Among many other things, you can blame the Internet for the mass democratization of cheat codes, and now video game news and strategy magazine Nintendo Power seems to be the latest fatality of the web’s mass freeing of information. According to Ars Technica, (and seemingly confirmed by a series of now-deleted tweets from the magazine's senior editor) the long-running monthly will not be renewing its licensing agreement with its publisher, effectively ceasing publication. Nintendo was apparently uninterested in working with the magazine to ensure its long-term viability or assuming control of the publication again. And if Nintendo Power is anything like other struggling print outlets, no doubt ad revenue has been down, down, up, up, left, right, down, for the past few years.
One of the longest-running magazines of its kind, Nintendo Power began publication in 1988, expanding to monthly issues in 1990. It earned its reputation as the go-to source for insights into games like Base Wars and River City Ransom and, incidentally, as the go-to periodical to read if you want to get teased in elementary school. And although it had waned in popularity over the years, its demise still feels like another blow to the institution of print media, its bloated, bullet-ridden corpse resting in the proverbial tall grass, until a callous, sniggering dog arrives to mock its failure and pitilessly haul it away.