Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a GamerFeed article translating an interview with former Nintendo boss Hiroshi Yamauchi about the state of gaming. The legendary Yamauchi is customarily dismissive about Sony's attempts to get into handheld gaming with the PSP ("I don't think [Sony] understand the game business... but software for both machines will be much different, and it would be a mistake to consider them in direct competition."), and also offers a different perspective on slipping GameCube sales ("Sales of GameCube software fell short in North America and Europe last year, and I believe that's due to the popularity of violent games on other consoles. The culture of Japan is much different and less accepting of such titles. Our target market is the entire world, so it's very difficult to develop software that appeals to everyone.")

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to The Magic Box's item indicating that Midway are publishing a PS2/Xbox/GameCube title called Midway Arcade Treasures this fall. According to the site, "..the compilation will contain the following classic arcade games: Spy Hunter, Defender II, Gauntlet, Joust, Paperboy, Rampage, Marble Madness, Robotron 2084, Smash TV, Joust 2, Bubbles, Road Blasters, Rampart, Sinistar, Super Sprint, 720, Toobin', Klax, Splat!, Satan's Hollow and Vindicators. In addition, the compilation will include interviews with the creators and developers of these games."

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Bloomberg story discussing Microsoft's price drop to $179 for the Xbox console in Asia, excluding Japan (which is still retailing the console for 24,800 yen, or just over $200.) According to the article, "Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft is lowering the price of the Xbox to make it more competitive against Sony's PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Co.'s GameCube in Asia where it has struggled with low demand and software piracy." Some software is also being reduced in price, and the piece also quotes a Japanese analyst as suggesting: "The move may be aimed at getting ahead of PlayStation 2 before the game machine becomes fully popular in the region.. the Asian video-game market is still at an early stage and even PlayStation 2 sales are not that big yet."

Thanks to Shacknews for pointing to the McDonalds USA homepage, which features information about their available-from-today Happy Meal giveaway, featuring a choice of 6 simple, Sega-themed Game and Watch-ish handheld games. These include the Sonic Action Game, Tails Sky Patrol, and there's even a playable online demo for the AiAi's Banana Catch handheld, starring the lovable Super Monkey Ball simian. In the absence of any new hardware from Sega, these plastic imitations will have to suffice - they're available until July 24th in the U.S.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing out GamePro's article describing former Capcom boss Yoshiki Okamoto's plans to found a new game development company. You may know Okamoto as "..the designer of Time Pilot, Gyruss (both for Konami), 1942, Final Fight, Street Fighter II, and many other classic Capcom arcade and home titles", and more recently as the producer of the Resident Evil series. According to GamePro, "..his departure from his employer of 19 years was seen by analysts as acceptance of responsibility for disappointing sales for the Resident Evil series", which had dipped since Capcom's single-minded decision to opt for GameCube exclusivity in 2001.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a GamePro report claiming that Acclaim Entertainment is dropping support for the Gamecube. The article quotes UK trade magazine MCV's interview with new Acclaim CEO Rod Cousens, who says "Why should we develop for platforms that don't deliver profits for us? We will still support the PS2 and Xbox, but Nintendo? No, not in the foreseeable future." Reportedly, this won't be true for the handful of in-development GameCube conversions at the troubled publisher, but these harsh words seem to imply that further Burnout sequels, amongst others, will not be coming to GameCube. Update: 06/23 22:08 GMT by S : Planet GameCube got an official comment from the publisher which says "Acclaim will now evaluate each title and decide which system(s) it best fits", but it's clear the CEO is still very down on GameCube.

boredme asks: "With the free time I'll have this summer, I thought I'd get in some quality couch-potato time. I'm married, no children, and our Playstation2 is nice because it can be both more interactive than TV and more social than a computer since it's in the living room. The problem is that the vast majority of two player games are sports or arena fighting games that only allow confrontational interaction; since I have a dozen extra years experience gaming, these competitive games get old very quickly for both of us. What suggestions for cooperative, (not online) multiplayer games do the Slashdot folks have?" Along a similar vein, the Gauntlet games (available for most platforms) offer similar opportunities for co-operative play, but no other titles come to mind right now. What co-op games do you have fun with that you can play using a single console?

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Gamers.com article showcasing new screenshots and details from Super Mario Advance 4 for GameBoy Advance. This title, which is a portable revival of the classic NES title Super Mario Brothers 3 with the higher quality visuals of the SNES Super Mario All-Stars version, will also have e-Reader connectivity, and a recent IGN Pocket preview claims "players can transfer the data from e-Reader to the game... to upload brand new levels and challenges", though, logically enough, "you'll need two GBAs (or a Game Boy Player [for Gamecube] and a GBA) to take advantage of this feature."

EGSonikku writes "Costis has released his PSOLoad (for Win32) tool, which takes advantage of an exploit in the GameCube game Phantasy Star Online to upload and run code on a totally unmodified GameCube. A demo is included, and you can build your own GameCube binaries using Torlus' GCC build." Although it still has the potential for misuse, this could have more positive ramifications than trying to copy existing games.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to an IGN Cube story summarizing the new features in the Japanese expanded re-release of sleeper Gamecube hit Animal Crossing. These include brand new features such as "..upgraded animal designs.. all-new events added.. more than 100 additional items.. visit the island without a GBA.. take photos of village life, store on SD Cards, and print using photo printers", and a number of features previously only found in the US version of the game. Gamers.com has some new screenshots of this release, which follows the pattern of titles such as Kingdom Hearts:Final Mix in exporting US-release improvements back to Japan in a 'special edition'. Although non-Japanese Animal Crossing fans may be looking hopefully for this expansion, a release outside Japan seems unlikely, and the poor Europeans still don't have the original Gamecube version.

