Nintendo Entertainment System: Difference between revisions

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 Gail Tilden also found a perfect voice for the magazine, one that didn't talk down to children and belittle them whilst managing to keep the magazine upbeat and relatable without giving the air of an adult failing to relate to their kid's generation; According to David Sheff in his book ''Game Over'', that voice was a "cross between the dialogue in ''{{wp|Wayne's World}}'' and a {{wp|Pee-wee Herman}} routine." The magazine became the largest-circulating U.S. children's magazine by the end of its first year, while 6,000,000 subscribers were gained by the year 1990. <ref>https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/gxyXUi336egC?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiwnND9-ruAAxVfI0QIHbheCmEQre8FegQIAxAY</ref> Around this time, Howard Phillips had upgraded from being NOA's warehouse manager to being one of Nintendo's official play-testers, becoming so good at hundreds of NES titles that he was the first person to be given the official nickname of "Game Master", with him eventually becoming the face of Nintendo to the American mind, with his celebrity Q scoring higher than {{wp|Pee-wee Herman}}, {{wp|Madonna}}, and {{wp|The Incredible Hulk}}. <ref>https://grantland.com/features/the-rise-of-nintendo-video-games-history/</ref>. Soon, an internal game counselor sect called "The Big Three" was formed, which consisted of Don James (who headed product analysis to determine that the games that Nintendo put out were of good quality), Howard Philips, and Shigeru Ota, who evaluated Famicom game imports from Japan to choose whether it would be released in the United States on a point-based system. If a game's fate was unknown, the game was tested by a bigger sect called "GC6" (six game counselors), in which six more evaluators gave their opinions on the matter. "First you think every game is the greatest. Then you get more critical," a member of GC6, Phil Sandoff (most likely a misspelling of [[Phil Sandhop]]) would later quote. <ref>https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/gxyXUi336egC?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiwnND9-ruAAxVfI0QIHbheCmEQre8FegQIAxAY</ref> It expanded once more, including play-tester children who filled out various forms on the game, which directly influenced the Power Meter, the culmination of accumulated data from play-testers on the game. Based on the game's ratings, it would assist NOA in determining how "strong" the game was going to be and how much NOA could support the licensee or development team that had created a "fantastic" game; one of the ways was by giving extensive coverage in ''Nintendo Power''. In fact,
-''Nintendo Power'' became so influential among the gaming industry that third-party NES licensees often depended on the magazine's extensive coverage to advertise their NES titles to the American Nintendo audience; accusations were made about possible illegal monopolistic actions made by Nintendo with the magazine, such as giving minimal mention or coverage of a licensee's NES titles when the company was not on good grounds with Nintendo (i.e. making games for Sega's systems, complaining about Nintendo's limiting contract) and showing more coverage of a game(s) (some of them even bad) that was made by a company in Nintendo's good graces. Gail Tilden denied this, stating that "every game had an equal chance of making it into the magazine, no matter which company it was." <ref>https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/gxyXUi336egC?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiwnND9-ruAAxVfI0QIHbheCmEQre8FegQIAxAY</ref>
+''Nintendo Power'' became so influential among the gaming industry that third-party NES licensees often depended on the magazine's extensive coverage to advertise their NES titles to the American Nintendo audience; accusations were made about possible illegal monopolistic actions made by Nintendo with the magazine, such as giving minimal mention or coverage of a licensee's NES titles when the company was not on good grounds with Nintendo (i.e. making games for Sega's systems, complaining about Nintendo's limiting contract) and showing more coverage of a game(s) (some of them even bad) that was made by a company in Nintendo's good graces. Gail Tilden denied this, insisting that every game had an equal chance of making it into the magazine, no matter which company it was. <ref>https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/gxyXUi336egC?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiwnND9-ruAAxVfI0QIHbheCmEQre8FegQIAxAY</ref> Gail Tilden also reported later on that some licensee's games would receive less coverage based on the game's low quality, while Howard Philips felt his integrity on evaluating NES games were "rock-solid", featuring the best-scoring game on the issue's cover. <ref>https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/nintendo-power-remembering-america-s-longest-lasting-game-magazine</ref> If there wasn't a "super hit game" (a 32 point or above score on a 40 point scale) coming out, and there was a game that scored a 30 and there were no other high-scoring games like it, that game would be featured on the issue's cover "because it was the best game for that period." <ref>https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/nintendo-power-remembering-america-s-longest-lasting-game-magazine</ref> Despite the continuing resentment and accusations from Nintendo's disgruntled licensees, ''Nintendo Power'' would go on be one of the most cherished, successful, and influential gaming magazines of the industry, spawning dozens of separate game magazines following the same formula, eventually becoming monthly in January of 1991 <ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Power</ref>, and finally being discontinued a record-breaking twenty-four years after its introduction.
-Sometimes they would purchase big licenses or put a lot of energy into a game that just doesn't work out to be very fun or balanced. Those games did not get as much coverage, even if the licensee begged or pleaded. [laughs] The answer was still no. It was considered quite a coup to have your game featured on the cover and to get major editorial coverage.
-HP: To this day, my integrity is rock-solid on that. At the time, the hit games were such clear leaders over the other ones, and it was borne out by all the game evaluation data that we got.
-We were fed by the scores that were coming out of the game evaluation. We were talking about huge games like Ninja Gaiden and Super Mario and Zelda and Castlevania. They were huge hits.
-Occasionally, we'd get a lull where there wasn't a super hit game coming out. A "super hit game" scores above a 32 on a 40 point scale. If there was a game that was a 30 and there was nothing else, that would get the cover, because it was the best game for that period. <ref>https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/nintendo-power-remembering-america-s-longest-lasting-game-magazine</ref>
-Despite the continuing resentment and accusations from Nintendo's disgruntled licensees, ''Nintendo Power'' would go on be one of the most cherished, successful, and influential gaming magazines of the industry, spawning dozens of separate game magazines following the same formula, eventually becoming monthly in January of 1991 <ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Power</ref>, and finally being discontinued a record-breaking twenty-four years after its introduction.
 ====The Impact of Nintendo and the NES====