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Nintendo Power Gets A Design Overhaul

by Jonathan Metts - June 28, 2005, 10:36 am EDT
Total comments: 29 Source: Press Release

August issue to contain a DVD featuring the Zelda trailer in 5.1 surround.

Top Designers Perform Major Overhaul of Nintendo Power Magazine

August Issue Will Contain DVD Trailer of

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

REDMOND, Wash., June 28 -- The oldest video game magazine is

now also the hippest. Seventeen-year-old Nintendo Power® has decided to

grow up a little, just as its fans have. A major redesign, spearheaded by top

designers Roger Black and Robb Rice, appeals both to adults who have grown up

playing video games as well as to kids who may be discovering them for the

first time.

"The new look of Nintendo Power just brings the magazine in line with its

readers," Black said. "They've become more sophisticated and more diverse.

Nintendo games appeal to a wider group, beyond the teenage base. Guys in

their 30s still love Nintendo, and, hey, there are a lot of girl gamers now.

We just wanted to make the magazine right for the whole Nintendo community."

Black is a legendary designer, best known for helping set the look of

iconic magazines like Rolling Stone and Newsweek. The redesign he led will

help Nintendo Power cater to multiple audiences while giving readers the same

top-quality information that they have come to expect.

"Our redesign goal for Nintendo Power was to broaden the magazine's appeal

by creating a fresh, unified look and focusing on the stories that really

matter to Nintendo gamers," said Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's

executive vice president of sales & marketing. "It's all about empowering our

readers, giving them the most authoritative, timely and entertaining content

for the games they love."

To commemorate the new Nintendo Power, Nintendo is offering a variety of

ways to get a three-month trial subscription for people to give the magazine a

test drive. Fans will want to get in on the freebie deal early, because the

August issue of the magazine will come with a DVD containing the trailer of

The Legend of Zelda®: Twilight Princess in 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound.

The game, due this holiday season exclusively for Nintendo GameCube™,

remains the most anticipated video game on any console this year. The DVD

also will have reviews of 30 other games, while the magazine will provide

details about Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, the new wireless game service that

will let Nintendo DS owners around the world play against one another for no

additional connection charge.

The more than 1 million members of the My Nintendo customer loyalty

program can get three free months of Nintendo Power by registering three

Nintendo products online at www.nintendo.com. When they're finished with the

trial, they can subscribe for 12 months for just $1 an issue, an 80 percent

savings off the newsstand price. Already some 30,000 people have taken

advantage of this offer, in addition to the 10,000 people who signed up for

free three-month trials during last month's Electronic Entertainment Expo in

Los Angeles.

To check out the magazine's new look and to review special subscription

offers, log onto www.nintendopower.com.

Talkback

Shin GallonJune 28, 2005

Okay, the DVD is so mine...

Bill AurionJune 28, 2005

It's a REALLY good issue, too...The exclusive on Lunar DS was interesting and got me even more interested in the game, the DVD was a nice addition, and the review system is much, MUCH better...Good job, NP! face-icon-small-thumbsup.gif

ssj4_androidJune 28, 2005

Got it a while ago as part of the free thing. Never got the July issue like I was supposed to though.

MysticGohan24June 28, 2005

heh my July issue came after My august had arrived, I'm happy face-icon-small-happy.gif

PaleMike Gamin, Contributing EditorJune 28, 2005

Sill haven't gotten mine... face-icon-small-sad.gif

MysticGohan24June 28, 2005

Go to your account on my myNintendo.com and do the missing an issue form, you should see something in a few days, That's what I did for my July issue, Voila there it was, right after my August, which I'm very pleased with. Love the artwork on both issues. specially the TP poster.

bananaboyJune 28, 2005

Yah the DVD is pretty nifty. A lot of trailers (and some I hadn't seen before). As for the new design, it's more of a me too design as it now looks like relatively every other gaming mag out there. The review system, I dont know if it's improved since the last issue i read before this one was 104 or so, but I wish they were a bit more detailed. Some reviews get a page and a half and others get the top left corner of a page. Doesn't tell you much. Half a page in a print magazine is what i usually like to see for reviews.

I swiped my badge at E3 for the trial subscription, but nothing has come so far. :-(

NinGurl69 *hugglesJune 28, 2005

Where one-half of that half-page isn't covered by rows of yellow stars, am I right?

I guess you'll just have to be satisfied with getting your picture taken with Shigeru Miyamoto, Jonny.

Karl Castaneda #2June 28, 2005

Poor Jonny. face-icon-small-sad.gif

On a lighter note, I got my NP (the first one I've had come to my home in many, many years) this past Friday. I dig the new layout - seems very modern. Of course, I'm not too familiar with the old layout, so I couldn't say if it was an improvement or not. And I'm glad they switched to 10-point reviews - the more numbers you have, the more picky you can be. And if there's anything I like, it's being picky. Picky picky picky.

steveyJune 28, 2005

and the best part is the smell of it smell just like money

JonLeungJune 28, 2005

If I wasn't now dependent on the Internet for cheat codes (when I do need them, which is more rare now), I'd really be missing Classified Information.

