News/April 2002 Updated: 4/30/2002 Mr. Cube of GC-Inside, a Japanese GameCube site, announced this morning that he has decided to shut down his site. The website was started in October of 2000, and has been running strong since. Best wishes to Mr. Cube and his future. Nintendo of America announced this morning that they are looking for 50 people to display the Nintendo GameCube and GameBoy Advance at malls, concerts, and fairs. The job pays $100 a day from July to August. Candidates must be at least 18-years-old and must fill out an application and create a two-minute video explaining why they deserve the job. Applications must be sent in between May 13 and June 14, and can be found on the official Web site at www.nintendostreetteam.com. Titus Software Corp. announced that they will be developing "Barbarian", a hybrid of action/adeventure, fighting, and role-playing elements. The game is set to be released on GameCube and Xbox. A release date has yet to be announced. Rockstar Games announced today that they will be releasing Smuggler's Run: Warzone for Nintendo GameCube. The game is set for a July 2002 release date. Updated: 4/29/2002 Midway, Warner Bros. Consumer Products, and DC Comics signed a deal earlier today to publish video games based on the "Justice League" comic book franchise on multiple platforms. Encore, Inc. announced today an agreement granting THQ international PAL publishing rights for Dragon's Lair 3D and Daredevil. Both games are slated for a 2002 release. Updated: 4/27/2002 Ubi Soft announced today that they will be developing a third-person shooter game based on the upcoming motion picture, based on Tom Clancy's newest book, The Sum of All Fears for all next-generation consoles. The game immerses players in the middle of a high-stakes adventure as members of an FBI elite hostage rescue team reassigned to track down the conspirators of a major plot against the United States. Environments in the game include West Virginia, the Middle East, South Africa, and more. The game is due out Q4 2002 on GameCube in the US. At midnight last night, Nintendo of Europe began promoting the GameCube laaunch by placing three 7 foot high/wide/deep glass cubes in 3 different cities in the United Kingdom. The glass cubes contain people doing assorted acts, such as dancing, singing, and acting. The cubes will be on display until May 3rd, when the GameCube launched in Europe. Updated: 4/26/2002 The new issue of EGM revealed this in their Quarterman Game Gossip column: "Konami will be unwrapping Silent Hill 3 and a new Contra probably by the time you read this....". More on the Contra situation as it comes. The official Super Mario Sunshine Japanese website was launched today. On it, a few more details about the game were revealed. Apparently, the pump on Mario's back will be given a name. Secondly, a rough translation of the island's name reads "Dolpic Island". This name could change in the US version of the game. Nintendo of Japan FINALLY revealed its online plans for the GameCube today. You can find a rough outline of Nintendo's plans at Nintendojo.com. While Nintendo Power, Nintendo's official magazine, has always ignored reviewing "M" rated games, what with the upcoming Resident Evil and Eternal Darkness games, NP has decided to change it's stance on only reviewing "family friendly software". Updated: 4/25/2002 The newest issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly revealed that a new Star Wars game, tentatively titled "Clone Wars", for GameCube and PS2. The game is being developed by Pandemic Studios and will be a 3D vehicular-combat game(Rogue Leader, but on wheels). Capcom announced today that they will be making several revisions on Resident Evil 4 over the previous versions of the game. Revisions include completely revamped controls, shorter loading phases between new areas, a new menu structure, and more. Radica Games Ltd. announced earlier today that they will be developing a game based on the upcoming Men in Black II movie for GCN, GBA, PS2, and Xbox. Hollywood Reporter revealed today that Blockbuster Video will be getting more serious about video games very soon. For example, they will offer extensive rental programs for certain games and actually sell video game consoles. Acclaim announced today that it has re-signed BMX superstar Dave Mirra in a exclusive 5-year deal. Expect new Mirra games to be announced in the near future. After being released from it's contract with Interplay last week, Shiny Entertainment announced