the loss of a Nintendo print magazine, Pure Nintendo has recently launched a print magazine of their own:
http://purenintendo.com/magazine/
Old 11-29-12, 11:34 PM
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Re: Nintendo Power to cease publication

Originally Posted by big e
Yeah, videogame magazines were all lot better before the Internet came along and you could find everything online for free. I'm not saying that sarcastically; I really do think game magazines in the 90s seemed to be more in depth than they are now.



This was my reasoning for dropping Nintendo power in the early 2000s except then it was because of the poor game output for the Gamecube (and at that point I was already in the PS2 boat and wasn't that interested in the Gamecube).

Pretty much every magazine I've ever read was better before the internet, especially Playboy. You pick up an issue from '92 and roll it up, you can bludgeon someone with it. The magazine is about a third the thickness as it used to be. You used to have 15 pages dedicated to movies books and music now it's a page. Content was a hell of a lot better too. I still miss Asa Baber and I'm pretty sure I first read about Hard Case Crime in Playboy. Great short fiction - first Palahniuck I ever read was in
Playboy.

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