Off the Newsstand: Nintendo Power Issue 280

Absolutely no new retail game releases this week.  Meaning that there will be no Launch Station at all this week.  Now that I got enough time to look at the latest issue of Nintendo Power.  The big Issue 280, only 20 more issues until a landmark 300 issues of Nintendo Power.  Following in suit with all other video game magazines, the July issue revolves around all the big news from this year's E3.

On the cover of Issue 280 is the Wii U, Nintendo's next console.  Considering Nintendo Power has been one of my main sources for Nintendo news, previews, reviews and coverage, I was disappointed that there was not a full article on the Wii U.  It was just a stuck at the beginning of the Power Up section of the magazine.  I remember after Nintendo's big showcase of the Wii at E3 2006, the following Nintendo Power had an amazing article called The Wii Experience that looked at the Wii and some of the big launch titles such as Red Steel, Raving Rabbids, Madden and Tony Hawk.  It was not just a brief look and a list of the Top 10 Wii U Games at E3 2012.  In all honesty, it was a fine look at the Wii U, but I expected much more from Nintendo Power considering this is the official Nintendo magazine for North America and the Wii U report was the cover story of this issue.  If they were not going to have the Wii U as the cover story for this issue, they should have put something else on the cover like New Super Mario Bros. 2.  Speaking of New Super Mario Bros. 2, there was a five page preview of the upcoming 3DS game.  It was a fine preview, but there was nothing too substantial.  Given a few more pages and an interview, this preview could of easily served as the cover story for Issue 280.  Along with that preview was a look back all of Nintendo's releases in 1987, which was pretty cool, but felt more like filler, and a preview of the Adventure Time game for the DS and 3DS.  Even though I have never watched the show, I found the Adventure Time preview easily the best article in this issue.  It gave a substantial amount of information about a game that until now nobody really knew much about and had a very good interview with Adventure Time series creator and animator, Pendleton Ward.  Even though I am being down on this issue of Nintendo Power, there was still some good content in the Download, Preview, Review and Community sections of the magazine.

As a whole, I expected much more from Issue 280 of Nintendo Power.  When you such a big story in the Wii U on the cover, you have to hit the ball out of the park or leave people like yours truly disappointed.  There is still quite a bit of good content in Issue 280 of Nintendo Power, but it is not an issue that you have to go out of your way to read.