Nintendo Power magazine being shuttered

Yet another gaming magazine icon is biting the dust. According to a new report, Future Publishing is discontinuing Nintendo Power.

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Update: The magazine's closure has been confirmed by senior editor Chris Hoffman, who promises to make the last issues "memorable."

Yet another gaming magazine icon is biting the dust. According to a new report, Future Publishing is discontinuing Nintendo Power.

The magazine is one of the longest-running gaming magazines, having started in 1988. Nintendo originally produced and distributed the magazine until 2007, when it outsourced the magazine to Future Publishing (who also produce "official" magazines for Xbox and PlayStation).

A source speaking to Ars Technica says that Nintendo was "uninterested" in renewing their contract with Future, or partaking in digital initiatives that were "necessary for the long-term health of the brand." The source says that Nintendo is not interested in taking control over the magazine again.

Current staff are already moving to other Future properties, including GamesRadar and MacLife. According to the report, it's unclear how many more issues of the magazine are still planned and how current subscribers will be compensated.

Last year saw the death of GamePro, another long-running gaming magazine.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    August 21, 2012 10:45 AM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Report: Nintendo Power magazine being shuttered.

    Yet another gaming magazine icon is biting the dust. According to a new report, Future Publishing is discontinuing Nintendo Power.

    • reply
      August 21, 2012 10:49 AM

      :'(

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      August 21, 2012 10:50 AM

      My childhood, shattered. :(

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      August 21, 2012 10:50 AM

      Sad, but not surprising I guess. This is Nintendo Power's legacy for me:

      http://chattypics.com/files/IMG_0258_k0gjf149g3.jpg

      Three years of magazines right there (including the back, which I don't have a picture of I guess)

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        August 21, 2012 11:09 AM

        Rad \m/

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        August 21, 2012 12:35 PM

        Awesome.

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        August 21, 2012 12:36 PM

        Wow. Cool!

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        August 21, 2012 12:57 PM

        Awesom, I used to love doing collages in High School, had a bunch of Wizard mags that I pilfered, cut and pasted all over everything. Still have some of the better ones laminated in the attic. Need to go back and check those out :)

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        August 22, 2012 12:12 AM

        Riker's head over Marle's shoulder makes the whole thing IMHO.

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      August 21, 2012 10:54 AM

      [deleted]

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        August 21, 2012 12:05 PM

        I've still got my Final Fantasy 1 strategy guide. it's in tatters, and written all over, but it's still usable :)

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          August 21, 2012 12:22 PM

          [deleted]

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            August 21, 2012 12:22 PM

            [deleted]

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            August 21, 2012 12:25 PM

            Man I miss that thing, wish I could find one somewhere. I loved it back when all the NES games had gray boxes, pixel art covers, titles in bold at an angle, and all fit neatly into one of like eight categories.

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      August 21, 2012 11:02 AM

      My love/hate of 'official' mags go all the way back to Atari Age. Yeah, they had the inside scoop, but didn't seem to do anything more than the non-official mags. Kinda sad to see this go even though I never subscribed.

      I'm curious what these closed magazines are doing to game publishers in terms of their marketing budgets. I suspect a closed magazine doesn't mean an increase to website. I'd be surprised if is any segment left that doesn't visit one or more gaming sites. So, when that ad dollar spend with NP frees up, what does the publisher do with it? Dump it back to game sites? A little bit bigger display @ E3?

      When the last of the tech/gaming mags closes it'll be a sad, sad day for me.

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      August 21, 2012 11:09 AM

      Time to re-watch this

      AVGN: Nintendo Power
      http://cinemassacre.com/2007/09/04/avgn-nintendo-power/

      Good times.

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      August 21, 2012 11:09 AM

      I used to love NP as a kid. Getting the subscriber bonuses were great, especially the strategy guides. And I loved how the magazine splines always made an image.

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      August 21, 2012 11:09 AM

      I remember when I'd go to the bookstores in the local mall and spend hours skimming through no fewer than two dozen videogaming and pc gaming magazines while sucking down a large Orange Julius.