today that they have been bought out by UK-giant, Infogrames, to be one of it's subsidaries. Shiny Entertainment owns the rights to games such as Earthworm Jim, MDK, Matrix: Reloaded, and Matrix: Revolutions. EA announced today that Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 will be coming to GameCube, PS2, Xbox, and PC. The popular racing/car chase series will include 5 different modes of play: Quick Race, Single Challenge Championship, Hot Pursuit, and Top Cop - a chance to play the role of the cops by competing in over 30 different events - a mode exclusively for the GameCube, Xbox, and PC versions of the game. Updated: 4/24/2002 Several German websites are posting that Konami is working on a new Contra game for GameCube, tentatively titled "New Contra". Konami has yet to confirm this, so this should only be taken as a rumor...for now. Updated: 4/23/2002 Free Radical released the first ever screenshots of TimeSplitters 2 for GameCube today. Acclaim launched their offical website for ZooCube today. The website has the first-ever footage of the unique 3D puzzler, some new story details, and links to pre-order the game. Updated: 4/22/2002 Nintendo Dream, a Japanese gaming mag, revealed today a list of plans from manufacturers. According to the list, Resident Evil 4 will be a 3-disc game. This is great news considering Capcom's Resident Evil 1 for GameCube is a 2-disc game. Capcom has yet to confirm this. Dolby Laboratories announced today that they and Factor 5 will be developing Dolby's Surround Pro Logic II technology via Factor 5's MusyX development tool, which is offered excluseively to Nintendo. What this means is that DPL II hardware is available to ALL Nintendo developers now. Sting, creator of the Dreamcast RPGs Evolution I & II, released new information regarding the GameCube version of the game. They said that Evolution Worlds will feature updated graphics and gameplay. The released date for the game is July 26 in Japan, but no release date has been issued for a US release. Ubi Soft is expected to publish the game in the US. Nintendo of Australia announced today that the price of the GameCube at their launch on May 17, will be $329. Nintendo says the reason for this price drop is to stay ahead of Xbox. No word yet on a price drop in the US. Nintendo of Europe announced today that the price of the GameCube at launch will be £199(appx. $177 USD). That's a full $100 cheaper than Microsoft's Xbox. Yoshi DeHerrera, a resident techie on TechTV's Screen Savers, announced today that he has built the ultimate gaming machine. Unfortunately, to own Yoshi's Boxx, you have to build it youself. The systems installed in the machine include an Atari 2600, NES, Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, Sony PS2, and a custom PC. Various online sources are saying that Amusement Vision is already working on Super Monkey Ball 2. The game is supposedly due out Fall 2002. Updated: 4/21/2002 According to Quiter, a Japanese gaming site, HAL Laboratory(creators of SSB series) are working on a new game for GameCube which is due out March 2003. Rumor has it that it could be a new Kirby game. Japanese gaming mag, Famitsu, interviewed Vivarium(the company that developed Seaman) in their latest issue. In it, when asked about Nintendo, Vivarium responded that they are collaborating with Nintendo on creating a game utilizing the Seaman engine and mechanics. Anything concerning the game in unknown as the mystery game is still in planning stages. Rumor has it that it could be a new Hey You, Pikachu! game with a microphone. Updated: 4/19/2002 IGN recently contacted Nintendo of America regarding the Mario X and Final Fantasy sections on their website. Nintendo assured that Mario X and Final Fantasy are NOT confirmed titles, and that Nintendo's official website was simply doing some site testing and created some fictional test pages. Ubi Soft revealed earlier today that they will be developing a third-person shooter game based on Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell for all next-generation consoles. The game takes place in a realistic, highly-detailed geopolitical universe of Tom Clancy. The game features cyber-terrorism, shadow agencies, and covert operations. The game is due out Q1 2003 on GameCube. Rumors are flying that a new Mario and Zelda game will be revealed at E3 this year. Denbeki magazine will supposedly have info on the 2 games in their next issue. Rumor also has it that NST will be developing the Zelda game, which