The Big Picture: Depth of a Salesman

digital warrior

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WEll Bob I never though about 80's shows that were advertisements in that light before, or advertisement media in general before got to say made me think> also like you I used to have a subscription for the longest time but right around the gamecube era with high speed internet I just stopped subscribing. Good buy nintendo power you had a pretty good run.
James Rolfe did a tribute to Nintendo power back in 2007 I just thought it appropriate. http://cinemassacre.com/2007/09/04/avgn-nintendo-power/
 

BehattedWanderer

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Jun 24, 2009
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Passing of a paper titan? Reminds me as well of your "why we love gaming" Overthinker bit. Though, I suspect you did that intentionally. Well done, really. Can't say it will be missed, with how instantaneous and deliverable news is on the net now, but it will be remembered.
 

ominousMIDI

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I probably still have about half of the issues you showed in a box in my attic, and a similar formative connection story to match. I guess I just assumed it had gone under a long time ago. It's almost more sad to hear that Nintendo Power lasted this long, but still ultimately succumbed.

Also, I feel really old now.
 

doctorjackal777

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May 25, 2009
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Yeah I didn't even know Nintendo Power still existed. I assumed it was a thing that existed back in the cartridge days and didn't last all that long~ Whenever I watch shows that mention it they always show really old issues advertising games from yonks ago, so I assume that it to ended yonks ago~ Oh well, I have no feelings towards it so it going has absolutely no affect on me.
 

loc978

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Man, that Dragon Warrior deal actually was my first foray into the JRPG...

Still got a few boxes full of issues laying around, kinda mad that my 50th issue with the silver cover got all torn up.

I kinda want to add the final issue to a box, despite the fact that I haven't even looked at one since before the N64 came out.
 

bjj hero

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Steve the Pocket said:
Interesting story about the FCC. I keep hearing (on forums where My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is discussed) that in the Liberal Paradise Known as Europe, it's illegal to have any advertising in kids' shows at all, or something. Which doesn't explain how networks that revolve around kids' programming stay in business, or what shows imported from the United States do with the extra eight to nine minutes per half hour, or for that matter why merchandise-driven shows like My Little Pony that apparently wouldn't have been legal in the US before Reagan are OK over there now. Perhaps some of our European viewers can enlighten me.
In the UK we still have shows like Power rangers and Ben 10, with huge amounts of merch, on the TV so Im not so sure there. Having said that Europe is a continent, a collection of countries. Each country has its own laws, culture and customs so whats legal in one country may be illegal in another. Such as holocaust denial being illegal in some European countries and "just" stupid and ignorant in others.

A lot of Americans seem to struggle with the concept that Europe is a continent made up of seperate and very different countries. This is evidenced by my 2 and a half years there where I was constantly refered to as or asked if I was "European".

Because my British accent sounds exactly the same as the French, and the German, and the Italian...
 

TheSchaef

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Nintendo Power was the magazine that first convinced me to buy a game sight-unseen rather than rent it at Blockbuster and rent it in a weekend.

That game was Final Fantasy.

Thank you for your blatant commercialism, Nintendo Power, and sail boldly into the West. /not-sarc

I'm not sure that de-commercializing TV is necessarily better for the product. Sit down one day and look at what plays during Saturday morning cartoons now. Mostly schlock posing as edutainment.

I have soft spots for some that recall my own childhood, like VeggieTales/Penguins 1-2-3 and the Richard Scarry stuff. But those are two shows out of MAYBE a half-dozen on one of two stations not running ACTUAL infomercials instead of cleverly-disguised ones.

Saturday morning broadcast used to be a grade-school child's impenetrable fantasy kingdom. Now it is a barren wasteland. Thanks for regulating my sons' childhoods, government. /sarc
 

Nalgas D. Lemur

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SnakeoilSage said:
Nalgas D. Lemur said:
Yeah, the entire thing is a mess looking at it now after having read so much more stuff that's actually good in the 20 years since then. I could easily believe that it came from a Superman/Hulk story or was at least inspired by someone's idea for one, but judging by how they handled it that wouldn't've turned out well at the time either. I also forgot how much I hated the art style they used for stuff like that back then.

Really the only reason it sits on my shelf with all my other stuff is as a reminder to myself of why I generally don't read or buy anything that's part of mainstream DC/Marvel continuity anymore, because while most of it is far better than that, there's really something to be said for self-contained stories that don't have to worry about decades of history or the dozens of other books currently being published. Every now and then there's something like Superman: Secret Identity to remind me that miracles happen even with the major characters.
I've seen plenty of terrible self-contained comics too, though. I know The Dark Knight Returns is when everyone jumped on the "Batman is dark and edgy" schtick, but the story itself is pretty boring. Ask around: people will tell you they "loved" DKR, but how many of them can tell you what their favorite part was? Who the characters were besides an old Batman and a girl Robin? I bet half the people who claim to love DKR don't even know that Two-Face is in it.
I don't in any way mean to suggest that they're all good, just that I have an easier time finding ones that have fewer of the things that drive me completely nuts. I didn't like DKR very much either (and was sadly disappointed by some other things like Red Son, despite having a great premise). I'm thinking more of things like Kingdom Come and Nextwave and 1602, or getting out of DC/Marvel and into things like Astro City (which is sort of long-running but has its own universe and individual stories, many of which can stand entirely on their own), or away from superheros entirely to stuff like Transmetropolitan and Castle Waiting.
 

Something Amyss

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Dec 3, 2008
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I find it weird Bob showed the Galaxy Rangers in his montage of things trying to sell us toys. Boy, did I WANT there to be a toy line. I loved that show. There were a couple of items, but hardly a merchandising empire. In fact, one of the things that probably killed the show was a lack of toys.

