News/November 2002 Updated: 11/29/2002 It is now being rumored that Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Ura Zelda will indeed be made available to the U.S. and Europe, like the pre-order promotion that is in Japan, but unlike no one ever imagined. Because Ura Zelda was cancelled for the 64DD, it was never translated to any other language. And because translating it would require a lot of time and effort, it it now being rumored that OoT and UZ will be released totally separate from the pre-order deal and as an actual game. The ported game is expected to be released sometime between February and May of 2003. Updated: 11/28/2002 The newest Weekly Sales in the newest issue of Dengeki Magazine have revealed that GameCube was almost EQUAL to PlayStation 2 in software sales. Not only that, but the top 5 selling games were ALL on Nintendo systems. PS2 sold approximately 38,400 systems(with 2,313,400 sales overall), while GameCube was barely behind with 37,400 systems(with 923,400 sales overall). The top 5 selling games in Japan were Pokemon Sappire(GBA), Pokemon Ruby(GBA), Biohazard 0(GCN), Super Robot Taisen(GBA), Mario Party 4(GCN). The release of the newest Pokemon games dramatically boosted Gameboy Advance sales, and with the upcoming release of Legend of Zelda: Kaze no Takuto and Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, GameCube AND GBA sales will boost as well. Pre-orders for Legend of Zelda: Kaze no Takuto began today in Japan. Gamers lined up to take advantage of the special pre-order promotion at retailers. Those who pay 6800 yen($60 USD) for the pre-order received an instruction booklet and a demo disc containing the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and its never-before-released expansion, Ura Zelda. The disc also contains never-before-seen game trailers of Mario Party 4, F-Zero GC, Biohazard 0, Biohazard 4, Dead Phoenix, Viewtiful Joe, P.N.03, Killer 7, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords, Final Fantasy Tactics, and several others. Updated: 11/25/2002 Nikkei.net revealed today that Enix and Square, the two biggest RPG developers EVER, have announced they they will be MERGING in April of 2003. This will be the first merger between two major video game companies in the history of video games. Apparently, the two companies decided to merge in light of the recent rise in development costs and intense competition in order to increase production capabilities and revenue. The merged company will be known as Square-Enix, and Square's Yoichi Wada will be the new president of the company. More on the situation as it develops. Updated: 11/22/2002 Nintendo of Japan has finally launched the official Legend of Zelda: Kaze no Takuto website. The site includes many things you might want to check out, even if you can't read Japanese. One such exmaple is that if you click "BGM" on this page, you will get to listen to music from the game. Capcom announced today a multi-million dollar national marketing campaign for the recently released Resident Evil 0, exclusively for Nintendo GameCube. Their campaign will run all the way through the holiday season, including television commericals, printed ads, event radio commercials. 30 second and 15 second television commercials will air in the U.S. and Canada during such shows as "Saturday Night Live" on NBC, "Smallville" on the WB!, "The Howard Stern Show" on Comedy Central, and "WWE SmackDown!" on UPN. "Q-Man" of Gamers.com is now reporting that Nintendo may decide to lower the price of the GameCube in the U.S. to just $100. Price cuts for all three consoles are said to be possibly imminent because of the approaching Holiday season. According to the rumor, Playstation 2 and Xbox will drop to $150. This leaves Nintendo with a staggering low price for a next-generation console and a $50 advantage over the other consoles. The price-drops would most likely be revealed soon after Thanksgiving. Nintendo has stated that it's December announcement will cause a great increase in sales of the GameCube. Though many websites have speculated that exclusive GCN games could be in the works, or a lineup of online games will be announced causing a surge in system sales, a price drop of the GameCube hardware seems to be the most fitting scenario for what Nintendo claims would be a very dramatic increase in the systems sales. Sony recently stated that they would not be looking to drop the price of the PS2, and due to Microsoft losing double digit millions on it's Xbox console(well over $100 million in just three months), they probably won't drop the price of their console either as that would mean an even bigger loss. Updated: 11/21/2002 THQ Inc. and JAKKS Pacific, developers of many WWE wrestling games, clarified remarks made earlier today in a press release issued by World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. with regard to WWE licensed videogame sales. THQ and JAKKS both announced that they will not be affected by the lawsuit against the WWE and video games using the "WWF" acronym in their newest wrestling games, "WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth" by THQ for PS2 and "WWE Road to WrestleMania X8" by JAKKS for GBA. Both companies are now exploring other available solutions in order to continue to sell the older