Nintendo Power Shuts Down Afther 24 Years

[TR0N]

http://www.news.yahoo.com/rip-nintendo-power-magazine-shutting-down-24-years-182014659.html

It's not a surprise to me since i've heard the rumor for awhile now.I'd say during the nes era is when i really use to read the magazine.Back then there was no gamefaqs etc,so nintendo power was great for walkthrough and codes.

[bartre]

Sad face, I loved N64 era NP, even if the letters to the editor section was always kinda snippy.

[Bernie]

Good riddance.   The magazine had went to shit anyway.  I stopped renewing a few years ago.

[TheClash603]

When I was a kid I loved reading EGM, the magazine was great.  Choice number two would maybe be Gamepro, though there was a noticeable drop in quality between the two.  Choice three would be a flavor of the moment magazine, maybe a Game Fan.

...then at the bottom of the list was Nintendo power.  What a horrible magazine.  Codes and strategies aside, it was written even too poorly for me when I was 7.  I recently picked up an issue to check it out and it was still pretty weak.

It is more sad to see this magazine disappear, not because of Nintendo Power, but rather do to the trend of magazines going away in general.

[Nando]

The one thing I recall from those mags were all the art they used to include, FROM JAPAN no less. But that was way back, no idea what the magazine was up to now. Seems Bernie nailed one of the reasons they are shutting down.

You would think they would shift to digital distribution to the Wii/Dsi and I imagine the 3DS. Built in advertising for all their stuff, with instant delivery.

[wilykat]

I was one of the original NP subscriber when they replaced Fun Club with NP back in '88 and I still have the first 100 or so issues.

They went downhill probably around the time WWW was "invented" by Al Gore and I haven't had any subscription with them since then.  Sad to see them go though but they didn't age well.

[futureman2000]

I recall hearing that they had outsourced production of the magazine a few years ago? Probably not, or more people would be talking about that. And, Nintendo Power was pretty much required reading back in the NES days. Not that it was written well, but the screenshot maps were the shit. I haven't seen an issue since 1990 or so probably.

[Mishran]

I haven't looked in a Nintendo Power mag in 20+ years so I'm not hurt by decision. Had some cool shit in it though, back in the day. Stickers, cool perf'd rip out collector card sheets, and the occasional poster for instance. Otherwise, good riddance is right.

[Arkhan]

who cares, really.

Nintendo Power went downhill around N64, and never really recovered.

Most magazines blow dogs for quarters now.  PC Engine Fan is the best magazine around today.  f*ck all this mainstream jive.

[NightWolve]

Meh, I used to have the first issue till I left it over at a friend's place as a kid... Then the guy moved to California and his dad thought that the issue was his, so he mailed it off to him... I had forgotten all about it till he visited and mentioned that it had been mailed to him. Did an ebay search, looks like they go for $25-$75, but in light of this, they could go for a lot more down the road.

Anyway, having really started videogames off with NES as a kid (Atari 2600 doesn't count!), I gave NP a shot when it got started. I just checked and I've got about 2 years worth of issues ranging from '89 to '91, but then I just stopped renewing, instead favoring the other mags like EGM/EGM2, GamePro, GameFan, NextGen, Computer Gaming World, VideoGame & Computer Entertainment etc. till I quit altogether before starting college in the late 90's.

Well, 24 years, not a bad run though. RIP NP... It wasn't anything special, but back then, without Internet and expensive phone numbers having to talk to another gamer when you got stuck in a game, it had its use. But since the other mags covered everything and were better put together, I stopped bothering with it. I guess I agree with Mishran, it's been 20+ years since I looked at one, so the objective thing to say here is I don't care, but I stopped caring about gaming mags in general, so it's not anything against this particular one...

[Arkhan]

I had the first year of them.

When I was like 10 I cut all the pictures out and made a collage.

Then, I spilled super-glue accelerator on them. Whoops.


I still have the collage.

[esteban]

I never subscribed (I wish I did! My parents said "No!"), but I did receive the first issue for free (they sent it out to everyone on their mailing list, IIRC).

Anyway, I loved that first issue! Looking at the screenshots was 99% of the fun. Plus, any game covered "in depth" was more captivating than the usual "blurb + random screenshot + no context" that a lot of magazines filled their pages with.

The writing of all video game magazines has /is total pap and seems like it will never change (if you take $$$ from advertisers, you will never be truly objective). The entire magazine is, essentially, an advertisement. When you have no other sources of information (internet), then your desperation allows you to "accept" this sad aspect of your video game addiction .

So, basically what I'm saying is that I wish I read Nintendo Power during the NES/SNES era. EGM and Gamepro and _______ were just as crappy, but without a singular focus, they often seemed heartless. The singular focus of NP is, in a way, it's charm.

Of course, I am basing this on the debut issue of Nintendo Power! Ha!!!!!

[Nando]

On a somewhat related note:
http://kotaku.com/5936970/it-sounds-like-nintendo-wants-to-make-a-gamers-version-of-facebook

"Of course we're going to have that service of head-to-head [multiplayer].. . but what we really want to do is create a place where folks who are playing by themselves will not feel like they are playing by themselves."


sounds dirty...

[RegalSin]

Nintendo did it, on purpose. The Website, the forum, then the Wii network. Nintendo sucks, that is all I can say. They made promises they never kept and did the same exact same thing over and over again.

The magazine got stale after, knowing what to expect from Nintendo.
I remember the colorful pages, previews and stories it once had. Back when video games was something different and exciting.

Their was so many opportunities. I can remember when we had big pockets and the game boy was portable. You know like the ones from the 70's but was meh in the 1990's. A fan wrote a story and was going to be turned into a video game, as well.

I feel sorry for the newer, players of Nintendo products. They soon will discover and feel the same disdain towards, Nintendo as we all felt.

............................................................

I am going to be the only one on the internet to type this first. If Nintendo just made a cart slot for it's original systems on it's systems,
then people from the NES to the N64 days would actually buy a crappy Wii. They just kept the design, of the original NES, SNES, or even N64
models. That is the future...............

Instead like Pokemon gold and sliver, they will just keep making Mac Apple cheapness and all the young people who have been bottle fed Nintendo will keep buying their products, until they wake up.

Because all of us fiction folks, are too dumb, nobody is going to anything to stop this. We will all become serial, as our retarded grandchildren enjoy their PPC built into their hands.

Fear is a real useful tool, especially when a person is raised in stupid.
 

[guyjin]

who cares, really.

I shouldn't, but I do. It's like hearing a former friend you got into a fight with died. Any chance of reconciliation is gone now.

Nintendo Power went downhill around N64, and never really recovered.

IMHO, it went downhill well before that, during the SNES era. At least, that's when I stopped subscribing.