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      August 21, 2012 11:11 AM

      [deleted]

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      August 21, 2012 11:11 AM

      End of an era

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        August 21, 2012 11:14 AM

        you stole my line! you stole my moment!

    • Ziz legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
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      August 21, 2012 11:12 AM

      That sucks, i still got a lot of my old Nintendo Power magazines. I remember looking through em and getting excited for some game coming out.

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      August 21, 2012 11:14 AM

      I would always cut out pictures of characters and stuff from these magazines and put them all over my wall. Especially when Star Fox 64 was getting previewed, I was crazy excited to play it.

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      August 21, 2012 11:14 AM

      Used to buy a lot of them off the shelf. My first subscription issue was the reveal for Super Mario RPG and I was hooked. I remember Nintendo Power made me want to go into writing.

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      August 21, 2012 11:15 AM

      :( RIP childhood

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      August 21, 2012 11:18 AM

      I'd be upset since I had this as a kid but I uh am sort of part of the problem......PC game thanks you Nintendo

    • reply
      August 21, 2012 11:25 AM

      Anyone still have one of the renewal pins they'd give you?

      http://www.flickriver.com/photos/garyfixler/sets/1722353/

      The pin was better (more wings, gold, etc.) depending on how many years you renewed. I swear I had one of these things but it's long gone now.

      I subscribed in the first year back in the day after reading the first issue to death at my friend's house. Back in 2002 I re-subscribed for a year to get the Legend of Zelda Collector's Edition disc, with the hi-rez Majora's Mask port to the GameCube. Magazine was more or less the same propoganda rag as always (why yes this Nintendo-published-and-developed game gets five whatsits out of five, why do you ask?)

      Good times.

    • reply
      August 21, 2012 11:32 AM

      Bastards

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      August 21, 2012 11:34 AM

      Damn it... I remember coming home every day running to the mailbox hoping the new issue of Nintendo Power had arrived! :(

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      August 21, 2012 11:37 AM

      I bet everyone in this thread that is upset about this doesn't actually have a Nintendo Power subscription.

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        August 21, 2012 11:39 AM

        [deleted]

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          August 21, 2012 12:40 PM

          Same for me. I had my subscription up to issue 70 or 80. I remember that I had the Killer Instinct issue.

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        August 21, 2012 11:44 AM

        We do just renewed it a few months ago. It's been going downhill over the years though, the writing has been on the wall.

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        August 21, 2012 12:12 PM

        It was a large part of my life for ~8 years growing up. All through the NES and SNES years..

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        August 21, 2012 5:10 PM

        It's just one more piece of nostalgia dying.

    • reply
      August 21, 2012 11:38 AM

      [deleted]

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      August 21, 2012 11:40 AM

      [deleted]

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      August 21, 2012 11:43 AM

      206-885-7529 :(

    • reply
      August 21, 2012 11:45 AM

      I recently sold my collection of about 70 Nintendo Power magazines. Was sad to see them go.

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        August 21, 2012 12:27 PM

        I have a whole box just sitting in a garage. Want them? =|

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          August 21, 2012 2:05 PM

          Put them up on craigslist, someone will buy them. I sold mine for $80.

    • reply
      August 21, 2012 11:45 AM

      awwwww fuck

    • reply
      August 21, 2012 11:58 AM

      I remember being in Junior High getting Nintendo Power in mail back when it was free. Brings back a lot of good memories of being a kid playing the NES.

    • reply
      August 21, 2012 11:58 AM

      [deleted]

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      August 21, 2012 11:58 AM

      [deleted]

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        August 21, 2012 11:59 AM

        im stupid for other reasons

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        August 21, 2012 12:01 PM

        They did until 2007. Honestly I'm not sure how much of this "don't want to renew the agreement" thing is Nintendo being dumb and how much is Nintendo being smart. Nintendo Power is a great nostalgia thing but print magazines from a publisher of digital games doesn't make as much sense in 2012.

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          August 21, 2012 12:02 PM

          [deleted]

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            August 21, 2012 12:25 PM

            Does it? Much of traditional media has struggled to find better (or any) profits in digital content and the money in online advertising on the whole is down quite a bit lately.