products containing "WWF" references. Nintendo revealed it’s financials today, which were lower due to high yen, and weak demand for consoles. Nintendo’s profits fell 44.8%, and they lost 29 billion yen ($236.4 million) in losses on foreign currency assets. Operating profit shrank 45.5% due to the GameCube price cut in the US and Japan, Senior Managing Director Yoshihiro Mori announced in a news conference. Group net profit for the six months to September was 18.97 billion yen ($154.6 million), down from last years 34.35 billion, while sales fell 7.8 percent to 208 billion yen. The disappointing results and currency losses offset a special gain of 19 billion yen from its sale of it’s share in Rare Ltd, formerly one of its closest partners, to rival Microsoft Corp., Nintendo said. The downbeat performance was expected as the company trimmed its earning forecast last month, which prompted a share sell-off. Though sales are expected to rise 8.1 percent to 600 billion yen, an expected foreign-currency-related loss, instead of the profit last year, would hurt the bottom line, Nintendo said. Mori also said it has no plan to reduce the price of GameCube in response to Sony slashing the price of the PS2 by 3000 yen in Japan, but it will spend more than 30 billion yen in advertising worldwide in the second half to promote its products. In America's biggest toy test, NBC Today's Toy Test 2002, America's kids and teens played and ranked Nintendo GameCube games to be the most fun. Coming out on top for the No.1 slot was Metroid Prime, and No.2 was Super Mario Sunshine. Other GameCube-exclusive games on the list included Mario Party 4(No.5), Star Fox Adventures(No.6), Star Wars: The Clone Wars(No.7), Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee(No.9), and Super Monkey Ball 2(No.14). In addition to the seven exclusive Nintendo GameCube games listed above, the Toy Test 2002 list includes five other titles available on Nintendo GameCube that are also available on a competing system(though the GameCube version was voted most fun). This brings the total number of Nintendo GameCube games on the Toy Test's list of 19 top games to 12. Way to go Nintendo! Updated: 11/20/2002 The World Wide Fund for Nature is now demanding $90 million to settle a lawsuit and is seeking to stop the sale of WWE wrestling video games featuring the "WWF" acronym. World Wrestling Entertainment, formerly known as World Wrestling Federation, is now revieiwing the issue with its lawyers and will be making a statement sometime soon. Electronics Boutqiue and Ziff Davis are teaming up to publish a new gaming magazine, GMR. GMR(short for Gamer) will be a monthly video game and PC game magazine. Simon Cox, the Creative Director for Ziff Davis Media Game Group, and the new editor-and-chief for GMR said that GMR will be in gamers' hands faster than other magazines, which enables the editors to write about games as soon as they are hitting store shelves. EB is saying that gamers who subscribe to GMR will be eligible for special promotions and discounts at all their stores. The cover price for the mag will be $4.95 per issue. The first issue of GMR will be on sale as of January 7, 2003. The Japanese magazine Dorimaga is reporting that a "Megaton Announcement" will be made by Nintendo sometime before the end of the year in Japan. Nintendo and several other companies will apparently be revealing future titles for GameCube and Gameboy Advance at this event. Rumor has it that this "Megaton Announcement" is the reason why Spaceworld 2002 was cancelled in August. Also, Dorimaga says that two large GCN/GBA projects will be revealed sometime within the next two weeks! More on the situation as it develops. A new website has emerged on the web called Games For Rent.com, that allows you to rent games by ordering them online! They have a huge selection of GameCube, PS2, and Xbox games, and get this: FREE shipping and NO due dates! Not only that, but they are currently offering a two week free trial. Check them out now! Sega made an announcement today that they are beginning to have an increase in sales and profits. Not only that, but they have confirmed the rumor that they will indeed compete head-on with Electronic Arts to become the new #1 publisher in the world. However, in order to do this, Sega has announced that they will temporarily STOP making sports titles for GameCube in order to be more cost-effective. (On a side note, I just want to say that I have no problem with this since I hate sports titles anyways. However, this could pose a problem to Nintendo trying to increase the GameCube's hardware sales, which I DO have a problem with). Updated: 11/19/2002 NPDFunworld, a division of leading market information provider The NPD Group, Inc., is now reporting that 2002 will be a record breaking year for the U.S. video game industry. Through the first ten months of 2002, total U.S. retail sales of video game hardware, software and accessories exceeded $6 billion, a 25 percent increase in dollar volume versus the same time period one year ago. Further, as more than fifty percent of annual video game sales typically occur in the fourth quarter, the video game industry can expect to bring in an additional $4 billion by year's end, shattering 2001's all time high of $9.4 billion. EBGames.com is