Nintendo Power, the gaming magazine most likely to give older gamers a blast of nostalgia, is halting publication after 24 memorable years, with its last issue coming to stores in early December, it was announced last week.

The announcement comes five years after Future US, a magazine publishing company responsible for other tech and gaming magazines such as the Official Xbox Magazine and MacLife, took over Nintendo Power. The announcement also reveals an ongoing transition, where videogame magazines are slowly phased out in favor for online gaming news. At this time, however, Nintendo has not expressed interest in continuing the magazine online.

Many of the drawing points of the magazine—most gaming magazines can be found now online. Walkthroughs, previews, leaderboards, lists of release dates, even videogame awards are a click away on the Internet. And, seeing as Nintendo Power was made mainly to hype fans up (what with Nintendo games getting higher reviews than other games and Nintendo games almost always winning Game of the Year), it comes as no surprise that now that more unbiased sources are more readily available the magazine has slowly been loosing its readership.

Still, many are mourning the magazine. After its debut in 1988, the kid-friendly Nintendo Power quickly became for many the sole source of videogame information. The magazine chronicled the early days of the Nintendo Entertainment System, reported on the console wars when the Sega Genesis challenged the Super Nintendo, and served as a bastion for diehard Nintendo fans when gaming shifted from 2D to 3D and the PlayStation was trouncing the Nintendo 64. It covered five gaming generations, from the Nintendo Entertainment System to the Wii, over 24 years and almost 300 issues. Even the New Yorker published an article reminiscing about the magazine.

As the New Yorker notes, gaming has become more and more mainstream over the years. A magazine such as Nintendo Power closing, one that premiered on the scene when gaming was still just for nerds, shows how far gaming has come. Guitar Hero was for a time a favorite activity at parties, and first person shooters are now just as popular.

For better or for worse, gaming is definitely out of its ghetto. While hardcore gamers bemoan the current state of the industry, there is no denying gaming is doing better than ever. And, in a world where information is as readily available as air, where hardcore gamers can effortlessly search for the hardcore games that satisfy their needs, is this really such a bad thing?

As for those who still rely on Nintendo Power for news, refunds will be given for subscriptions that run past December. Although Nintendo Power’s popularity has waned these past years, the warm memories many harbor of it ensure its place in videogame history.

For those now looking for a place to get their gaming news fix, there are still plenty of other sites, like, for example, IGN, Gamespot, or, say, Toonari Post.

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Are New Yorkers different? Yes, they are, according to the filmmaking team of Nick and Colin Barnicle and Matthew Davis Walker, who recently released the first of a new micro-series of documentaries about the unassuming lives of unique New Yorkers who each embody the heart and soul of what it means to be a New Yorker. Entitled “A New York Story,” the series consists of five short films that premiered this week on the Huffington Post and will reside on newyorkstory.tv.

The first in the series tells the tale of Paul Schweitzer, whose Flatiron District company was founded by his father in 1932. In an age of smart phones and social media, Schweitzer still goes out daily on calls to repair and restore vintage typewriters – and finds a new generation of typewriter aficionados who find typing and tweeting equally attractive. His story is told in a five-minute short film entitled Gramercy Typewriter Company.

“We are really interested in the people who make New York such a unique place,” said Colin Barnicle, co-founder of Prospect Productions. “There are a thousand ways to tell the New York story, and it can be told every day. In fact, our goal was to create a 21st-century version of the metro column that used to be a staple of every major newspaper, the kind of columns in which Pete Hamill, Jimmy Breslin and Joseph Mitchell told the stories of real people.”

“Many of the great urban journalists are gone or retired now, but the everyday stories they told still very much exist. This is our attempt to bring those stories to life in a new, digital era, making use of the latest in film and Web technology,” added co-director Matthew Davis Walker.

Subsequent stories to be released in the coming weeks include:

• Polo Grounds, which tells about the impact of the 1957 departure of the New York Giants baseball team from their home in Manhattan’s Polo Grounds field;
• Gleason’s Gym, a classic boxer’s gym that continues to flourish in Brooklyn’s trendy DUMBO neighborhood;
• Putnam Ladder Company, a century-old, family business that manufactures ladders in the city’s fashionable SoHo district;
• Queens County Farm, about New York City’s only working farm, a 47-acre oasis in the middle of the city’s largest borough.

The trailer for the complete “A New York Story” series is available online at http://vimeo.com/29783768.

“A New York Story” is the second in the Prospect Productions canon, following “Down the Line,” which premiered on the MLB Network in 2011, was a Baseball Hall of Fame Film Festival selection and will be available on iTunes in March 2012.

Prospect Productions co-founder Colin Barnicle, 26, is also a graduate of Georgetown University. After working for the Boston Red Sox, he interned at the Jimmy Fallon Show and later the Today Show. He is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post.

Matthew Davis Walker, co-director of “A New York Story,” is a Brooklyn-based director and producer captivated with telling memorable stories through film. While his projects range from feature films to Web videos to network programs, the profiles in the documentary series “A New York Story” shed light on unknown New Yorkers who live astonishing and unexpected lives in the world’s greatest city. He is currently working on a major music documentary to premiere later this year.

Jeff Siegel, editor of “A New York Story,” is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he majored in Film. He has been working with Prospect  Productions since its inaugural effort and continues to provide the team with his myriad of skills. His first film, “Hooking Up,” is available on iTunes.

Prior to co-founding Prospect Productions, Nick Barnicle, 27, worked for David Milch, HBO’s In Treatment and Neistat Scott and Associates. He has studied at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and the Villa LeBalze in Florence, Italy. He received his B.A. degree from Georgetown University, where he played varsity baseball.

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