As expected, David Gosen of NOE and Stephen Bole of Nintendo France gave the launch details which had been previously announced by webcast at the press conference.

New details include the advertising budget for Europe, which is expected to exceed one hundred million Euros (around $87m). 8cm demo mini CDs like those given away at the US Cube Clubs will be distributed in Europe a few weeks before launch. The GameCube will be promoted in the usual manner on television and print advertisements and also at special events although “Cube Club” style showings are yet to be announced. Further details should be announced in about a month’s time.

The May 3rd launch date was explained as allowing more time for hardware and software production. An earlier date would mean less hardware units on launch day and a less diverse range titles available.

A (very appropriate) release period for Mario Sunshine in Europe was given as before the year end, Q4 2002. No precise date has been announced yet and Zelda and Metroid went unmentioned.

Games on the playable booths are the Nintendo published Eternal Darkness, Luigi's Mansion, NBA Courtside 2002, Pikmin, Smash Bros Melee, Wave Race and third party titles were Batman, Extreme-G 3, FIFA 2002, ISS 2002, Star Wars, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (with GBA link-up), Tony Hawk's Proskater 3 and ESPN Winter Games.

Further details gleaned from the show floor were that the GameCube can read the Video-CD format and two new GameCube games to be announced by a fairly new developer tomorrow.

Thanks to Puissance Nintendo and Cube Europe for their coverage.