now listing "Red Faction II" for GameCube to ship on March 25, 2003. Also, according to internet sources, the ESRB recently approved a GCN version of the game. It should also be noted that Nintendo's own official website said that Red Faction II would be coming to GameCube in 2003. However, THQ has yet to make any announcements regarding RF2 being ported to GameCube. It was finally announced today what the new peripheral for GameCube is: the Nintendo GameCube Game Boy Player, a device that allows you to play your Gameboy games on your TV...the legal way! Here are the details: the device sits under your GameCube and is connected to your High Speed Parallel Port and since it is connected to your GameCube and runs offf its power, it does not require an external power supply. The Game Boy Player comes bundled with a "Game Boy Startup Disc" and plays Gameboy, Gameboy Color, and Gameboy Advance games, though some may be incompatible. Also, you can use either your Gameboy Advance OR your GameCube controller to play the games. The Game Boy Player also has a link cable that connects the GBA and the Game Boy Player. The Nintendo GameCube Game Boy Player is set to be released in Spring of 2003 in Japan and May 2003 in the U.S. for approximately $50. You can see a picture of the Game Boy Player, here. Updated: 11/18/2002 For those who are ignorant or have just plain been living under a rock for a while, today is the one year anniversary of the launch of the Nintendo GameCube. Yup, that's right. I remember I waited in line since 6AM on that cold Sunday morning in front of Target. I won't go into a lot of detail, so let me just say this: congratulationS to Nintendo for surviving thus far and showing Microsoft and Sony a thing or two in this console war. Lycos announced today that for their Top 50 most search toys, PlayStation 2 came out No.1, whith Xbox coming out No.2. Nintendo GameCube didn't appear on the list until No.5, and everybody's favorite handheld the Gameboy Advance came out No.12. Midway Games, Inc. announced today that in a advertising campaign for Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, they are holding a content is which ONE game will have the chance to play the game against a WWE superstar at WWE's restaurant, The World, in NYC on November 21. Midway's Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance is set to be released on "Fatality Friday" on November 22 on all platforms. Nintendo Co Ltd. announced earlier today that they will be making a big announcement tomorrow at 4:30PM(1:30AM CST) about a new peripheral for GameCube. No other details were given. More on the situation as it develops. Updated: 11/16/2002 That genius man, the creator of famous video characters such as Donkey Kong, Link, and of couse Mario, had a birthday today. I am of course talking about Shigeru Miyamoto, who turned 50 years old today. Miyamoto was hired by Nintendo in 1977 when he was only 24, and he has been changing the shape of the company since. Happy Birthday Shiggy! Updated: 11/14/2002 Dow Jones Newswire announced today that BAM! Entertainment released low earnings for its first-fiscal quarter yesterday, and they may not be be able to continue operations in the next twelve months. 4Gamers announced today the launch of the 'Power Base' rechargeable battery unit for use with the Nintendo Gamecube console. The Power Base has a suggested retail price of £39.99. Take your GameCube on the road with the Power Base rechargeable battery unit, giving you over an hour of continuous gameplay on the move. Capcom's Japanese website has been updated with a huge new section for their Production Studio 4, a development team run by Shinji Mikami, creator of the Resident Evil series. The new section reveals FIVE new GameCube games in thr works, only one of which has been announced before. The first is of course Biohazard 4, which apparently takes place after RE3, starring Leon from the RE2 who is deep inside Umbrella Corp. headquarters. Biohazard 4 is currently set for a "200X" release date. Another is Shinji Mikami's long-awaited title, Product Number 03(P.N.03). The game follows the exploits of a robot hunter and will feature lots of explosions and ballistic chaos when it arrives in Japan in spring 2003. The third, Viewtiful Joe, is a side-scrolling superhero game which is set for release in Japan in spring 2003. The fourth is Dead Phoenix, a fantasy-themed game set in a city high floating in the clouds. The main character is a winged warrior named Phoenix. Dead Phoenix is due out in summer 2003 for Japan. Finally, Killer7 is a hitman epic in which the main character is, according to the site, a wheelchair-bound old man who happens to be an assassin with seven different personalities. Each one gives him different abilities in his quest to hunt down his evil adversary, Kun Lan. It won't be released in Japan until winter 2003. It is currently unknown if Capcom will be releasing ANY of the above games(besides Biohzard 4, obviously) in the United States. Updated: 11/13/2002 Activision announced today that they will indeed be publishing From Software's "Rune 2" as "Lost Kingdoms 2" in the United States. Lost Kingdoms 2 story is set 200 years after the previous game, with over 26 unique 3D worlds and 100 all-new cards, including the all-new "Mechanical" element cards. The game is currently set for an unannounced 2003 date. According to the newest issue of Famitsu Weekly, the first 100,000 gamers who preorder Legend of Zelda: Kaze no Takuto will receive a bonus disc containing Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Ura Zelda, the never before released OoT expansion for 64DD. The disc also includes never before seen information and footage of Biohazard 4 and F-Zero GC. If you wish to see a scan of the page from Famitsu, click here. It is currently unknown if OoT has been updated to take advantage of GameCube's hardware, but I wouldn't expect Spaceworld 2000 Zelda graphics if I were you. Preorder for LOZ: Kaze no Takuto begin November 28 in Japan. There has been no word on whether or not Nintendo of America will have a similar deal when Zelda: Wand of the Wind releases next February. Updated: 11/12/2002 Rentrak Corp., the pioneer of revenue-sharing in the movie-rental industry, today announced landmark agreements with four videogame publishers to provide titles on revenue-sharing terms to independent retailers. It is currently unknown what four publishers signed this agreement, but it is now known that Rentrak is in talks with up to 15 other publishers. Updated: 11/11/2002 GameSpy is reporting that actor Vin Diesel stated in an earlier interview that he is considering starting his own video game company, called Tigon Games. Diesel says that he just wants to see he can actually make a game that people would enjoy. The company's first game, titled "Perrone" is apparently already in the works. It is currently unknown when the game is set to be released and what platforms it will be on. It was reported today that DFC Intelligence, a research group that publishes financial reports for video game companies, released their newest report which has caused quite a controversy. According to Yahoo! who posted the report, GameCube has sold 2.7 million consoles in the United States, and Xbox has sold 2.2. This means that Nintendo is ahead of Microsoft by 500,000 units. This is awesome news...if it was true. It was reported later that Yahoo! mistakenly mixed the numbers, meaning Microsoft is far ahead of Nintendo instead. Despite the official announcement, new rumors have arisen that the report is still incorrect because it does not reflect games sales from stores such as Wal-Mart. The report also does not refelct worldwide game sales. Updated: 11/10/2002 GamerNext revealed today how much memory the Legend of Zelda: Wand of the Wind will take up. According to them, the Japanese boxart says 13 blocks. It sounds like a lot, but it's really not if you have a Memory Card 251. Zelda is currently slated for a December release in Japan, and a February 2003 release for the U.S. Nintendo of Japan announced today that there will be TWO new color for GameCube controllers coming out soon: Platinum and Emerald. The new colors will be released December 5th in Japan. There is also a Platinum Wavebird in the work too. The US release date is currently unknown, but the Platinum GameCube controller has already been released Stateside. Updated: 11/9/2002 Idea Factory, a Japanese developer, announced today that they are currently developing "Generation of Chaos Exceed", an RPG exclusively for GameCube. The game is said to have a lot of animation and includes some straetgy elements. The is currently set for a February 2003 release in Japan, however, the game may not be released Stateside since most games that Idea Factory develops stay in Japan. The only chance that Generation of Chaos Exceed would come to the US or Europe is if SWING! Entertainment, a company who Idea Factory has ties with, published it. Updated: 11/8/2002 EBgames.com revealed information today on a new peripheral for the Nintendo GameCube. We've all seen the Mobile LCD Screen that attatches to the GameCube which allows for portable gameplay, but Hip Gear is developing something new. They are developing something called the "GameCube Hip Screen Pad", a GC controller with a High-Resolution LCD screen attatched to it. No TV or GameCube required! The device will sell for approximately $100($50 cheaper than the Mobile LCD Screen) and will be released sometime towards the end of November! It is currently unknown how big the the screen in how how much the controller weighs. You can see a picture of the device, here. Video game websites throughout the web are now reporting that the had of Microsoft's Japanese Xbox division is leaving Japan to help sell more Xboxes in the U.S. The only reason I am reporting Xbox news on a GameCube fansite is because this is in my opinion a very poor decision by Microsoft. Japan is where most game sales take place and is also where Xbox is selling the worst(WonderSwan Color is selling better). So doesn't it really make you wonder why Microsoft doesn't just pull out of the console business and give up? I mean, that's what it seems like they are doing in Japan. If Xbox sales in Japan decrease any faster than the rate they already are going at, Microsoft will be obliterated and Nintendo will be faced with Sony as their only competitor. Updated: 11/7/2002 Shares of Sega Corp. plunged almost 20% after being obliterated by Electronic Arts in the first fiscal half of the year. Because of Sega's sharp fall, Nintendo's