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Editorials 
Trouble In Russo World
- By Brent
Childers
Next-Generation. It's a magazine everyone loves to hate. It's a magazine that has been accused of being Sony-biased on numerous occasions by various people. I've always defended the magazine and have considered them to be honest, not biased. That is, until now. I'm a long time subscriber… I believe I've subscribed for two or three years now and I've got many more issues to come since I've just recently renewed my subscription.
Since I've renewed my subscription, I can't help but be disappointed in Next-Generation's perception of Nintendo. I don't like how the magazine treats Nintendo and gives them the kiddy image that they've had attached to them for many years. Many issues, including the post E3 issue have ignored a lot of the company's announcements and games while giving exceptional coverage to both Microsoft and Sony.
Am I saying the Next-Generation is biased? Who am I to say that Next-Generation is biased? Perhaps it's all just a big coincidence mixed in with the fact that there wasn't much Game Cube information to begin with when these issues rolled out to mailboxes all over the country. But after April's "Games of X-Box" issue, I was expecting at least a decent issue in May. But we get more X-Box coverage and not much else.
On the cover of May's issue of Next-Generation is Microsoft's long-awaited and most anticipated first person shooter, Halo. What else does the cover read in big yellow letters?
TROUBLE IN MARIO WORLD: Nintendo's top Gamecube developer in turmoil?
I was curious. What's going on at Rare? Perhaps there was something wrong at NCL? Maybe Miyamoto himself was in turmoil during stages of Gamecube development. Nope.
Retro Studios? Retro Studios?! Since when is Retro Studios "Nintendo's top Gamecube developer"? Retro Studios isn't Nintendo's top Gamecube developer. Sure they're making Metroid, but since when is a brand new company Nintendo's top Gamecube developer? That title belongs to NCL, perhaps even Rare. How does cutting a football game and a car-combat from development put them in turmoil? People were laid off -- jobs were lost, sure. But that doesn't mean the company is in turmoil. If Metroid and an RPG -- two games that will hopefully make it out at launch because of this "turmoil" are given more attention, how is that even bad? EA can fill the gap with Madden and that's really all that matters. There's going to be a football game at launch. Retro isn't in turmoil, Next-Generation is just X-ed out of the pool of credibility when it comes to journalism.
But it's hard to call Next-Generation biased. I mean, Tom Russo, has even said that there's "nothing we've seen thus far that makes us need an X-Box." And the magazine does acknowledge that PS2's first generation software isn't exactly groundbreaking. Next-Generation might not be biased in favor of Microsoft or Sony for that matter, but one thing is for certain… their attitude and Nintendo coverage sure hasn't been great. Nintendo fans have a right to be disappointed in the way that Next-Generation has perceived Nintendo… they've downright ignored Nintendo, month after month, issue after issue.
Such is the case for the July issue of Next-Generation-- just as it was the case for April, May, and other than good coverage for Rogue Leader, June as well. E3 is over and Nintendo has unveiled quite possibly the most it ever has about the system since it was first announced. Even though I've read up on everything from other game sites online, I was curious to see what Next-Generation's E3 coverage was like. On the cover, alongside PS2's Jak and Daxter, lies the information that there is a Game Boy Advance launch guide. Most sites ignored the Game Boy Advance so it was nice to see that Next-Generation reviewed all of the Game Boy Advance launch titles. Along with that, I see that N-G is calling this year's E3 the "best E3 ever!" Surely Nintendo's contributions to the show must have had something to do with it being the "best E3 ever!"… right? So why is it that the July issue contained very little information about Nintendo's Game Cube?
Editor-in-chief Tom Russo starts us off with his usual introduction. He calls Nintendo's Game Cube library "family-friendly" to start things off. A few more pages down and another editor claims that Star Wars Rogue Leader and Eternal Darkness are the only games in the Game Cube's library that will appeal to older kids. Maybe Next-Generation doesn't know that Kameo, Zelda, Metroid, NBA Courtside, Raven Blade, Wave Race, and many other games are coming to Game Cube.
Based on the lack of coverage of these games (and many others), I believe that to be the case. I mean, surely Next-Generation is a professional magazine? Why wouldn't they cover these games? Next-Generation isn't a professional magazine. Still think I'm crazy?
Okay, so there was an absence of Game Cube previews in past issues of Next-Generation. Again, not much known about the system or even the games, so why bother doing previews? It's totally understandable. But now E3 is over… so let's take a look at just exactly how much attention Next-Generation gave Nintendo games.
Luigi's Mansion… previewed? Nope. Only mention of the game was that it "seemed uninvolving." Any screenshots? Details of gameplay? Any reasons given as to why Next-Generation said this game was "uninvolving" Nope. It's just "uninvolving" -- and unfortunately, that's all readers will know about this game. Not that it looked great or even perhaps details on how the controls work. Just that it was uninvolving. Really professional-like.
