The article is the issue. The level is how you read it.
One real news story becomes a level of an original NES game. There is no schedule — an issue ships when a story is worth making one out of.
How it works
1
News
We read the real news for one playable, good-natured story.
2
Pick
One story is picked from the shortlist — the most playable of them.
3
Build
An agent turns it into a real NES level — art, code, a ROM that boots on hardware — and writes the issue's article from the source reporting.
4
Play
Read it here, play it in your browser, or download the .nes.
What we quote and what we make up
The reporting is quoted: the headline, the outlet and the link to the original story are the source's own, and every article links back to where it was published. The game is invented: its title, its cast and its art are ours, and no real person is depicted or named inside a level.
When an issue ships
When there is a story worth making a cartridge out of, and not before. Every issue carries the date its story ran and a number, so the archive reads in order even though the gaps between issues do not. The one on the front page is the pick, not simply the newest.
The hardware
Original art, original code. The ROMs are real Nintendo Entertainment System cartridges (mapper 0 / NROM, or MMC3 where a level needs it): they run in the browser through a jsnes emulator and on real hardware through a flash cartridge.