shares fell 7.7%, with Capcom falling 5.1% as well after falling 7.2% earlier. Sega blamed the drop in shares due to them selling only HALF on their projected sales of "Sonic the Hedgehog" series of games they released this past year. Acclaim is conducting a nationwide search for Ms. BMX XXX. To enter the contest, entrants must visit the game's official web site www.bmxxxx.com and submit a digital picture of themselves, which will be voted on by the site's visitors. One lucky winner will be officially crowned Ms. BMX XXX and flown to New York City with a guest and escorted to the world famous Scores club by "Gary" and "K.C." of "The Howard Stern Show." For more details on the contest, consumers can tune into "The Howard Stern Show" beginning on Monday, November 11. Updated: 11/6/2002 Zelda.com released a new trailer for the newest Zelda game. Nintendo is planning on showing the trailer in US movie theaters throughout December. The trailer has a very mysterious and dark feel too it, showing a dark, twisted tower with a hooded man at the top. The trailer asks you if you will "answer the Princess' plea". At the end of the trailer, it says "Spring 2003". Reports are flooding in: retailers are sold out of Nintendo's newly released Broadband adapter. Nintendo had already announced they they would only be shipping a limited supply of the Broadband adapter, but most retailers(including EB and Walmart) are sold out and are now listing the hardware as DISCONTINUED. Don't panic though, this doesn't mean they will not continue to produce the adapters, ths just means retailers cannot receive shipments. In related news, there is a short supply of Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II. If you REALLY want a Broadband adapter NOW, make sure you call your local retailers and if they don't have it, maybe eBay will(for a hefty price). According to the ESRB website, THQ is planning on porting over Red Faction II to GameCube and Xbox. Nintendo's website, however, says nothing about the game on their release list. The word on the Net is saying that the game will be ported to GameCube and Xbox once THQ's exclusivity contract is over with Sony. SCi Games announced today that they just wanted to reiterate that they are indeed working on a game based on the Fox show, Futurama. The game will apparently be a 3rd-person action shooter featuring the four main characters from the show, Fry, Bender, Leela and Dr Zoidberg. Each of these characters will be fully playable and have their own select moves and weapons as well as different playing styles. The game is currently set for a tentative Spring 2003 release. Jupiter Research reported today the results of their study. Apparently, the electronic game audience is going through a major paradigm shift, creating new revenue opportunities for game developers. This shift is defined along three axes: the average console user is already an adult, the number of high-intensity users is set to grow 40% by 2007, and low-intensity puzzle and board games dominate the favorite genre. I wonder if Nintendo read this study? Updated: 11/4/2002 Acclaim announced today that the PS2 version of BMX XXX will indeed be censored because of the topless nudity. However, the GameCube version will NOT be censored at all! The un-censored GameCube version is currently set for a mid-November release. Updated: 11/2/2002 Just like Animal Crossing came out for rental at Blockbuster about a week early, it seems that Resident Evil 0 is now available for rental at Blockbuster. It should be noted that you should call ahead before going over there, as your local Blockbuster is probably already sold out or may not be there at all...yet. Resident Evil 0 is currently set for a November 12 release. Updated: 11/1/2002 Capcom announced today that Bravo Team members Edward Dewey, Enrico Marini, Forest Speyer, Kenneth J. Sullivan, and Richard Aiken will be making an appearance in Resident Evil 0 in order to explain some of their backgrounds since we never really knew anything about them or how their helicopter crashed in Resident Evil. Peter MacDougall, Vice President of Sales and Marketing of NOA made an announcement that put a rest to all rumors that Nintendo would be leaving the console market at the Gerard Klauer Mattison Conference in New York today. MacDougall went on to say that Nintendo is now realizing why they are trailing behind in the console wars, and are talking aggressively and planning aggressive actions to catch up. The following is a direct quote from Peter MacDougall: "For two decades we’ve responded to doomsayers who saw us about to be trampled by other technology, other publishers, other manufacturers. To be sure, today we remain the last pure play in the sector, challenged by two much larger, more diversified competitors for whom video games are but a single strategy within a larger mission." He later said, "Nintendo is in the software business - to stay. Nintendo is in the handheld business - to stay. And Nintendo is most certainly in the home console business - to stay. Work is well underway on the successor technology to both Game Boy Advance and Nintendo GameCube." A new successor to GBA and GCN already in the works? Sounds like Nintendo is finally starting to get serious. You can read the interview in its entirety here.