It's True! And I ain't no Pig Fu$%er! This is kind of an extention in philosophies of what the Dorks said earlier. More pondering while we wait for real hard news! I do have to agree with the ideas presented here. Can Nintendo pull off a 2000 release in the US? Damn will there be a sh*$load of amazing games to play this holiday season. I'll have to quit my job. :) But this is another good read none the less.

Dolphin. The word causes much division in the gamer community lately. Nintendo devotees claim it's going to bring about another Nintendo Golden Age, similar to that of the days of the SNES. Critics think that it's going to be just another "Fun Machine", a system for the kids. Will it make its scheduled global launch this year, or is it destined for a yearlong delay? At this point, it's impossible to reach any definite conclusions because there hasn't been a whole hell of a lot of information available on Nintendo's next generation system yet. However, anything is still possible at this point.

One of the biggest reasons for doubt concerning a possible launch this year for Dolphin is software. The thought is that to have a successful launch, Nintendo will need to have a large lineup of launch games as well as a killer app, and that the lack of talk concerning Dolphin software means that there's not going to be enough time to finish up titles in time for a launch by the end of this year. But is this really the case? At this point, we enter the realm of informed speculation. Going on the information that's presently available, does Nintendo have the software in development necessary for a Dolphin launch by this holiday season? The brief answer is: possibly.

At NCL in Japan, Miyamoto hasn't had any big projects since the latest Zelda release. Anyone who actually thinks he's just been sitting around in his office for the past 16 months picking his nose and dreaming of Super Happy Fruit Trees doesn't have a very strong grip on reality. Traditionally, the newest Mario game is the killer app that sells Nintendo systems, and a Dolphin Mario title is in the works and has been for a while. Although very few details have been released about it (other than a more "mature" Mario and the inclusion of Luigi), it's an almost guaranteed launch title, and gamers can expect it to contain just as much "wow" factor as Super Mario 64 did at its release.

So a Mario title is a given; what else is being worked on? That question's a bit trickier, but it's fairly clear who is working on titles. Nintendo has their whole army of second-party developers working on Dolphin titles, and those developers all keep very tight lips. Rare hasn't said much officially, but that's fairly typical Rare style. It's obvious that they are working on at least one Dolphin title, and chances are we won't know any more until Nintendo starts making Dolphin announcements. Rare is very capable of keeping secrets, as shown by the surprise launch of Diddy Kong Racing. NTC is hard at work on Dolphin development. So are other US-based second parties, such as Retro Studios and Left Field. Developers Saffire and Factor 5 have all but officially announced titles (Saffire and Thornado, respectively) that are currently in the works.

Different publishers typically have one of two different reactions regarding Dolphin development: they say they are looking forward to seeing what Nintendo has to offer with Dolphin, or they break into complete silence. Because of Nintendo's constant efforts to keep Dolphin quiet, it would appear that the silence reaction is a red flag that a publisher has Dolphin titles in the works.

Take for example Acclaim and Konami: Before, they mentioned that they planned to work on Dolphin titles in the near future. Now, when company representatives hear the word "Dolphin", their eyes glaze over and they reply with a scripted line involving nondisclosure agreements with Nintendo. It's reasonable to conclude that they have some Dolphin plans in the works and could well be preparing titles for release close to launch. On the other hand, it's rather easy to get THQ speculating about Dolphin. An executive producer at THQ was happy to talk about possible Dolphin strategies, including speculation surrounding Dolphin design. People generally don't speculate about things they already know, so it's pretty safe to say that THQ isn't in Nintendo's Dolphin crowd at this point, although it's a good bet to say that they'll be doing Dolphin development before too long.

Given the confirmed software from the veritable army of first and second party developers in the works, combined with the possibility of third party support at or near launch, it seems like Nintendo might very well have the software necessary for a successful launch. Things will become much clearer when Nintendo starts opening the floodgates on Dolphin hype (which is likely to coincide with PlayStation2's March 4th Japanese release), and when we see what (if any) Dolphin material is showing at E3 this May.

At this point, Game Boy Advance software information is even harder to come by than Dolphin information. The official word is that Game Boy Advance will be released toward the end of this year, but there are a lot of rumors going around that it's going to be delayed. Nintendo news site Nintendorks reports that the US and European branches of Nintendo are begging that Game Boy Advance be delayed, because current Game Boy Color software and hardware are still selling so strongly despite competition from SNK's Neo Geo Pocket Color (check out the full story here). This seems like a highly likely scenario, since there's no good reason to kill off Game Boy Color in its prime.

What we do know is that it's going to be one of the most powerful handhelds to date. Although it's not capable of the advanced polygon generation necessary for 3D games, it is capable of 2.5D games such as Yoshi's Story, a demo of which is already running on the Game Boy Advance's development station. The demo reportedly looks great and shows off how capable the GBA is of handling sprite graphics. The sound will be the most impressive heard on a handheld to date as well, sounding more like Super Nintendo than the previous Game Boy incarnations. The controls are going to be similar to the SNES as well, with a control pad, a D-Pad, four control buttons, two shoulder buttons and the usual Start and Select buttons. Top all that off with complete backwards compatibility with Game Boy and Game Boy Color, as well as a built-in interface with the Dolphin (thanks to Mobile 21, a joint effort between Nintendo and Konami), and the Advance looks like it will be a sure hit when it is finally released.

Those general specs are about all that's been made public in regard to the Game Boy Advance. Nintendo has yet to make any official software announcements, but the most likely scenario will be that the usual Game Boy developers will start making Advance-compatible titles when the GBA comes out (similar to the first generation of Game Boy Color titles), while first and second parties (such as the aforementioned Mobile 21) make some great Game Boy Advance exclusive ports of the first Dolphin titles. More will most likely be revealed about the Game Boy Advance at this year's E3 in May, but just how much Nintendo's going to reveal remains a mystery.

When all is said and done, however, one thing is for sure: Nintendo is here to stay. While they're notoriously silent on their future products, it's certain that the coming months will be an exciting time for Nintendo fans and game players in general. It's a great time to be a gamer!