Maybe he just googled "80s cartoons."

And initially, the Power Rangers were the same. I know in a couple years, there was MMPR shit up the yin-yang, but there really wasn't that much original merch. Trust me, I owned all of the toys. More like, both of them.

A small part of em will miss Nintendo Power because at one point, it was virtually the only game in town. However, it just wasn't that good a magazine. It was designed to shill products to kids, and it was soft on material. When other magazines came out, ones that weren't directly invested in the products, we got better reviews, better secrets and tricks, and things that were more worthwhile. I've never bought another official company magazine since, given they all tend to act the same.

There is little reason to miss Nintendo Power except the fear of your nostalgia crumbling around you.
 

Something Amyss

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TheSchaef said:
Saturday morning broadcast used to be a grade-school child's impenetrable fantasy kingdom. Now it is a barren wasteland. Thanks for regulating my sons' childhoods, government. /sarc
I hope the sarcasm was about the government's involvement, because there's been further deregulation since the Bush Administration.
 

Ukomba

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Oct 14, 2010
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Anyone else think it's funny Bob went straight from bashing Regan for giving corporations more freedom right into a praising the results those freedoms?
 

Britisheagle

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May 21, 2009
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Did not know that about TV Shows and deregulation, learn something new every day!

Shame that the publication will cease to exist, I know I would be devastated if something I enjoyed as much as Bob (and many others I'm sure) was cancelled I would be gutted too.
 

TheSchaef

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Zachary Amaranth said:
I hope the sarcasm was about the government's involvement, because there's been further deregulation since the Bush Administration.
Of broadcast cartoon content?
 

Rad Party God

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Feb 23, 2010
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I kinda have the same feelings, but for it's mexican couterpart, Club Nintendo, wich gladly, it's still being printed to this very day (and this month, they have a really nice Metroid poster :D).

This magazine teached me how to read, heck, it kinda waked up my desire of writing and making my own magazine back in elementary school (it faded through the years... but you never know) and I liked to read the letters from fans of other spanish speaking countries, even Spain! and even though I didn't buy them for like 6 years straight, I'm kinda leaning towards to correcting that now that Nintendo Power is nearing it's sunset.

I've gotta enjoy my magazine while it still lasts.
 

Theseus32

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May 14, 2010
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Bob, if I ever end up in the Boston area, I owe you a drink sir. *single manly tear*

To Nintendo Power and all the shit they made us buy. And being mindless corporate zombies. You will forever be missed.
 

Theseus32

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May 14, 2010
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Thinking of it, at the end of the day they were telling stories. >thatfeel when Saturday morning cartoons are no longer a thing.
 

ReinWeisserRitter

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Zachary Amaranth said:
There is little reason to miss Nintendo Power except the fear of your nostalgia crumbling around you.
That just comes off as bitter and cynical, honestly. And if you've seen one or two of my posts, you know that's a hell of a lot of bitterness and cynicism, for me to make note of it.

I rarely agree with Bob, but one thing I did agree with was that regardless of its intentions, at one point these sorts of things meant something to the people they touched; that's why they are still remembered and beloved. Bob isn't lamenting the loss of his childhood or crying that the world is going to suck now that Nintendo Power is going; he's just stepped back and realized that regardless of what it was, it meant something greater to him as well, and that he should perhaps even be a bit grateful to it for helping shape who he is. Your reaction of "oh, you're just being nostalgic" implies you didn't even watch the video, or made your decision on how to interpret it, at the cost of all else, beforehand.

Personally, I'm likely to buy that last issue of Nintendo Power, and I was never a subscriber. I was a product of that age, though, for better or worse, and for all of my own cynicism, for all of my knowledge that I was commercialized far past what probably should have been legal, that age does have a fond place in my heart. It doesn't make me who I am, but it's still a part of me I don't regret, and I will see it off not out of fear of my "nostalgia crumbling around me", but because it had a pleasant part in my growing up, too. When it's gone, something of real substance will be lost, but that doesn't mean it doesn't deserve to be bid a fond farewell. Nostalgia in and of itself isn't a bad thing.
 

Something Amyss

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Dec 3, 2008
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ReinWeisserRitter said:
That just comes off as bitter and cynical, honestly. And if you've seen one or two of my posts, you know that's a hell of a lot of bitterness and cynicism, for me to make note of it.
I'm not bitter nor cynical about Nintendo Power passing; I merely don't care.

There was a time when I loved the magazine and would eagerly await the next copy. Thing is, I outgrew it. It was an unessential magazine whose only ties are from nostalgia. It has been irrelevant for decades now; better magazines gave more details without being absolute shills.

I'm not sure why you conflate pragmatism for bitterness/cynicism, but whatever floats your boat, I guess.
 

ReinWeisserRitter

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Zachary Amaranth said:
ReinWeisserRitter said:
That just comes off as bitter and cynical, honestly. And if you've seen one or two of my posts, you know that's a hell of a lot of bitterness and cynicism, for me to make note of it.
I'm not bitter nor cynical about Nintendo Power passing; I merely don't care.

There was a time when I loved the magazine and would eagerly await the next copy. Thing is, I outgrew it. It was an unessential magazine whose only ties are from nostalgia. It has been irrelevant for decades now; better magazines gave more details without being absolute shills.

I'm not sure why you conflate pragmatism for bitterness/cynicism, but whatever floats your boat, I guess.
Two of the major differences between pragmatism and cynicism is outlook and phrasing, my friend.