Switch #1 Winner Announced! + Video Update

March 1 has arrived! (And actually, March 1 is almost over as I write this. Sorry for waiting until nearly midnight to pull the name out of the hat, but I wanted to make sure as many people as possible were still patrons in good standing after today's card charges.)

But enough of that! The winner of our first Nintendo Switch Giveaway is . . .

Jon Scott Maready!

Congratulations, Jon! The random number generator selected you out of the list of our many patrons, and that means we've got a brand-new Nintendo Switch with your name on it. I'll send you a Patreon direct message to work out the details of how to get it to you.

But wait! Remember that this is just the first Switch Giveaway! If your name is not Jon Scott Maready, fear not, as you're still in the running to win our second Nintendo Switch prize in April. And if you already have a Switch by that time? Perhaps because you'll be acquiring your own within the next couple of days? Well then, the April Giveaway also has the option for the winner to select $300 worth of upcoming Switch games instead of the Switch itself. So everyone can still be equally invested in wanting to win, whether or not you're diving into Switch ownership for yourself on Day 1!

Speaking of the Switch, it's pretty snazzy. You've probably seen lots of other press outlets running reviews of the hardware today, and reviews of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be going live mere hours from when I'm writing this. My final thoughts will be found in the next issue of our magazine, of course, but I'll tell you right now that the Switch is superb and Breath of the Wild is a masterpiece. I encourage any of you who have the means to pick up both the system and the game – if not immediately, then sometime later this year. Breath of the Wild is one of those top-tier, non-negotiable milestone event releases from Nintendo. If you're going to fly the flag of being a Nintendo fan, it's a must-play.

And I hope to be able to show you more of it soon! Once the game's review embargo lifts tomorrow, we'll be in the clear to livestream it as part of our NF Video Expansion! Have you been checking out our NF Magazine YouTube channel over the past week or two? We've been rolling out a variety of different types of videos, just getting our feet wet with video creation. 

Early feedback from the always-encouraging YouTube comments is that I speak too softly, so I'll endeavor to correct that. (Honestly, I think people are so used to being screamed at on YouTube that someone speaking in a normal tone of voice is an unexpected shock.) I don't want anyone having to crank their speakers to 11 to make my comments audible, though, so some volume tweaking is certainly in order.

I'll also take care to tread lightly with spoilers going forward. I uploaded a few Breath of the Wild videos this past Friday that some people took offense to, claiming they spoiled things. If you feel that way, I apologize! But Nintendo gave us a huge list of things in the game that we weren't supposed to talk about, and the subject matter I selected was not on that list. The things I featured are all encountered very early in the quest too, so they weren't beyond the scope of Nintendo's directive to only talk about our first five hours of gameplay.

All that to say, video creation and publishing on YouTube is certainly a different beast than magazine creation and publishing in print, and I'll learn the best approach to the former just as I have the latter. I want you guys to be excited about every bit of content with the NF name on it!

(One video that is perfectly safe for all audiences is this one right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM2h9OoaOWU)

Stay tuned for more on the video side soon! Potentially very soon! I'll be doing another test for "NF Live" tomorrow, and then kicking things off on that front with an inaugural Breath of the Wild stream either tomorrow or Friday. (And I'll only play the early parts just beyond the Great Plateau for that stream, so spoiler-lite there.) You're all welcome to tune in! Keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter pages for notifications of when it'll be happening. Or just subscribe on YouTube and set up notifications there!

OK, that was a lot! Congrats again to Jon, and have a blast with the Switch very, very soon everyone!

~ Lucas M. Thomas