Thanks to the Warp Pipe Project for their announcement that they've released a Windows alpha of their GameCube tunnelling software, which allows previously LAN-only games such as Kirby Air Ride and the forthcoming Mario Kart: Double Dash to be played over the Internet. The site will post the Linux alpha soon, but warns that all versions of the utility are unoptimized: "Be advised that half frame rate was attained by two people with a fairly good connection and not much in between." Elsewhere, Nintendo are ramping up the Japanese version of Club Nintendo with exclusive merchandise for frequent game buyers, detailed at IGN Cube, and including exclusive T-shirts, posters, and soundtracks, but not yet the amazing-looking Famicom/NES 20th Anniversary calendar recently acquired at Nokonoko.net.

Thanks to 1UP for their impressions of the GameCube Japanese import, Atsumare! Made in Wario, the budget-price multiplayer conversion of Nintendo's popular/crazy mini-game fest, Wario Ware Inc. for Game Boy Advance. The reviewer makes the context clear: "This isn't the sequel to Wario Ware. It isn't even Wario Ware 1.5. It's just a multiplayer version of Wario Ware", but nonetheless raves: "It's a total blast to play, even if you've spent months playing through the GBA game and perfecting your scores on all the microgames." IGN Cube also have hands-on impressions of the game's many multiplayer modes, which even allow "...up to 16 players to compete on an alternating basis", while 1UP mention U.S. availability for Wario Ware GC is likely, but not yet confirmed.

Thanks to GameSpot for their review of Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike for the GameCube, rating the Factor 5-developed sequel that arrives in stores this week. GameSpot pronounce it a qualified success, saying "the parts of the game that stick to airborne and space combat are quite solid", but "the on-foot missions... [are] where Rebel Strike really falters." With the title including "a cooperative two-player version of Rogue Leader in its entirety", and IGN also being somewhat positive, recommending the "superb two-player cooperative mode" as "an absolute must play", although suggesting "if you were only a casual fan of the last [game in the series]... you [should] rent first", is this what you'd consider a good use of the Star Wars license?

Thanks to the Gaming-Age forum regulars for pointing out that the GameCube hardware bundle, including classic Zelda titles will have a November 18th retail release at a $99 price point, according to the EBGames site. This means the hardware bundle, including bonus disc "containing multiple classic Zelda titles" (specifically The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and a demo of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker) will now arrive in stores on the same day as Mario Kart: Double Dash, another eagerly-awaited Nintendo title.

An anonymous reader writes "GamesIndustry.biz has the scoop that Datel will be launching an alternative GameBoy Advance player for the GameCube, an unofficial third-party device that plugs into the memory slot of the GameCube. The Advance Game Port will be smaller than the official GameBoy Player, and play GBA games only, but is cheaper (30 GBP) then the Nintendo version (40 GBP)." No word on US release, but it's interesting to speculate/dream that Datel could theoretically make devices to adapt other Nintendo systems to GameCube.

chadlnx writes "With the Stateside release of Kirby Air Ride, the first LAN-based game for the GameCube, the Warp Pipe Project is in the process of releasing source which allows users to play the game over a WAN on Linux. Development has slowed in recent weeks, but the team is working on porting to libPcap for maximum portablity. A basic stable release for both Windows and Linux is targeted for the release of the GameCube's second LAN-based game, Mario Kart: Double Dash, which ships on November 17th."

Thanks to Reuters for their story that Nintendo have purchased over 1 million Bandai shares, making them one of Gundam creator and toy/game/film company Bandai's top 10 shareholders. A spokesman "...said Nintendo, the maker of GameCube home video consoles, which did not own any shares in Bandai as of March, has no intention of acquiring the toymaker", but GamesAreFun relay Japanese tabloid rumors that "a full-on merger between the two groups could take place sometime in the future." But it may be more likely, Video-Fenky points out, that "it's a move on Nintendo's part to win Bandai closer to their side and get them to release Gundam and Super Robot Taisen games... on their machine."