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          August 21, 2012 3:30 PM

          As true as that is, I wouldn't have expected Nintendo to realize it.

    • reply
      August 21, 2012 12:02 PM

      Speaking of classic Nintendo stuff, did any of you guys call the 1-900 tip line for Nintendo?

      I loved that thing as a kid. My parents allowed my brother and I a certain allotment of minutes each month to use on it, so we'd figure out what stuff we wanted to ask.

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        August 21, 2012 12:07 PM

        I did, only one time, but I can't for the life of me remember which game it was.

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        August 21, 2012 12:26 PM

        YUP. Final Fantasy II questions galore.

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          August 21, 2012 12:38 PM

          Really? The magazine (issue 30) had the game all the way up to fighting Rubicant. I don't remember how I figured out the rest, but I don't think it was that tricky.

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      August 21, 2012 12:02 PM

      I used to read these in the library when I was a kid over all the other educational books. Sadface

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      August 21, 2012 12:10 PM

      Man. i love nintendo power. I got Issue #1 in a WE recently! was excited.

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      August 21, 2012 12:14 PM

      http://goo.gl/bxH6x

    • reply
      August 21, 2012 12:15 PM

      Noooo

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      August 21, 2012 12:16 PM

      Every day after school I'd rush into my room and was always delighted when a new, wrinkle-free issue of Nintendo Power was placed on my bed. No homework was done on those nights.

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      August 21, 2012 12:23 PM

      They had a great run.

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      August 21, 2012 12:26 PM

      Meh. It died ages ago. After the SNES arrived it wasn't even the same magazine. The NES days were the best

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      August 21, 2012 12:30 PM

      Wow. It's just one of those things that I assumed would always be there.

      I still have issues 1-50+ stashed somewhere.

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      August 21, 2012 12:32 PM

      Future Networks is such a ridiculous monopoly - that company owns basically every print magazine out there. Same thing happened with all the guitar magazines I used to read - all were bought by Future and eventually all of them except Guitar World (the worst one out of them imo) were closed down.

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      August 21, 2012 12:44 PM

      haven't read it since the 90s. wow, their website is pretty shitty.

    • reply
      August 21, 2012 12:47 PM

      Wow, they still make this magazine?

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      August 21, 2012 1:23 PM

      I remember getting this as a subscriber bonus once. It was awesome!

      http://chattypics.com/files/20120821151843_og5jimoqua.jpg

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      August 21, 2012 1:35 PM

      I miss their Zelda comics :(

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        August 21, 2012 1:58 PM

        My mom got me the complete Zelda: ALTTP comic in graphic novel form for my birthday one year.

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      August 21, 2012 2:17 PM

      This makes me sad - I was in the magazine way back in the day as a kid. I got randomly picked from the contest card you send in every month. So i got my picture and 5 favorite games towards the back of the issue. I trashed most of my old collection years ago but I still kept that issue that I'm in (Was the one with Vader on the cover).

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      August 21, 2012 2:51 PM

      What ever happened to Howard Phillips? Nintendo Power was never quite the same after he left.

      I wouldn't mind seeing a short Shack article about him.

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        August 21, 2012 3:26 PM

        Runs his own consulting company, haven't heard anything in the industry about him for years though. For like ten years I thought he was just a pseudonym for Howard Lincoln.

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      August 21, 2012 3:34 PM

      Nintendo Power still existed?

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      August 21, 2012 3:37 PM

      And yet all they had to do to save it was make an iOS and Android version of it.

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        August 22, 2012 12:15 AM

        I would pay good money for Android versions of back issues!

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      August 21, 2012 7:16 PM

      NINTENDO POWER. NEVER FORGET

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      August 21, 2012 7:22 PM

      i literally wallpapered my room with cutouts from Nintendo Power, and newspaper comics (mostly far side and calvin and hobbes)

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      August 22, 2012 10:38 AM

      I remember In Elementary Nintendo Power walkthroughs for NES Zelda, Metroid... sigh.. I'm old now :(

    • reply
      August 23, 2012 7:46 AM

      Aww man. :(

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