Wave Race… previewed? Nope. One tiny screenshot. How well did Next-Generation cover this sequel to one of the best racing games ever made? They didn't cover it all. Oh wait, there was this one quote… Next-Generation says that Blue Storm "looked a lot like Wave Race 64." That's all readers know about it… it looked like Wave Race 64. Actually, Next-Generation did mention Waverace in the preview of the Playstation 2 game Splashdown, published by Infogrames. Their question "Will Rainbow Studios' (developer) next racing opus put Nintendo in hot water?" My question: "with all the details available about Wave Race: Blue Storm, why didn't Next-Generation preview it?" They were probably too busy reviewing Gran Turismo 3 and giving it five stars to cover Wave Race.
Eternal Darkness… previewed? Nope. Not even a screenshot. Not even a mention, other than the one I spoke of earlier. Eternal Darkness might be a scary game, but what's even scarier is the Playstation 2 mosquito "sim" Ka got a full page of coverage. Hey, that's one more page than Eternal Darkness got.
Kameo… previewed? No way! Screenshots? Next-Generation doesn't need no stinkin' screenshots! Kameo did get an "honorable mention" for the "best games of E3" but what good does an honorable mention do if N-G's readers don't know what Kameo looks like? Wait a second, N-G's readers don't even know what Kameo is because it wasn't previewed!
Metroid? Next-Generation says it was absent from the show. It wasn't playable, but it certainly wasn't absent. I managed to download some movies of it… perhaps their readers would have liked some screenshots. Oh well. Who needs Metroid screenshots anyways? Apparantly, Next-Generation doesn't. They've already got plenty of screenshots for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. Just flip on over to page 48. Who needs Samus when you've got Tony Hawk?
Star Wars Rogue Squadron II… previewed? Nope. Okay, so this is unfair after they previewed the game and gave it ten pages of coverage last month. But still, nothing of a mention of the game in this issue, other than a screenshot. It was listed as number ten of the ten best games at E3… and it was the only Game Cube game to make the list. The rest of the list was crowded with Playstation 2 and PC games… and other Star Wars games.
Pikmin… any coverage? Well, some. There was a mention of the game on page 6… but no screenshots and not a whole lot of details about the game at all. No, posting screenshots and giving details on this unique looking game would have been too much work. Next-Generation was much too busy with its seven page special on Jak and Daxter and its two page preview of Rockstar Games' awesome looking "we previewed this game last month but let's tell readers the same thing we told them about this game last month" State of Emergency.
Smash Brothers… no preview, one screenshot of the game. Not very informative considering that so many people are looking forward to this follow-up to the popular and addictive N64 game.
NBA Courtside… no screenshots, no details… no preview. Surprised? Why should you be? Nintendo is to be looked at as kiddy. Previewing Kobe Bryant's Courtside along with other adult titles wouldn't give Nintendo that "kiddy" image that Next-Generation gives it throughout the magazine.
Star Fox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet… no screenshots, no details. Nothing about this game appeared in Next-Generation. This must be another one of those kiddy games that Next-Generation is talking about… not worthy of coverage.
Virtua Striker 3… previewed? Heck no! There was mention of it on page 12 of the magazine but no screenshots and no details of the game.
The list goes on and on. Number of Game Cube previews in this post-E3 magazine? A big fat zero. Four months ago, that would have been acceptable. Not this time. So what's with ignoring Game Cube and Nintendo? Perhaps it can be best explained on page 93 of the magazine in the letters section. Next-Generation's magazine at one time was wider… a few issues ago, the magazine went back to its normal size. Next-Generation says it's to save paper and to save money. Come to think of it, maybe Next-Generation is doing the environment a favor by not covering Game Cube… plenty of paper was saved this issue by leaving out previews and screenshots of all the big Game Cube titles.
Or perhaps this is all my imagination and Next-Generation is saving their paper for a big Game Cube blowout for their August issue. In any case, I feel that Nintendo has been left out of previous issues of Next-Generation, including the post-E3 issue where a ton of information could have been dished out to gamers. Next-Generation still perceives Nintendo as a kiddy company, and while some of their games like Pikmin aren't going to be big sellers in the adult market, games like Star Fox Adventures and Smash Brothers are games that aren't very kiddy and can be enjoyed by a wide range audience. And then there's games like Wave Rave and classics finally making a comeback like Metroid that will surely appeal to an adult audience.
Next-Generation needs to take another look at their magazine and at their choice of writers. Nintendo's Game Cube lineup features everything for everyone and the company deserves nothing but praise and attention-- much more attention than what Next-Generation has been giving them.
Even if Next-Generation is waiting until the August issue to cover Nintendo extensively, the only thing they've accomplished with July's issue is portraying Nintendo in a light of negativity.
- Brent Childers
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