Thanks to 1UP for their interview with Denis Dyack of GameCube developers Silicon Knights, as he discusses former product Eternal Darkness and forthcoming conversion Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. Dyack advances the theory that "...you'll see more collaborations, you're going to see a lot of mergers with developers... When they standardized the movie camera in, say, 1950, all the movie companies that told good stories became dominant, the major players that we know now... The same thing is going to happen in our industry." He further suggests that standardization of gaming hardware platform is "inevitable", saying "commoditization of technology" is coming to games, and comments: "Nintendo as a group has always emphasized the content of games, because that's where we think the value is, and we think that's what will become dominant."

Thanks to Game Informer for their hands-on impressions of Super Mario Advance 4 for GameBoy Advance, as the 20th October U.S. release nears for this handheld remake of Super Mario Bros 3, which GI suggest is "...probably the best platformer of the 8-bit generation, and also the best-selling video game in the United States of all time, across any platform." The game features e-Reader compatibility, "...where you can add new levels, power-ups, and level demonstrations by scanning in e-Cards", but unfortunately, "you will need two GBA devices" to use the e-Reader capabilities properly. IGN has an enthusiastic review of the game, mentioning Nintendo "will reportedly even create [e-Reader] cards featuring levels from the original Super Mario Bros. game", and elsewhere in the Mario franchise, French site GameKult has many new screenshots from the GameCube title Mario Party 5, due out Stateside on the 11th November.

Thanks to GameSpot for their report that Ubisoft has won the current round in a battle against EA and its alleged 'poaching' of Ubisoft Canada's employees. According to the article, "The Quebec Court of Appeals upheld Ubisoft's temporary restraining order that sought to prevent four former Ubisoft employees hired by Electronic Arts Montreal from working while a larger case is litigated." The piece goes on to explain: "That larger case accuses the four former Splinter Cell developers with violating non-compete clauses allegedly signed when they first took up employment at Ubisoft."

Thanks to 1UP for their feature discussing important videogame developers to watch out for, as they list "...fifty people in the game industry - some you've likely heard of, many you've not - who we think will help define gaming the most in the next twelve months." As well as the John Carmacks and Warren Spectors of this world, notably overlooked figures on the list include Julian Eggebrecht of Factor 5 ("Eggebrecht's team is one of the few out there that actually try to tax the GameCube to its limits") and Yasumi Matsuno of Square Enix ("..the director of Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy Tactics... [now] directing Final Fantasy XII.")

An anonymous reader submits: "Cube Hacker is reporting that a new network loader has been released which allows you to execute retail code by exploiting a known bug in Sega's online game, Phantasy Star Online. Obviously piracy is not condoned but this certainly opens the door for future home-brew development! Linux on GameCube anyone?" Update: 10/13 23:33 GMT by S : Previous update removed, due to it only referencing retail titles.

Londovir writes "Could Nintendo soon be sharing shelf space at the $99 rack? According to an article on IGN.com, an internal source at Target claims to have received printed fliers with the Playstation 2 listed at $99. If you remember from an earlier story from September, it was an advance newspaper ad from Target (again), as well as a leaked scan of a Wal-Mart ad, that told the world about the GameCube's price before it happened. Given how the GameCube is outselling the PS2 & XBox - would a price drop so low be so unexpected? One last tidbit to contemplate: Sony is ready to roll the manufacturing plants for their smaller 90 nanometer PS2 CPU. Maybe that price drop isn't so unbelievable after all..."

Thanks to Reuters for the news that Nintendo have recaptured the top of the videogame software charts for the first half of the business year in Japan. According to the piece, "Konami, which shoved Nintendo aside in the April-September period last year thanks to its popular soccer game [the Winning Eleven series], slipped to No.2", as the two companies "sold a total 3.1 million and 2.9 million units respectively", with Super Mario Advance 4 and Wario Ware, Inc particular sales highlights for Nintendo. The story also notes: "As for hardware, sales of Microsoft's Xbox game console remained in a slump in Japan, selling only 28,656 units, well below Sony's PlayStation 2 at 1.1 million and Nintendo's GameCube at 319,037."

