Press Pass: An Interview With Nintendo Power's Chris Slate

8/14/2008 10:28 PM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 3

A little over 20 years ago, Nintendo sent a free, glossy, full-color, magazine-sized Nintendo advertisement to the 3.6 million members of its Nintendo Fun Club. In the years that followed, legions of Nintendo fans made Nintendo Power one of the most popular magazines in the United States, despite the fact that its content resembled propaganda more than journalism. The magazine's popularity has fallen off somewhat since those heady days, but the content has become much more respectable under the new management of Future Publishing and veteran game journalist Chris Slate. I talked with Slate about the magazine's history, its current challenges and its future.

Crispy Gamer: I know you've been a big Nintendo fan for a long time. Did you ever expect to be working at Nintendo Power? How does the reality compare to the expectation?

Chris Slate: Never in a million years would I have dreamed that I might get the chance to work on Nintendo Power. As you say, Nintendo games have always been my favorite, all the way back to the NES. I had nearly every issue of the old Nintendo Fun Club Newsletter and was a charter subscriber to Nintendo Power. I never imagined what it would be like to work at NP, but having done it now for nearly a year, I can tell you that it's been the most challenging and rewarding project that I've been a part of in my 19 years working on game magazines. It's a tough job because the bar is set so high; many of the sections are very demanding, and NP is the most proofread and fact-checked book I've ever been on. But the reward for all the extra work each month is holding the latest issue in my hands and knowing that it was the absolute best we could make it. I wrote for the old Game Players magazine from its second issue and launched PSM, so coming onto a magazine that already had nearly 20 years of history was very different for me. While I've been eager to bring new ideas to the magazine, it's been crucial that I respect and honor what people have loved about the book for decades.

CG: How closely do you work with Nintendo? Are you given total access, or are there things that are still off limits, even to you? Does Nintendo get any say in the editorial content?

Slate: Nintendo has always had a reputation for keeping its cards close and -springing its surprises on everyone when the time is right. So, while I -- along with every other Nintendo fan -- would love to know everything that Nintendo is working on for the next couple of years, we unfortunately can't just walk into Miyamoto's office and ask him what's up. We generally look at Nintendo's upcoming release schedule and plan our coverage around when we'll be able to give readers a really good story at a time when it will matter the most. The editorial team comes up with what we'd like to do on our own, and we're constantly working with the friendly folks at Nintendo who help us make it happen.