Criterion Software has announced that it has been invited to join Nintendo's select group of GameCube middleware and tools partners. Who is Criterion and what does this mean you may ask? Criterion was founded in 1993 and is providing development tools for more than 230 development studios worldwide, including the likes of Activision, Interplay, Konami, and THQ. Criterion's RenderWare3 software has a ability to shave an average of 6 months off of a game's production time. What this means is more fantastic GameCube games coming out more frequently. Plus, since much of the development community is using RenderWare already there will be no new software for them to learn which means they can start churning out titles right out of the box. Also, because RenderWare3 is so supported it should serve to entice more developers into developing for the GameCube. Thanks to The Younger Plumber for the heads up.