NintendoForce

Issue #31: Carnage vs. Cuteness – January/February 2018

Added 2017-12-18 13:33:25 +0000 UTC

Here's a situation I never thought I'd find myself in as lifelong Nintendo fan: Having the option to play, with regular frequency, M-rated games on a Nintendo home console. Oh, sure, there have been a few here and there before, on the Wii U and in the generations preceding it – but seeing a game intended for ages 17 and up was such a rare event that no "adult" audience could ever be established. And I never minded! I'm not much of a fan of blood and gore or any of the other kinds of content that force the ESRB to slap that "M" label down in the corner of any given game's box art. I don't even watch R-rated movies! Give me a PG-13 with lots of explosions and I'll do fine.

Even though they're not my personal choice for entertainment, though, I recognize that M-rated games appeal to a vast audience – and so their traditional absence from Nintendo's platforms has meant that vast audience has had to get their fix of such content through PC gaming or Sony's PlayStations or Microsoft's Xbox machines. The weird new reality, though, is that Nintendo's Switch is beginning to find a foothold in this long-unexplored territory through releases like L.A. Noire, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and the game that appears on one of our two covers this time, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus.

It's one of two covers because we wanted to visually illustrate the two directions Nintendo is now being pulled in: This new library of mature games must exist in concert with Nintendo's tried-and-true, family-friendly fare. (And who better than Kirby to illustrate that?) So, Force fans, we submit for your consideration Carnage vs. Cuteness, a split issue with one foot in both camps of content!

Digital subscribers, keep your eyes on your email inbox later today/early tomorrow, as the download link for the PDF version of the issue should be making its way to you in less than 24 hours.

The Magzter version for tablets, eReaders and the like will follow a few days from now, as usual.

And the print edition is now in production, timed to be delivered to most Print tier subscribers right around the time everyone's flipping their calendars into 2018. Shipping might take just a bit longer at this time of year, but we've made sure all issues are getting into the mail before our print production company steps away for their holiday break, to lessen any potential extra wait.

Two other orders of business before I sign off this time!

First, welcome to all of our new subscribers! We've had a fresh surge of new support in just the past week, and a special welcome to all of you who made your way here thanks to the newest member of our NF production team, Arlo! I'm thrilled that Arlo's Headcanon is now a regular part of our issues. The new feature got its start in Issue #30, and here in Issue #31 his work is even wackier than the debut installment! You're sure to enjoy it.

Second, you might have seen corporate Patreon send out a notice about adding new fees to pledges about a week and a half ago. Creators (like me) vocally objected to that change, and thankfully Patreon listened, acknowledged that they made a mistake and have cancelled the rollout of the new fees. So NF continues as it always has, with no extra hidden costs or anything like that!

I hope health and happiness meets you all throughout the end of 2017 and into the New Year. Thank you for continuing to support The Nintendo Force and NF Magazine!

~ Lucas M. Thomas

P.S. Address changes! It's always good to offer a reminder. If you ever need to change the place where we mail your issues, log in to your Patreon account and open the menu in the top-right corner (the three horizontal lines). Then click Your Pledges, then Edit Pledge next to The Nintendo Force. That'll take you to the page where you can swap out your old address info for the new! We used to make all the address changes for you and would have you email us, but that's not how it works any more. Now it's up to you to keep your info up to date here on Patreon!

P.P.S. Even if you aren't moving, would you mind accessing your address info with the method just described and checking to make sure everything is correct? There are lots of you with errors in your info, like the wrong state listed, or a mistyped ZIP code. I'm happy to correct those errors myself each time we put together a mailing list for a new issue release, but it would save me time and make your delivery more assured if everything is 100% accurate with your address info! Thanks!!