IGN’s Matt Casamassina posted a rumor stating Nintendo may cease producing the publication known as Nintendo Power by September, 2007. If the rumor turns out to be founded, it would mark the next step in what looks to be a massive restructuring of Nintendo’s internal teams. Last week Nintendo announced that the bulk of its Advertising and Marketing Departments would be moving to either New York or San Fransisco.

Sources close to IGN state that massive layoffs are currently taking place and that other employees have been told to begin looking for other employment.

“Nintendo Power” has been Nintendo’s official internal publication since 1988, and despite its reputation of being a propaganda instrument, the magazine recently went through a major retooling and became quite level-handed.

Check out the initial report here

I, for one, will be sad to see the mag go the way of the dodo. They offered decent swag from time to time and has remained a staple among the Nintendo faithful for almost 20 years.

A message board post at NeoGAF shows a scan from a Japanese magazine showing screens from a 3D Nintendo DS version of Final Fantasy IV, the greatest Final Fantasy game ever made.

Showing a clear resemblance to last year’s Final Fantasy III DS this would be the second DS remake of a Final Fantasy game. This move is puzzling after the recent Gameboy Advance release of the game in December 2005, but not unwelcome.

I found the remake of Final Fantasy III for the DS to be a great adaptation and look forward to this update of the game, whose graphics have been untouched since its original release in 1991. While all 3 of the Nintendo/Famicom Final Fantasy games have had their graphics enhanced in more recent versions, the 3 Super Nintendo/Super Famicom games had not been enhanced in their many ports.

A mirror of the magazine scan can be seen after the jump.

[Read the rest of this entry…]

…but just barely. Shigeru Miyamoto comes in at #92 in Time Magazine’s list of the most influence people of 2006. Who can blame them for including the Father of Modern Video games? As one of the main creative forces behind the phenomenally popular Wii, Miyamoto has secured a spot on the list by making video games less threatening and more accessible to everyone, (especially to the senior set, they can’t seem to get enough of the system at assisted living communities).

Although ranked #9 by the public, the fact that a game maker was even included on the list during the newly revived, post Virginia Tech, video game “witch-hunt” really says something about the power of the medium.

Read the feature here

E3, the once great video game Exposition, has been reduced to a shadow of its former self. What was once a never-ending cacophony of lights, sound and swag is now an invitation only press event. While we can still expect industry-shaping keynotes from the big three hardware developers, the show floor is barely recognizable. Industry giants, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, THQ and others have been relegated to a 20’X20′ space.

Quite a contrast to previous E3s where developers battled each other for total show supremacy. After last year’s expo, which was completely dominated by Nintendo and the newly revealed Wii, Sony and Microsoft decided that paying millions or dollars for little or, worse yet, negative press coverage just wasn’t worth the effort. They basically took their ball and went home. The other big companies followed suit and now we have, what I’ve dubbed, Neo-E3, or the E3 Media & Business Summit.

Moved from May to July, and Los Angeles to Santa Monica, the newly redesigned expo is meant to create a smaller, more intimate environment for developers and publishers to talk shop. Neo-E3 is also designed to make it easier for independent developers to roll out their wares to potential publishers, (even though next to no indie devs are on the roster).

Hopefully we can expect more direct feed footage and one on one interviews with the movers and shakers of the industry. The E3 Media & Business Summit will take place from July 11-13th.

What are your thoughts on the redesigned E3 expo?

SpikeTV’s GameHead took their entire episode this week to honor Shigeru Miyamoto. In addition to Geoff Keighly interviewing the man himself, they also took comments from the editors of Kotaku and GoNintendo, the cast of Mega64, and the GameJew. Charles Martinett, the voice of Mario, provides narration between segments.

Its an interesting retrospective, but the secretive Nintendo hero doesn’t give much of a look forward other than the tease that a once cancelled game may still see release.
Watch now: Quicktime / WMV

Hideo Kojima, mastermind of Metal Gear Solid, has played Super Smash Bros Brawl. Not only has he played it, he said:

The game already feels very complete, it’s already a lot of fun and that you guys (Sakurai’s studio) could put it out now, and it would sell millions of copies.

This is very, very good news. For Hideo Kojima, since he got to play it and we didn’t. The rest of us will have to put up with the fact that what will surely be the biggest Wii title yet is coming along great. I guess a 2007 release date isn’t out of the question?

This news comes from the Kojima Productions podcast, which I never would’ve suspected is in English!

The video game crossover you’ve waited your entire life for is now a reality.

Mario and Sonic will finally compete on the Wii and Nintendo DS… on a game licensed by the Olympics.

I’m speechless. Official site is up. If we don’t get Sonic in Smash Bros now, I’ll be real mad.

WIRED Magazine has just released their annual list spotlighting the best and brightest companies in tech.

The Wired 40 this year puts Nintendo on the list for the first time at an astounding #6. Microsoft, unstoppable juggernaut of the industry they are, barely made the list at #40. Don’t feel too bad for them: Sony didn’t make the list at all. Google and Apple retain their 1 & 2 spots from last year.

Bonus: a lenticular cover featuring The Office‘s Jenna Fischer.