Thanks to Gamesindustry.biz for their story that the GameCube outsold the PlayStation 2 by 20 per cent in the U.S. last week, as well as "racking up more than twice the sales of the Xbox - with a 145 per cent lead over Microsoft's console", following the GameCube price cut to $99 of a couple of weeks back. The piece suggests "we'd expect to see the console slip behind the PS2 in the rankings next week", but also argues that "...unless Microsoft reacts to the recent price-cuts, it could be outsold by the Cube this Christmas in the USA, as Nintendo rolls out one of its strongest ever ranges of first and third party titles."

Thanks to IGN Cube for their interview with Viewtiful Joe's creator, Atsushi Inaba, as the GameCube 2D platform-action title ships to U.S. stores. He discusses the choice of platform ("we figured for Japan, as well as America, that GameCube had the kind of hardcore action gamers that would want to play the game"), and comments on the influence of Joe's 'interesting' fashion sense ("honestly, I don't think American men or Japanese men are interested in dressing in more pink!") Reviews from GameSpot and from IGN are effusive, backing up earlier glowing import reviews, with GameSpot commenting that Viewtiful Joe "...manages to simultaneously recall the simpler times of 2D platforming action games while modernizing the genre in several major ways." Update: 10/07 15:01 GMT by S : There's also a set of reviews on the brand-new Ziff Davis site, 1UP.com.

Thanks to IGN Cube for confirming that the GameCube hardware will soon be bundled with a Legend Of Zelda bonus disc, containing multiple classic Zelda titles. According to the piece, which comes with "recently released artwork to retailers" as proof of the (pre-Xmas?) bundle: "The disc will feature The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and a demo of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker." It's currently unknown if the disc will be offered stand-alone, though IGN speculatively "...hope we'll also see it as a bonus for those who order The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords."

Thanks to Kikizo for their article discussing Phantasy Star Online Episode 3: C.A.R.D Revolution's showing at the Tokyo Game Show, where it was "one of the most popular playable games." PSOWorld has a detailed FAQ page on this forthcoming GameCube RPG, which offers "strategic combat using a turn-based card system." They also carry news of a special PSO Online Trilogy box set in Japan, and confirm that on PSO Ep.3's November Japanese release, the monthly subscription fees for the other Phantasy Star Online titles "...will carry over and work for PSO Ep.3, meaning no additional fee for Ep.3." The same may be true for the US release in Q1 2004, although Western response seems muted thus far - is this where you want to see the Phantasy Star series going?

Daetrin writes "As reported by CNN/Reuters, Nintendo announced that they expect a net loss for the first half of the financial year, from April through September. Nintendo claims this is mainly due to exchange rates, as the yen has appreciated against foreign currencies during that period. This is reported as the first loss for Nintendo since its establishment. The projection for the full fiscal year was reduced to a [still significant] net profit of about $542 million U.S. Nintendo also announced further price cuts in other territories to follow the cut to $99 in the U.S.: 'Beginning on October 10, the console will have a suggested retail price of 79 pounds (approximately $131.8 U.S.) in Britain, and 99 euros (approximately $115.4 U.S.) in continental Europe. The new price of the GameCube in Japan is now 14,000 yen (approximately $126.5 U.S.)'"

Thanks to Nintendojo for revealing new details regarding the previously rumored, Namco/Nintendo co-produced GameCube-exclusive rhythm game, Donkey Konga. The site has pictures of the "new Congo Drum peripheral dubbed as 'Barrel Konga Drums'" which will be shipping with the game, and the 4-player, 32 music-track title may include the Super Mario Bros theme alongside "Latin beats, pop music, dance, classical, Anime and children's tunes." Adding to the fun, "the drums will include a microphone that's designed to pick up the sound of claps thus making the game require you to clap as well as bang on the drums", but Nintendojo reckon a U.S. release to be "highly unlikely" since "it caters too perfectly towards the Japanese audience" weaned on games like Taiko No Tatsujin.