Welcome to the first edition of the official "Gaming With Nintendo Gamer". If Mr Socko is nice and lets me turn this into a monthly column, then you can expect the best reviews of the mag, plus exclusive news from time to time. Lets hope that Nintendo Gamer can fix its wrongs in the coming issues, and we can once again bask in the glory of Australia's Only Real Nintendo Magazine. Without further ado, let's get to business.

Last months issue leaked to us the bad news that Nintendo Gamer was going bi-monthly. Other than that, it was a fantastic issue, complete with a massive news section, and gigantic review section. Nintendo Gamer 10 had a lot to live up to, and straight away, this was helped along by the news that Nintendo Gamer was back to monthly issues. Issue 10 had a eye catching cover, a lot better than previous issues, namely issue 6 and 7. Diving head into the News Section, we were met with an ugly background, however, it was beautified straight away with THE Kelly Starr in a sexy Princess Peach costume. Other than that, the Launch Special was very general, never really going in depth, and could have benefited with another 2-3 pages worth of writing. Shockingly, that was the WHOLE news section. After that, Toadovsky met the eyes, and what was displayed was a rather interesting set of rumours, being "Rare Where" and "Virtual Reality and Ocarinas". Both discussed interesting topics, and obviously "Rare Where" was about the whole Rare debacle, apparently confirming Rare was going 3rd Party, which they had no proof other than the usual, "inside sources". Still, it was a good read. "Virtual Reality and Ocarinas" discussed the rumours that there will be a Zelda compilation, which has about of much chance of happening as seeing Kelly naked on the cover of Issue 11. But we can dream for both I guess…

Unfortunately, Tendo Globe wasn't too funny, other than the E3 Headlines, which garnered a bit of bad reader response for its "fanboyish" comments. I enjoyed them nonetheless. Next we were greeted with a cool "Spiderman" developer interview, containing most of the usual questions, but it was good for Spiderman fans, ie, everyone. The increasingly popular Blake Barham handled the first 2 previews superbly. Funny, informative, and overall great to read.

Preview Index:
Animal Crossing (GCN)
Beach Spikers (GCN)
BloodRayne (GCN)
Dragonball Z (GBA)

Now fast becoming a favourite part of the mag, InFocus took a look at Time Splitters 2, a game some are calling Goldeneye 2. A FANTASTIC read this turned out to be, full credit to Narayan for writing the preview. It went in-depth, gave you all the info, and then threw in a few facts that got me seriously pumped for the game.

Highly anticipated ever since the E3 Feature in Issue 1, E3xperience 2002 was a disappointingly dull feature compared to last years, however, the 101 game previews were a good addition, offering a insight to every Nintendo game featured at E3. Coupled with a few hilarious pictures, the section was certainly a good read, but didn't live up to last years effort.

Right up there with the "History of Video Games", "Pokemon: Where to Now" and Success or Failure" features, the Resident Evil feature was an excellent, excellent read. It looked good, was long, and the great Timeline of the events in the Resident Evil series was really informative. If Nintendo Gamer can use this style, possibly a look at the History of Zelda, it will not only please its legions of readers, but recruit a few more along the way. That is how to get your readers attention. Top stuff Steve.

Finally, we reach the Reviews section. Kosta Andreadis stepped up in this review, providing a well written piece on the must-own Super Smash Bros. Melee, scoring it a healthy 96. Some good info was provided, and going in-depth for all parts of the games was very appreciated. The rest of the Reviews section was great, featuring a ton of GCN and GBA, notable mentions being the reviews of Pikmin, Spiderman, Agent Under Fire, and Legends Of Wrestling. Overall, another great Reviews section.

Among readers, it is pretty much confirmed that Kelly's Mailbag is the favourite bit of the mag. Maybe its just that pic of Kelly, or maybe the sometimes hilarious, sometimes sad, and always fun letters that are printed each month. Issue 10's edition was another interesting read, featuring a few ignorant letters, and a lame "Game Idea Of The Month" among the brilliant pic from Natalia Silva, and also Manny, who is making a name for herself. Competitions were again offering cool prizes, and as usual Get A Life went straight over my head. I still think 95% of the readers wont have access to these Anime movies featured in Get A Life, but there's always someone out there who loves them. Hey, we got rid of Bad Ass, why not Get A Life…?

Putting aside layout issues, Cheats, compiled by my mate Nick.W Pearce, was like always, well done, and featured cheats I had not even heard of for games. It always seems as if Nick offers something unique each edition, and 3 pages of cheats for popular Cube games are an integral part of the mag.

Skipping the usual Subscription pages, we are faced with the preview of nest issue. Honestly, Steve and the Crew better pull something quick, because if the info on next issue is anything to go by, we could be in for a less than spectacular Issue 11. Trust Steve to think of something….

Overall
Definitely one of the best issues yet. Resident Evil, Blake Barham and Time Splitters 2 all stood out in this issue. Nintendo Gamer is quickly becoming the magazine we all want it to be. If it can fix some of the small niggly problems, watch out for an essential mag that blows away all competition. Also, with Starfox Adventures, Mario, Zelda Metroid and countless others, we can look forward to brilliant coverage from Australia's Only Nintendo Magazine.

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Take Note
This small section takes a look at some of the interesting things buzzing round the Nintendo Gamer world.

Blake Barham
Personally, Blake (or BladeCube as he is known on the Hyper Forums) is continuing to impress with his previews in the mag, and if you have the chance, I'd check out his website, Unreal Nintendo News, for a pants wetting look into the world of Nintendo. Back to the point, hopefully Blake can land a bigger role, maybe as a reviews writer, and if he continues to work hard, I can see Editor written right next to his name in the near future. Keep going strong Blake.

Cube Magazine
As most of you would be aware, a new Australian GameCube magazine has arrived on our golden shores. Cube is impressive in design, writing and feel, but still hasn't proved itself yet. Steve Farrelly has known about this for sometime, and plans on making changes to the mag in the upcoming issue. On a recent post on the Hyper Forums, Steve openly took criticism of his work, and plans on listening and building the mag around the readers ideas. Expect a few major changes shortly.

Official Mag…?
There has been some rumours emerging that Nintendo Australia plan on licensing an Official Nintendo Magazine very soon. Whether this is true or not, Australia is finally getting some recognition. If any new information comes to light, I'll make sure you hear it first. And before you wet yourself, there is not a very big chance for Demo Disks in Oz, even though overseas there are plans to distribute them. We can only wait and see.

That's the round up for this month. Unfortunately, I couldn't give you many juicy info in the world of Nintendo Gamer, however, next edition ill try my hardest to get some good stuff for all you guys. Thanks for reading, and happy Cubin'.

Written By Tim Schaefer