ravedaddy writes: "We've all seen the hype over the Sony PS2 and Microsoft X-box but things have been fairly quiet on Nintendo's front. So will Nintendo's GameCube pack a punch powerful enough to pound its competitors in overall sales and immersing game play? We won't know for another six months, but the authors of this preview piece were able to sit down with one of Nintendo's partners, ATI Technologies, to discuss some of the specifications of the GameCube and how its architecture is designed to compete. There is quite a bit of info on the 'flipper' 3D chip from ATI in there."

Some things to think about for ... international domain name purchasers; airline pilots with heavy 401K investments in Motorola, those whose religions forbid the purchase of Sony video game consoles; cracked-website fetishists / voyeurs. And of course, anyone else who wants to read them. More below. [timothy whips himself:] As rjh points out, it's not the FBI that raided Steve Jackson, but rather the Secret Service.

It's backpedaling time when it comes to the alleged Sega / Nintendo joint venture ... just goes to show how easy it is to get signals crossed in a business where no fact is necessarily stranger than fiction. Words from our recent FBI visitee. More Lego madness too, combining modern technology with that funny smile that haunts even we scoffers. All below -- smile!

Blond_buzzkill writes "Twin Galaxies has this article introducing the IES and comparing it to the other consoles. Most informative, however, is a chart comparing the Indrema's hardware to the Xbox and the Playstation 2. The article also says the IES will go on sale in Spring 2001, a bit ahead of either Gamecube or Xbox." I'm still pretty excited to see what comes of Indrema. I'm still waiting for the converged media box, and they've got as good of a shot as anyone.

Recently you asked Indrema founder John Gildred about the Linux-based console system his company plans to introduce. Here's what he has to say about its hackability, strategy, developers and more -- thanks for the in-depth answers, John.

Mark Programmer writes: "After several months of secrecy, Nintendo finally unveiled their new GAMECUBE system at the Spaceworld 2000 Expo in Japan. While many companies had new systems out for display, Nintendo was one of the few to have an actual playable demo involving 128 fully-rendered independent Marios shoving each other around in real-time. Check out these screenshots or (if you've got the bandwidth) download the demo movie. (By the way, whenever you see GAMECUBE in print, it's in ALL CAPS. I guess that's because Nintendo likes to PLAY IT LOUD.) *grin*"