Between the excitement of last year's unveiling of the Revolution controller, and this year's full unveiling of the Revolution and its games in May, there has been a gaping void. We are in a state of paralysis � imagining what the console could offer without anything to refer to as an example. To top that off, the Gamecube and Game Boy Advance are running out of software and sales.

Nintendo is not suffering, as it has shown it is ready to put everything on the line with new ideas � not just in games, but in how it markets itself and who to. The change has been drastic, with non-"mature" games marketed to adults, Nintendogs being advertised to girls, and this sudden rush of excitement over WiFi. Nintendo has addressed what many have identified as its biggest weakness, and they have started to rebuild their entire image in the eyes of the public.

In the UK, at least, there was one barrier that stood between success and failure in this rebranding exercise: Nintendo Official Magazine UK (formerly Nintendo Magazine System and Official Nintendo Magazine). The Emap-published magazine was once a major publishing effort, promoting a wide range of titles on its cover, and waxing lyrical about the games that made the SNES and N64 great. Sure, it was never going to win an academic paper for its writing, but it was a fairly decent magazine.

Then, around the time that Pokémon hit these muddy shores, something peculiar happened. The magazine seemed to adopt the often-repeated view that Nintendo is for kids � and changed itself accordingly. Suddenly the reviews were written in a style that I can only call "pre-pubescent". It was marketed at the 10-year-old age bracket. Of course that didn't stop them from reviewing 15- and 18-rated games, and telling their audience to "hide this one from your parents". I'll let you be the judge of whether that is irresponsible gaming journalism or not.

I continued to buy the magazine, as I am a huge Nintendo fan, and occasionally it would have an interesting interview. But the cover gifts became more and more tacky, the magazine got thinner, and the writing quality dropped off the side of the Earth � and yet the price increased with disturbing frequency. The front cover would invariably have Mario or Pokémon on it (in fact, over a 12 month period, the only exception was one issue with Link on). Four-page previews could tell you absolutely nothing about the game � but give you a disturbing insight into how much nonsense these reviewers could get away with. A particular nark of mine was that on several occasions the magazine would steal content from my website and not credit it. How would I know this? Because often this content would be accompanied by screenshots I had taken myself. The one time they did credit me, they got the web address wrong and didn't send me the free game they promised. Joy!

After one particularly galling issue, where the phrase "you need this like you need oxygen" was repeated no less than four times (it appeared at least once in each issue), I stopped buying it. If someone who considers themselves to be a massive Nintendo fan, someone who has even contributed to the magazine, stops buying it, then something is clearly wrong. Some months I would have been less embarassed to be seen flicking through "Readers Wives" than an issue. It was so obviously� kiddy!

So when I read the news that Emap had lost the rights to the official magazine, and that Future Publishing was putting together the new one with a team of their own people, I nearly leapt from my seat with joy. Suddenly, the gaping void between Revolution announcements was filled with something excellent.

More importantly, it's a chance for the magazine to accurately reflect the image Nintendo is trying to portray to the world. Not of a kids toy company, but of an innovator with a wide-reaching plan for the future of videogames. It's also a chance for the magazine to reposition itself alongside the competition (rather than tucked away at the bottom, towards the back).

Naturally, I picked up the first issue on the first day � surprisingly, from a small newsagent that didn't sell NOM UK before. The cover was clean and inviting � I didn't feel like I was reading a kids magazine, but a videogame magazine. I read it on the bus without looking like some freakish man-child. It's glossy, well-designed, and doesn't have Mario OR Pikachu on the cover. Open it up and it's clean throughout. They have predominantly gone for a red, white and grey colour scheme with a stylish icon format. They haven't tried to break the walls of readability by using multicoloured backgrounds and odd column layouts � they have avoided the whole attention-deficit design format that the older magazine favoured.

The actual writing is a considerable improvement. News provided a healthy balance of information and hype, previews and reviews are generally good, and the features are very impressive. The magazine clearly wants to be known for reviewing all games on an equal footing � so no giving Nintendo-published games inflated scores if they don't deserve it. I hope they follow through on this promise, as it would truly show the magazine in a positive light with the readers if they do.

But it's not perfect. That's fair, as I wasn't expecting it to be perfect � but there are certain areas where I felt a little let down:

Inconsistency: I said that the previews and reviews were generally good. Why not just "good"? Because the writing styles are very inconsistent. Some of the writing is clean and straightforward (which is something games journalism usually lacks), but some of it is a bit too childish and silly � which gave a messy impression. The Animal Crossing: Wild World preview did not fit the rest of the magazine's style at all, and I thought it was all the worse for it. The Super Princess Peach preview was the worst of the lot � it was dangerously close to the old magazine's nonsense-over-substance style. This has to be kept in check. Won't somebody stop thinking of the children!

Fact Checking: The magazine has already gained itself an untrustworthy reputation thanks to a single unchecked "fact" during their "New Ways to Play" feature � namely that the base of the Revolution was also its power pack. I spotted several more historical (read: nerdy) errors about Nintendo games of old. The magazine can't afford to pick up a reputation this early in its life. Many of these facts are out there and they're not hard to find.

Covering Old Ground: It's the first issue of the magazine for Future Publishing, but they have taken the torch from Emap's magazine. The first issue is packed with games that the old magazine has already covered. I just hope they have enough content to keep those pages filled month-in, month-out when the backlog dries up.

And One Final Thing: On page 130, in the "A-Z of Nintendo" feature � I do believe that screenshot of the Andross trophy was stolen from a certain website of mine. I'm glad that the writers read my website, but I have always had a problem with people being paid to publish what I do for free. If you like my website enough to use stuff from it, perhaps you could send some traffic my way� or offer me a job!

It may have its problems, but overall it is a very good read for Nintendo fans. It does benefit from being the official magazine, with access to those parts that unofficial magazines cant reach, but it also benefits from having talent from some of the finest British videogame magazines on its staff. I think the decision to rebuild the magazine from scratch is one of the best decisions Nintendo has ever had, and I believe this magazine could accomplish a lot over the coming years if it continues to take itself seriously.

And so, Nintendo: The Official Magazine, remember that you are a powerful tool to market Nintendo to females and older gamers. Remember that you can bring disillusioned fans back into the fold. Remember that you can differentiate yourselves from the competition by promoting originality over flair, and substance over nonsense.

But most importantly, remember... I'm watching you like a goddamn hawk!

Mark Kelly
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