Nintendo Power past, present, and future
Friday, August 15th, 2008 at 3:15am by Blake
Kyle Orland from Crispy Gamer scored an informative interview with Chris Slate on what it’s like to be the editor of the most storied game magazine in history. After Orland asks how in the world Nintendo Power can endure another 20 years in light of cyberspace tabloids, Slate responds:
The simple answer is that print is never going to go away; it’s a different type of experience and has a unique relationship with the reader. I check several Web sites every day to keep up with the latest news, but when I sit down with a magazine it’s different — it isn’t about actively searching for things, but passively relaxing and enjoying the experience. Magazines used to be the only way that game players could get information or feel like they were part of a larger gaming community, but now the Internet serves those needs better than we ever could. However, [print] can filter out the endless noise of thousands of online game previews and blog entries, zero in on what is most important to readers for that specific month, and give the biggest stories the extra space and unrestricted design options to present more satisfying articles. That’s the goal, anyway, and we work our hardest to reach it each and every issue.
August 15th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Chris Slate and Future US have drastically improved Nintendo Power’s quality in the last year. It might not be up to late 80′s quality, but it’s definitely better than it was three or four years ago.
August 15th, 2008 at 9:55 am
I would argue that reading info from a quality smart phone is even more relaxing, as well as just as in depth, as well as content specific to the reader (Google RSS). Once these devices become more ubiquitous with even better interfaces print will truly choke to death.
August 15th, 2008 at 11:59 am
not really i don’t want to read a book, magazine, or newspaper on a little iphone screen. plus do you really see a bunch of 2 year olds using phones to learn to read (not mine not after my gameboy advance found it’s way into the toilet to see if it could swim)? do realize how expensive it would be for a school to produce each child with his/her own pc/terminal/phone/etc. there is a bigger market of readers than just people who play video games or pc junkies print will never truly die. books will always be around maybe not in the same numbers as in the past. what a weird thing to say. that’s like me saying after the next generation of illustration software comes out no one will ever draw with their hands anymore and pencil companies will choke to death. i love to read books as you can tell
August 15th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Yeah, I should have been more specific. Books will never die. If I’m going to spend 60 mins + with somthing, I like to be able to hold it, turn the pages, etc..
But as far as magazines, they’re kind of like old fashion blogs. No reason to carry those things around for a quick read. In fact, the ONLY time I ever read my subscriptions to EGM and NP are extended visits to the John, in that I don’t want to drop my Iphone in the pond. This is certainly becoming more common, and I just don’t think a few mags in the restroom is a large enough market to sustain the large production of a full blown magazine.
That said, I guess you could say….”the writing is in the stall”.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
yeah but you miss the big picture i can gaurantee you my wife won’t be reading her cosmo off of her phone (and millions of women like her). she likes the pictures, articles, and fragrances to scratch n’ sniff. she passes time on the weekends doing such. my daughter reads her hi-lights and does puzzles and crosswords and colors. you can’t do these things on a phone. it’s not tangible. swabbing a stylus around will not replace holding a crayola in your hand and putting something to paper. like i said there are more people that read and more reasons to read a magazine/book than just for games and quick information.
“the writing is in the stall” very funny and pretty gross
August 15th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
i forgot to mention when they recieve their subscriptions each month it’s like a mini holiday. my daughter does absolutely love getting her magazines (it reminds me of when i would wait by the mail for my nintendo power each month). something special about that i can’t quite explain.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
print won’t die ’til we run out of paper.
August 15th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Well, in ten years or so I’d imagine some sort of digital magazine will surface. Some sort of hybrid between an Iphone and laptop, or simply pulling up the latest Cosmo on a Microsoft Surface like coffee table. Free perfume samples aside, there’s no way we’ll still see Cosmo at check out lanes in 2025.
Then again, there may not be check out lanes either.
August 15th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
I guess print will die eventually when there are no more trees to cut down, but by that time we all will be dead. But as long as Nintendo faithful keep a subscription, Nintendo Power will be here for a long time.
@Lord Toker: Don’t laugh…I still do backflips to this day when my NP shows up in the mail.
August 15th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
I ussually buy one nintendo power a year, and by sheer coincidence, both of them have had sonic on the cover. I’m probably going to re-suscribe soon – it’s been years since I read it, but it’s still pretty good. Sure, it’s not the same magazine I had as a kid, and it’s nowhere near as good – but it’s still good enough. It DOES have information I haven’t found online. Maybe i’m not searching hard enough, but I just read a Ghostbusters article that told me more about the game than anything else on the internet has.
August 15th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
He has a point you don’t have to read as many post from haters. Then on top of that it’s all near the front reader response and they always respond back with good points.
August 17th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
After FutureUS took over Nintendo Power, although the writing quality has gone up, I’ve noticed way more ads, less pages (I think, but these new NPs are thinner than my older ones) and most importantly, the loss of those pin up posters. I love those!
August 18th, 2008 at 1:21 am
Oh yes… I miss those posters too. I’ve started throwing up old NP posters on my cubicle walls because of it. Currently sporting the Batman poster for the NES.