Metroid Database.com

1UP has announced they are creating a print magazine, 1UP Presents, an interesting experiment for an online news site. In addition to covering Pac-Man (and oddly enough, Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures...), the magazine's focus is on Metroid: Other M, featuring four articles about the series:

• Dial "Other M" for Murder by Jeremy Parish
  Despite its positive debut, some fans speculate Metroid: Other M has killed the long-running series. But why?
• Oat Turner in: A Retronauts Metroid Comic by Philip Armstrong
  Everyone's favorite Retronaut explores Other M's place in the series' history.
• Rich Outer Life by Nadia Oxford
  The story of Samus before Other M's awful truth.
• Other Missteps by Jake Alley
  Six other sequels that dropped the ball.

The article titles and descriptors give a pretty good idea of what to expect, and I'm expecting some pretty heavy-handed critiques of the game that in my opinion has become something people love to hate, even if they've never played it. In terms of how brutal... Well, lead editor Jeremy Parish states they tried to be "even-handed", including developer perspectives and viewpoints of fans supportive of the game (though we'll have to see if any fan sites were interviewed, as the MDb certainly wasn't one of them), but I'm keeping off final judgment until I see the end product.

Weighing in at 38 pages, 1UP Presents runs costs a steep $11 (plus shipping), due in large part to its print-on-demand status via Hewlett-Packard's Magcloud. With a price point more than double that of thicker (though ad-filled) newsstand magazines (and rivaling that of UK 'zines such as Retro Gamer), it will be interesting to see how their print venture goes, especially considering they have always been digital. Thankfully, you won't have to empty your wallets to get access to these articles, as they will be posted on 1UP individually and later as a PDF after "several weeks".

Until next time...
Captain Commando