RIP Nintendo Power

Hey Guys,

I was going to post about something else today, but then I discovered something heart breaking.

Nintendo Power has gone the way of the dinosaur and is no longer in print.

What? What’s Nintendo Power you say?

Take a seat and let me regale you in the history of the Rosetta stone for video games.

OK I’ll stop with the melodramatics.

Nintendo Power was a monthly magazine, which would contain a plethora of information about all things Nintendo. This would be upcoming games, cheats, tips and walkthroughs.
Often the magazine would have contests you could enter for free Nintendo gear. I remember once winning a MagaMan poster, which my brother later stole...

Its first issue was in July/August of 1988, and its final issue was December 2012.

I know I’m a little late reporting on this, but Nintendo and I haven’t gotten along to well since the 64 days.  What can I say, Sony dug her digital nails in me and hasn’t let go since.

This upsets me on many different levels though. It’s an end of an era for one, but it’s another shut door on fond memories. I know I’m lame, but as a kid coming home from school and seeing the latest issue sitting in my room used to be the highest point of each month.

I know you can read all this stuff online but I’m a collector I like to actually have real copies of things in my hand. I know I’m not the only one out there!

In closing I'd like to leave you with this commercial that...you know what, just watch it, it says it all.

Enjoy!

So Many Buttons

Does anyone remember the good ole days?

You know when controllers only had two buttons, not including start or select...don’t even get me started on those jerks.

A was jump and B was shoot, that’s all we ever needed.

Nowadays we have about 10 buttons, and let me tell you with short (non flexible) stubby fingers this can be an exercise of pure torment.

That isn’t to say that some of these controllers aren’t comfortable to use, but you’d think controls would become less complicated with more buttons. Well every modern fighting game challenges you on that theory sir.

That should be enough eh?

Nothing is worse than opening a manual (Oh I’ll rant about that another day) only to discover that it appears to have been written in hieroglyphics. On the other hand, nothing is worst then having all these buttons and never using them *cough* L3 and R3*cough.*

Pretty sure I’ve only used select a handful of times too...jerk.

Wow I really got off track, OK so my point is I just miss the old NES era controllers. With its two buttons and an insanely high difficulty which caused severe frustration for gamers. Also it was a bit sharp and pointy... definitely wasn’t comfortable to hold either.

But it was nice to be able to pick up a controller and play a game without having to take out a 3 week correspondence course in its button configuration.

Games are prettier now though, so that’s a fair trade...

Tune in text week when we discuss the ancient relics known as game manuals!

Player One Press Start

Hey there!

I’d like to welcome you to an Old School Gamer in the New Age, my own little slice of pixilated heaven that I can’t wait to share with all of you.

I’ll be sharing just some of my thoughts and comparisons between the older generation of video games, and the new... sometimes this may result in a rant... I’m sorry about that in advance. :)

OK so let’s start by introducing player one now shall we?

I’m Shane, and I’ve been playing video games since my earliest memory, which was destroying my dad in Lode Runner for Nintendo... we didn’t play many games together after that if I recall correctly...

To me video games are not just toys; they are interactive works of art. They can tell amazing stories, introduce amazing characters and take you on all grand adventures! 

OK...got a little excited there sorry, anyway.

So in the next few entries I’ll be talking about different video games, memories, favoured moments, gaming trends and the evolution of gaming culture. I’d like to point out that these are just my opinions and I welcome any and all discussions.

It may say rant up there at the top, but I mean that more in the passionate geeky type defending why Picard is better than Kirk sort of way, and not the Hulk rage quit way. (I got off topic somewhere in there didn’t I?)

I look forward to sharing my thoughts with all of you, and maybe even getting everyone to think differently about the golden age, which is the old school.

I think Luigi can take him!                       Photo from 9gag.com