Firstly, here's what we have:
1. The presentation: the mag itself has a really nice matte laminated cover with spot varnish effects. It comes in an open-topped card wallet with the Revolution on the front. I know what a lot of you are thinking - why the f*** is he telling us this? I've read games mags for years, since Super Play actually, and we really wanted to give people something special. . . something that's a bit like a collector's edition every issue. I think it's really important to have that basic quality to the mag, otherwise why even bother with it over and above the internet?
2. The gift: I'm sure you can see from the images that there's a sheet of DS decals included with the mag. It looks like a sheet of stickers, I know, but trust me - they're really good. High quality vinyl decals. The one you can't see on the image is the one I have on my DS right now and it looks great. They're pretty expensive to make, which is why previous mags could never covermount them, but, you know, first issue an' all.
3. The subs offer: well obviously you save money but the big thing for us is that you get a free game when you take out a £9.99 subscription. All subscribers get to choose from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Donkey Konga + bongos or Pikmin 2. I've never seen a subs deal that good.
Now honestly, I might be a little bit biased here, but I think the decals are worth paying out £3.99 for on their own. But obviously there's the littlle mag as well lol
4. The approach: it's tough being on an official mag, it really is. You get told so much by Nintendo themselves but moreso from other publishers, but of course you can't print most of it right there and then. It does mean that over the next six months there will be some MASSIVE exclusives and that's no exageration. Let's just say that Nintendo fans are in for a treat.
The games industry has gone down this road where the big websites get everything first but from where I'm sitting it doesn't need to be like that. I promise you we'll have stuff worth your attention before other people. That said, sometimes NCL will surprise everyone and the timing just won't be in place for us to get there first. They like to do that
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5. This issue:
12-page feature about Nintendo and New Ways To Play (Nintendo new tagline). There's the whole hands-on with the Revolution bit (and no, there aren't a ton of people who have gone hands on, there were only a few from selected publications around the world) as well as some brand new pics of the Revolution and the Freehand from all angles.
DS Lite: pictures of the new handheld with various comparisons. There's so much stuff we wish we could tell you… but we can't. Again, this is the case with a lot of features in the mag: it's mid-Feb… it's just too early to be letting some info out into the public domain. In my best Japanese developer response: "please look forward to our coverage when it arrives."
Capcom Dev Feature: let's get one thing straight here. You're not going to see any in-game pics of Revolution stuff before E3. It just ain't gonna happen. Obviously there's a load of stuff in development but why would Nintendo let people see examples of what makes Revolution so different at this stage? There are BIG things still to be announced and you're DEFINITELY not going to see screens until those aspects are announced. Again, in my best Japanese developer response: "please look forward to more informations at GDC and E3".
Still, we have some great interviews with four Capcom producers, who talk about what they'd like to on Revolution, Smash Bros Revolution and other things. We also have a load of great sketches from the relevant games that Capcom have let us use. It's a really interesting read for any Capcom/Nintendo fans. Plus you get to see a pic of Mikami-san boxing and Nakai-san trying to look hard, which always make me laugh.
Other stuff: 32 pages of previews, a sh*tload of reviews, challenges, tips, loads of compos, retro etc etc… I think it's extremely good value for money.
Online: I know a lot of people want a definitive UK website but we're not quite ready to give tyou that yeat. We will be building it up over the next few months and it'll be fully in place in time for E3. It's a lot of work though, hence the reason why it's going to take so long to get it all sorted.
Overall: I think it's a really good first issue and a great indication of what's to come. We've got a whole load of very talented writers working with us, some awesome designers, access to literally every important person at Nintendo events (one-on-one, not roundtable like everyone else) and one of the very lucky publications who gets hands-on time with Nintendo pre-preview code. Only official mags get that.
That Grasshopper thing: man, SUDA51 is really something! We couldn't fit it in so it has to go in issue 2, which could work out better as we may be able to print everything he said (again, it's down to timing). Among other things he talks about what Mikami-san is like to work with, his Revolution stuff, how it came about that he started on killer7, his obsession with 80's electro… oh, and his predictions for the World Cup!