No matter what they do with it, it's nothing at all like the good old days when you cracked open a new Nintendo Power straight to the familiar manila envelope section with stage select and infinite lives codes for all those NES games. Ah well.

I like the redesign, I was a steady subscriber starting from when they gave copies of Dragon Warrior for the NES with a subscription at the start of 1991. I only missed out on the 2002 and 2003 issues, the magazine had kind of crappified a little before then. Or maybe more than a little. But the Zelda Collectors Edition disc and the Metroid Prime 2 Echoes preview disc made me resubscribe, and while the DVD is nice, I'd still like, you know, GameCube demo discs, MAYBE? If they had those (and Revolution ones soon), it'd guarantee my subscription forever.

ShyGuyJune 28, 2005

I got my issue, the first I have recieved since the premiere issue, with it's snazzy preview of Super Mario Bros. 2
The DVD is pretty cool, The DS has some wild games coming out for it.

Ian SaneJune 29, 2005

I got my issue yesterday but I haven't had a chance to check out the DVD. Some of the pictures in the mag though look like total sh!t. These aren't just poor screenshots, the colour's all faded. It's very noticable on the New Super Mario Bros shots. Is it just my copy or is it like that for everyone? Some other shots look amazing. It's very inconsistent and very unprofessional looking.

31 FlavasJune 29, 2005

Quote

Originally posted by: Ian Sane
I got my issue yesterday but I haven't had a chance to check out the DVD. Some of the pictures in the mag though look like total sh!t. These aren't just poor screenshots, the colour's all faded. It's very noticable on the New Super Mario Bros shots. Is it just my copy or is it like that for everyone? Some other shots look amazing. It's very inconsistent and very unprofessional looking.
Don't know what your talking about, i've got my issue right in front of me and the pictures look like fine, Mario Bros. included.

joshnickersonJune 29, 2005

Probably some issues with the printer with some issues. Once in a while I'll get a magazine that has a couple of pages that you can tell the color set was a bit off.

Ian SaneJune 29, 2005

It's probably a printer issue then. Bummer. At least it's not some widespread problem. I'm quite happy that Nintendo Power has changed to look more like a modern "Official Whatever Magazine". I've been asking for this for YEARS.

ruby_onixJuly 10, 2005

Quote

I got my issue yesterday but I haven't had a chance to check out the DVD. Some of the pictures in the mag though look like total sh!t. These aren't just poor screenshots, the colour's all faded. It's very noticable on the New Super Mario Bros shots. Is it just my copy or is it like that for everyone?

I noticed this problem too. I've scanned a few bits to show people what it's like.

Megaman

New Super Mario Bros

It seems that occasional pages in the magazine have a problem with the blue. It doesn't all go on where it should, and you can see bits of it spattered in places where it shouldn't be. It's much less noticable on pages that (although similarly broken) don't have much blue.

I've had a chance to look closely at another copy of the same issue, and it's all the same pages that have this same problem, but the patterns of the messed-up blue within the pages aren't the same.

I figure this was a printing error. It would be funny if this happens to be specific to just Vancouver-area shipments.

PaleMike Gamin, Contributing EditorJuly 10, 2005

Wow ruby.... that is definately messed up and definately not what my mag looks like... I'll do some scans for comparison purposes in a bit.

Did anyone else notice the blurb on karaoke revolution party coming to GCN? Damn I hadn't heard that and it is quite surprising. Hopefully it will work with the mario party mic.

Scans to come shortly.

Edit:

Here are scans from my mag. Low res for sake of my bandwidth so ignore the pixelization. You can see the color difference anyway.

MegaMan

Mario

Karl Castaneda #2July 10, 2005

I'm with Pale on this one; my mag didn't have any photo problems.

IceColdJuly 10, 2005

Nothing here either.

ThePermJuly 10, 2005

and damn i liked the way megaman used to look

nickmitchJuly 11, 2005

Did anyone else get the august issue and then the july issue after?

RennyJuly 11, 2005

I got my August, then my replacement July, then my original July.

steveyJuly 11, 2005

"Did anyone else get the august issue and then the july issue after? "

That always happen to the 1st issue you get.

"then my replacement July, then my original July. "

What do you mean replacement July?

ruby_onixJuly 11, 2005

Quote

What do you mean replacement July?

Probably that he was waiting for his July issue. Then his August issue arrived. So he phoned Nintendo and asked "Where the heck is my July issue?" They said "We'll send you another." Then a week later, the replacement July arrives.

Then, maybe two or three months later, the original July issue arrives in the mail, very beat up, and sporting postmarks from seven or eight different countries on it.

That always seems to happen to everyone's first issue of the year. I'm not sure why.

RennyJuly 11, 2005

Right. But actually the original came the day after the replacement arrived. :¬]

nickmitchJuly 11, 2005

Yeah, my July wasn't as fresh looking as my August.

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