Mister.de writes "An online piracy group called "StarCube" has made ISO's of games like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker available for download on the net. They are not publicly available to everyone, but are said to be hosted on private warez FTP sites. As of yet (6/14/2003) there is no way to actually play the games after burning to a mini-disc, but reliable sources say that there will be a hack for the GameCube released soon so that these illegal copies can be played. Also rumors do have it that the copied games can be played on the Panasonic GameCube, but that is unconfirmed. " The story came from Console-Gods originally.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to the Planet GameCube interview with Julian Eggebrecht of Factor 5, developers of Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike. The interview covers the multiple-vehicles-in-one-mission gameplay of this promising Gamecube sequel ("There is a mission in which you get out of an AT-ST, run to an AT-AT and capture that"), deals with the important issue of whether you can shoot Ewoks ("Ewoks? Why would you want to shoot them? They are so cute... Let me put it this way: If you could shoot them I am sure it is a bug and not an intended feature"), and also mentions the game's movies will be in DivX, using Factor 5's own console DivX utilities.

Thanks to the Gaming-Age forum regulars for pointing to an interview with David Hayter, the voice of Metal Gear Solid's Solid Snake, over at OperationMGS.com. The chat covers what Hayter, also the successful screenwriter of both X-Men movies, thought of the two games so far ("..the game play in the second game is superior to the first, I think, but I think I like the story of the first better than the second"), and also mentions that he's recorded new voiceovers for the updated version of the original MGS, Metal Gear:The Twin Snakes for Gamecube, but is tantalizingly coy on details ("Everything we did for the remake just made the game better.")

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to an IGN.com review of the GameBoy Player for Gamecube. As the article says, "The GameBoy Player is a GameCube peripheral that plugs into the bottom of the system, and enables gamers to play any one of the thousands of GameBoy, GameBoy Color, and GameBoy Advance games released over the past 14 years." As well as being bundled with the Gamecube hardware starting June 23rd, this peripheral will be available separately on the same date, and it's particularly cool that you can control games with "either the GameCube controllers, or a GameBoy Advance system plugged in using the GameCube GameBoy Advance link cable."

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to N-Sider's in-depth coverage of the forthcoming Gamecube FPS, Geist. This title was shown at E3, but the article goes into a lot more detail than most about the game, which is being co-developed by N-Space and Nintendo. Geist is described as "..a hybrid title that combines the fast-paced action and perspective of a traditional first person shooter with stealth-based game play and a unique new mechanic: the ability to 'possess' other characters in the game." Perhaps not unique, since Shiny's Messiah did something similar, but with competitive-looking graphics and multiple ways around problems ("while watching people play the demo, I noticed no one person played it the same"), it's possible that some of the developer's earlier titles may be improved upon.

Daetrin writes "The Magic Box is reporting that Square Enix will be releasing both Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles and Final Fantasy X-2 in America on the same day. Perhaps they figure any Americans who can afford both a PS2 and a GameCube should also be able to afford putting down the cash for both games at the same time? Usually competing against yourself isn't the best business plan." Square Insider also confirms this. I'm a huge Final Fantasy nut, and I have both a GameCube and a PS2, but I'm sure I don't have the time to play both games simultaneously, and I bet there's a lot of people who fall into this same category.

Thanks to Shacknews for pointing to a new Gamespot hands-on preview of Buffy The Vampire Slayer:Chaos Bleeds, and another hands-on preview at IGN. This Eurocom-developed follow-up to last year's The Collective-developed (and distinctly under-rated) Buffy The Vampire Slayer title for Xbox will, this time round, be available for Gamecube, PS2, and Xbox. IGN seems to think a lot of the title ("..even if you don't give a hoot about the Buffy universe, rarely does such a capable, well-rounded game come round that also retains a firmly established TV series at its core.") and Gamespot, though more reserved, also thinks it looks promising. And, of course, Buffy fans worldwide are salivating now they know Sid the dummy is a playable character.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Gamesindustry.biz article describing Nintendo's attempts to stop European retailers importing Gamecube/GBA games. According to the piece, "..cease and desist orders have been issued to a number of independent retailers by Nintendo this week, demanding that they stop selling imported Nintendo titles and supply details of their suppliers." With handheld titles such as Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire lacking regional lock-outs, and even US/Japanese Gamecube games being playable with the help of Freeloader, Nintendo are clearly worried about imported titles taking away from native European sales, but as Gamesindustry.biz points out, "..the move will prevent [consumers] from playing titles which Nintendo of Europe has failed to release in this territory, such as the highly acclaimed Animal Crossing."

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Gamepro article announcing Gamecube remakes of classic HudsonSoft games, including Bonk's Adventure (BC Kid) and Adventure Island. According to the article, "Bonk and Adventure Island are the latest in Hudson's new Japan-only GC budget library. The series is set to debut in Japan on July 10 with the release of two games: Star Soldier and Cubic Lode Runner." Sadly, there's no news on US release dates yet.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a new Nintendojo editorial entitled 'The Nintendo Indifference' This noticably bitter editorial on the state of the Big N begins: "I bought my GameCube with the expectation of the delivery of the promise of innovation, and you failed to deliver. Worst of all, I don't forget. Because of your misleading statements, it's time for a reckoning, Nintendo. You owe me." Has Nintendo really "failed to be innovative as a first party developer for their console", or did the writer of this editorial just get out of bed on the wrong side?