is interesting, because NST recently stated that they will be revealing something at E3. In the UK's new Nintendo Official Magazine, the plot for Metroid Prime was finally revealed. "The story sees Samus back in the firing line, picking up where the classic SNES adventure left off. After following orders from the 'Supreme Committee' of the galaxy and demolishing the Metroid fortress on planet Zebes, it was believed that Samus had destroyed the alien threat. However, fragments of Zebes were scattered across the cosmos and, when a meteor crash landed on the world of Taron, a hibernating Metroid hidden inside the planetary fragment was set free." Updated: 4/18/2002 Monolithic System Technology(MoSys), the company who created the "Dolphin" chip for GameCube, reported today that they have had a 293% increase in net income and 40% in revenue since Q1 last year. Rareware OFFICIALLY confirmed today that they are NOT currently working on Killer Instinct 3 for GameCube or any other system. Famitsu reported today that Namco will be releasing 2 new versions of Mr. Driller for GameCube and GameBoy Advance. Updated: 4/17/2002 The newest CSFB report was released today, and GameCube is still ahead of Xbox and PS2 in terms of hardware sales. All hardware sales were down the past week though. Sony sold 57,000 PS2 units in the week down from 65,000 last week. Microsoft sold 24,000 Xbox hardware units, down from 28,000 last week. Nintendo sold 30,000 Gamecube units, down from 32,000 units last week. Game Boy Advance sold 73,000 units, down from 116,000 last week. Some may have heard that Majesco will be changing their name to "Argon Interactive", but Majesco confirmed today that they have put the name change on hold due to legal issues. ESRB's website posted information on 2 new, previously unknown games. The first is "Zelda Universe"(GC), which could be the new name for the cel-shaded GC Zelda title. The other GC title was "Pichu Brothers: Party Panic", some sort of Pokemon title for GameCube. LucasArts announced today that they will be developing a WW II flight combat game for al next-gen systems and PC. The game is due out Fall 2003. Updated: 4/16/2002 Nintendo's website posted earlier today 3 very odd titles: "Super Mario World X"(GC), "Final Fantasy"(GC), and "BattleBots"(GBA). The Super Mario World X webpage has pictures of non-Mario characters such as Kirby. Also, the ESRB rating for SMW X has a note that says the game has use of tobacco and alcohol. Rumor has it that Super Mario World X is Super Mario Sunshine. More details as they come. Planet GameCube confirmed today that neither Square nor Enix will be showing any GameCube or GBA games and E3 2002. Rumor has it that they could announce or show something at SpaceWorld 2002 in August or the Tokyo Games Show in September. Activision confirmed today that Treyarch(one of it's subsidaries) will be developing the upcoming Spielberg movie, "Minority Report", into a game for all next-generation systems. Updated: 4/15/2002 Rumor has it that Rare might be going multiplatform in the near future. Expect the answer to this question at E3 2002, 15 days from now. Capcom Japan released today the first 2 screenshots EVER of Resident Evil 0 for GameCube. LucasArts announced today that they have obtained publishing rights on the highly coveted action/strategy game, Wrath, from The Collective, Inc. The game is due out on all major consoles sometime in 2003. Updated: 4/11/2002 TDK Interactive officially announced "Robotech: Battlecry" for all major platforms today. Release date is currently unknown. Updated: 4/10/2002 Nintendo released its newest forecast for a net profit of USD $841 million, which is up form the USD $611 million forecast made in November. Nintendo's previous record fiscal year garnered Nintendo a profit of $738 million. Despite the net profit increase, Nintendo LOWERED its estimate to USD $4.2 billion (from $4.4)due to the GBA price drop and GameCube game delays. Months ago, a new TV network was announced, the "G4" Network. The G4 Network is a 24-hour network by gamers for gamers. If youyr cable company doesn't carry it(and it probably won't if you don't have satellite), be sure to contact them and ask them to carry it. The network launches in 2 weeks. Take-Two Interactive announced today that they are developing Conflict: Desert Storm for all platforms. The game is expected out at the end of 2002. GC-Inside revealed more information today regarding Capcom vs SNK 2 for GameCube today. The official title of