Off to Space World : Gambare Berghammer-San!

I 'm ready to burst. Billy is packed, ready and en route to Japan. Other Planet staffers are digging their heels in, stocking up on the caffeine and getting ready for action. It's Space World week, Planeteers, and I couldn't be more excited! We're finally going to get answers to the burning questions, finally going to get the info we've all been waiting for-finally see what this puppy can do! "This puppy" -what am I saying? I'm talking about the Nintendo Game Cube, Or "N-Cube" as it's already being referred to. This is the ever-changing, much-speculated-upon final name of Nintendo's Project Dolphin console, putting the long-running name game to an end.

The confirmation of the N-Cube name is just the first of many exciting things we'll hear this week. Who knows what other bombshells Nintendo may drop as it rolls out its next-generation consoles at its Space World show. It's only days away now and that's practically hours, man!!! I'm geeking off the scales.

Our Editor-in-Chief has put the lovable Louie the Cat (our much emulated Planet mascot--he's the cat who's all that) in the capable hands of a friend, packed up his bags and hopefully worked the kinks from his laptop. (Let's hope Airport security doesn't find its destructive secondary function as a sentry turret). Billy's going to the front lines, the "video game mother land" of Nippon. I'm totally excited for him, the lucky bastard! I'm also stoked that my ol' buddy Mikey Veroni will be out there Tendo Box representing. Go Tendo! (Great re-design BTW guys…) Sure, I'm a slight bit jealous of them & anyone else heading out there (who wouldn't be?) but I'm happy for everyone I know who's going. Quite a few of us are; it's kind of a testament to the evolution of the online Nintendo scene. It's pretty amazing.

Go get 'em Billy! Level Japan like Godzilla and Rodan!! (and remember: "Watashi wa mesihi desu") ;)

New Nintendo System Excitement!

The entire pre-Space World hubbub of late has me reminiscing on the hype surrounding the "Nintendo Ultra 64." Back in the day, I remember seeing first screenshots of Mario 64 on N64HQ. Seeing the 3D splendor of the game sent my heartrate into hyperdrive. The tingle I felt was experienced world wide, gamers everywhere were stoked about Nintendo's revolutionizing the gaming scene. It was this excitement that propelled N64HQ to its legendary status, helping spawn the now massive legion of Nintendo-related websites..

Even after the Nintendo 64 was finally released and software releases were being spread thin, excitement persisted. The promise of games like Mario Kart 64, Yoshi's Story and the next installment in Miyamoto's almighty Zelda series kept Nintendophiles "hanging on." Frustratingly enough, a lot of these games were delayed; some were worth waiting for, others almost weren't at all.

Nintendo failed to create the sensation it had promised with the N64, developer support was meek and the wondrous 64DD (which often seemed would magically solve N64 shortcomings) was delayed out of existence. This is not to say the N64 isn't a great system, it just simply fell short in delivering on the excitement somehow.

Maybe the whole Nintendo fansite scene has caused us to run wild, creating unattainable objections for the beloved company. Of course, Nintendo made some ambitious (but costly) mistakes, leading competitors Sega and Sony to succeed in areas Nintendo did not. With every perceived failure of the N64, there's almost certainly somebody out there who wishes Nintendo would have done something differently.

Naturally, there's countless Nintendophiles out there who have been eagerly drooling since word one of the N64's successor. A lot of us have been covering it since then too, yet Space World will mark the first public appearance of N-Cube. As long as we've been carrying on, you'd think we'd know a bit more than we do.

Filling the Info Vacuum with Imagination & Insanity

Nintendo officially announced "Project: Dolphin" (well, OK, the news broke on the old OpN2k ala Rick Powers first) to an eager crowd at E3'99, the slight "raising of the curtain" on the system. There wasn't gobs of info; confirmation the system was in development, would use the DVD format and was being developed with capable partners such as Art-X, IBM & Matsushita. Still, this was enough to send both developers & gamers into frenzy. There was every indication Nintendo was headed in the right direction.

Here we are now. The N64 is winding down and the excitement is building once again. Whereas Nintendo couldn't seem to stop bragging about the N64, its lips have been tightly sealed about anything regarding its new system. Since E3 '99 the draught of new information has been quite significant. Nintendo's been more secretive than George Lucas during the filming of a Star Wars flick (& are just as ornery about press leaks)!

With no real news to report, speculation has dominated over fact in regards to Dolphin info. However, the persistence of Nintendo's conspiracy of silence has left little alternative. The rumor mills been running at full speed; fluffy filler stories have been appearing with more frequency; research & imagination have yielded some great theories, others a bit ridiculous. It's almost gotten a bit unruly but I'm glad that a lot of the craziness will be coming to a close soon.

Don't get your hopes up too much, gang. Nintendo will not "tell all" at Space World. We'll see a game, maybe two in action for N-Cube. Gameboy Advance will have the center stage and a lot of N64 titles will be shown off too. Still, we're going to learn a lot more about N-Cube soon and the pieces will start to fit together. Many of the games shown for Gameboy Advance will likely be followed by interactive N-Cube counterparts. Pretty neat, especially when you realize Mario Kart Advance is one of the featured GBA games.

We'll also learn what kind of titles will arrive for N-Cube and the identities of many developers who will make them. Specifics on how the console will interact with Matsushita-DVD players, the Internet and the Gamaboy Advance. Not to mention things like the final price and release date of the system should be revealed. Space World won't be everything we may have hoped for, though it's enough to spark giddiness all over again, least of all for a glimpse at the new Mario.

Mario 64 broke new ground in the frontier of 3D gaming, territory that Mario's N-Cube incarnation will certainly build upon tenfold. I hardly expect Mario's N-Cube incarnation to be as revolutionary as Plumber-boy's initial jump to 3D, though I don't doubt the game will be awe-inspiring regardless. It will definitely be nice to see a game in action & not have to rely on imagination &/or Nintendo boasting to visualize the N-Cube's capabilities.

The announcement of Dolphin at E3 '99 came unexpectedly but the details promised at Space World seem long overdue. It's been a long wait, leaving us eager for anything at this point. Space World attendees may not be getting to play the N-Cube system, though a lot of the pieces will soon fall into place. I'm sure what goes down at Space World will help many consumers resolve whether or not the "N-Cube" is worth waiting for. I'm also confident Nintendo will be able to restore a lot of faith from developers and consumers.

Introducing N-Cube, AT LAST!

Personally, I'm not worried about the things Nintendo won't be showing at Space World. I'm just happy that I'll soon finally know a lot more about the system. Now things are shaping up and I'm eager to see what everything amounts to. The excitement of the original E3'99 announcement has carried us this far and now it's finally time for the curtain to come up a bit more. A lot more.

One of my colleagues enjoys pointing out to me that our Dolphin FAQ (oop, I mean "N-Cube FAQ") is filled with a lot of speculation, much of which will be rendered obsolete with the coming of Space World. He's certainly right about this, though is dead wrong to think I'm unhappy about it. We've kept pretty busy (and had some fun) with the scraps of information Nintendo has tossed us so far and now it's time to get serious.

Never mind the fact I won't be getting very much sleep at all this week. Never mind I'm going to have to put a lot of time into completely updating and expanding the FAQ. Never mind the carpal tunnel syndrome I'll incur by being glued to the computer as much as possible. I'm totally excited. At last, some more solid facts will begin to fill out the pages!

Excited? Me too!

Now, excuse me. I'd better get started on replacing "Dolphin" with "N-Cube" all over the FAQ…