the game will be "Capcom VS SNK 2 EO". The price of the game is unknown, but the game is indeed set for a Japan release date in July. GC-Inside revealed today that Amazon.com in Japan(amazon.co.jp) is already taking pre-orders on Super Mario Sunshine. If you live in Japan, and you pre-order, you get 5% off, which means you'll end up paying about ¥6460(appx. $50 US). Updated: 4/9/2002 Since motocross games seem to be all the range nowadays, Activision is jumping on the band wagon as usual and plans on releasing Travis Pastrana's Pro MotoX for all platforms, supposedly due out before the end of the year. BBC News released an article earlier today regarding the pre-order situation of the Nintendo GameCube. Around 25,000 GameCubes have been pre-ordered in the UK alone, with similar numbers popping up all over Europe. Nintendo expects these numbers to double before May, when the 'Cube launches in Europe. Keep in mind the UK only accounts for 1/10 of the total allocation of Europe. Updated: 4/8/2002 Marvel signed a deal with THQ today that allows them to produce games based on Marvel liscenses through 2007. The first Marvel superheroes to be turned into video games in this deal include Spider Man, X-Men, Captain America, The Punisher, and Nick Fury. Updated: 4/7/2002 ToonZone revealed today that the 3rd cartoon 4Kids managed to gain liscensing for is CONFIRMED to be the Kirby anime. The show and 52 episodes in it's entirety, and will air on Saturday mornings on Fox Kids this coming Fall. It was also confirmed that "Ultraman Tiagra" will not be a cartoon, but rather live action. Updated: 4/6/2002 Steven Kent wrote a editorial for MSNBC.com recently, in which he talked about Nintendo's more mature side(i.e. Resident Evil, Eternal Darkness). Check it out. Updated: 4/5/2002 Activision announced today "Minority Report" for GameCube, a game based on the Tom Cruise movie. 4Kids Entertainment announced today that they will be creating 3 new Saturday morning cartoon shows based on Nintendo characters on Fox Kids. The first 2 are animes from Japan: Kinnikuman, about superhero wrestlers; and Ultraman Tiga, about futuristic monsters. The 3rd show has yet to be announced, however, rumor has it that it could be a cartoon based on Pikmin. Sega PR announced today that the PS2 version of the Skies of Arcadia DC port is being delayed past March 2003. The GameCube version is still set for a release before March, possibly even before the end of this year. Rage, one of the UK's top game developers, announced an inline skating game called "Rolling" and and new game based on the upcoming "Rocky" movie for GameCube. Updated: 4/3/2002 E3Expo.com released a list of game designers who will be speaking at E3 this year. Notable figures include: Yu Suzuki(AM2), Will Wright(Maxis), Hideo Kojima(Konami), and many, many more. Sonic Team recently answered a few questions regarding PSO Ep. 1 & 2. They said that the modem will be sold separately and also in a bundle pack, they have yet to determine the price of the PSO keyboard and modem, and that the trial version of PSO will not have broadband. Updated: 4/2/2002 Despite rumors, Silicon Knights announced today that Eternal Darkness will only be on 1 disc, and also that ED will indeed be HDTV compatible. Activision announced today that they have bought out Shaba Games, and will be using the newly acquired rights to develop Shaun Murray's Pro Wakeboarder for Nintendo GameCube. Denis Dyack of Silicon Knights announced today that Eternal Darkness will only require 15 blocks of memory. Denis Dyack, President of Silicon Knights, announced today at the Nintendo Gamers Summit, that Nintendo and Silicon Knights believe that Eternal Darkness is the game that will drop the "kiddy console" moniker it has unfairly gained over the years. Updated: 4/1/2002 Nintendo Vice President of Marketing George Harrison announced at the Nintendo Gamers Summit today that there could be a price drop on GameCube. He did say that there would be NO price drop in GCN software. The Nintendo Gamers Summit 2002 was held today in Seattle, Washington. At the Summit, Nintendo showed 2 new movies of Super Mario Sunshine and Metroid Prime. There were also playable versions of ED, Lost Kingdoms(Rune), Spiderman, Resident Evil, and more. Nintendo issued a press release today concerning the upcoming Eternal Darkness movie, being developed by film entertainment company Hypnotic. The movie will be a short film and will be posted on Eternaldarknessfilms.com on May 23 for viewing.