Take-Two gets almost-exclusive rights to pro baseball players, then acquires sports developer Visual Concepts from Sega.

Take-Two has had a pretty rough new year. First they learn that Electronic Arts won exclusive rights for NFL games, and a few days later, they take the ESPN license from them as well, leaving the pubilsher with low hopes of becoming a sports giant.

Well, Take-Two has fired back with a shot of... Read more...

Sega determined to grow in Western markets.

SEGA Integrates SEGA of America and SEGA Europe Management Teams to Drive Growth in Western Markets

SAN FRANCISCO & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 20, 2005--

SEGA Continues to Execute Plan to Become a Profitable, Leading Independent Game Publisher

SEGA of America, Inc. (SEGA... Read more...

Launch day will see two additional games along with those that are part of the DS package.

Melbourne, Australia, 21st January 2005

With the excitement surrounding the launch date and price of Nintendo

DS, Nintendo Australia confirm some of the amazing and innovative software

titles that will be available within the initial launch period. The

February 24th release date of Nintendo DS including embedded PictoChat and

Nintendo's Australian branch will be bringing out Project Rub and Resident Evil 4 to Australian gamers.

Nintendo Australia has sent information confirming that they will be releasing Sega's Project Rub (also known as 'Feel the Magic: XY/XX' in the US) for the Nintendo DS and Capcom's Resident Evil 4 for the Nintendo GameCube. Unfortunately, there aren't many specific details at this stage aside from the confirmation that NAL will be releasing them in March.

New advertising partner to be announced in coming weeks.

EA and SEE Advertising End Long-Term Relationship; SEE Finishes Strong with EA's Winter Advertising

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 17, 2005--Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS) today stated that after more than ten years of partnership with SEE, they will not be renewing their contract... Read more...

The company increases manufacturing resources for the DS and prepares for Revolution.

According to Asia Pulse (via Yahoo! News), Nintendo Co. Ltd. is preparing to increase its capital spending by 76% this year, mostly for the purpose of fortifying Nintendo DS manufacturing capacities. The DS has been virtually sold out since its debut in both North America and Japan, and the handheld will launch in Europe and Australia this spring.

Rare updates their site, announcing that all four of their Game Boy Advance games have been released by THQ.

After being announced at Spaceworld in 2001 (remember Spaceworld?), all four of Rare's Game Boy Advance games have finally been released. After a small hiccup (like being purchased by Microsoft), Rare's GBA game Banjo Pilot is set for release this week (with some gamers already reporting it in stores). It's Mr. Pants! was released last year at the start of December.

ScanSoft's SpeechWorks recognition software, as seen in Mario Party 6, is available to all GC developers.

Advanced Speech Recognition Enables Gamers to Interact with Game Characters

Using Voice Commands

PEABODY, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 13, 2005--ScanSoft, Inc. (NASDAQ:SSFT

- News), a global leader of speech and imaging solutions, today announced

that Nintendo has implemented a ScanSoft® speech solution for the Nintendo

Jonnyboy is the big 2-3!

Today is the 23rd birthday of one Jonathan Metts: aerospace engineering student, Bob Dylan fan, and director of Planet GameCube.com. The whole staff would like to extend our birthday wishes to Jonathan. He's done a fantastic job keeping everything here together. He's successfully brought us through two E3 expos and is already hard at work prepping for E3 2005.

Nintendo's new handheld arrives down under next month.

Nintendo Australia Pty. Limited has announced the first official information about the Australian DS launch. The system will be released on Feb. 24th for $199.95 AUS. Nintendo will have two first-party launch titles: Super Mario 64 DS and WarioWare Touched!, with Pokemon Dash available soon thereafter. The rest of the launch lineup will be announced at a later time.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap is on its way to a store near you.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap Sets a Small Link on a Huge Adventure

Nintendo likes to do things big. Bigger battles, bigger bad guys and

bigger adventures. The Legend of Zelda(R): The Minish Cap, launching

today, takes all these larger-than-life elements and shrinks them to

microscopic size. The result is a huge quest on a tiny scale.

Take a look at what's coming for DS, GameCube and GBA for the first half of 2005.

Today, Nintendo of America announced the official release schedules for its three platforms through Q2 2004 (April-June). As always, the list is subject to change as new games are announced and announced games are delayed.

Nintendo DS

-- Feb. 14: WarioWare(TM): Touched! from Nintendo

-- March 14: Pokemon(R) Dash from Nintendo

Versions for GameCube, GBA, DS, and other systems are based on the upcoming animated film.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Activision has revealed Madagascar, a cross-platform game based on the upcoming movie. It centers around four animals from the Central Park Zoo who have various adventures in New York City and the African island nation of Madagascar. The console versions are being developed by Toys for Bob, while the GBA and DS versions are being handled at Vicarious Visions.

Mario gets ready to lose the pounds.

Nintendo and Konami announced today that not only is DDR finally coming to GameCube, but that Nintendo's number one plumber will be throwing his weight into the project (which seems to be becoming a trend lately). Dance Dance Revolution with Mario is being co-developed by Konami and Nintendo, published... Read more...

Enjoy the official announcement.

KONAMI'S RENOWNED CASTLEVANIA SERIES TO DEBUT ON THE NINTENDO DS SYSTEM

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - January 6, 2005 - Konami Digital Entertainment - America, a division of Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc., announced today a new Castlevania game for the Nintendo(r) DS. Set in the year 2036, the... Read more...

Get ready for more 2D action from the Castlevania series.

The latest issue of Electronics Gaming Monthly reveals the first information on Konami's Castlevania sequel for the Nintendo DS. The game, which will probably receive a subtitle in the coming months, is due by fall 2005. It is a direct sequel to Aria of Sorrow, the last Castlevania title released for Game Boy Advance.

More company info, but precious few hints about unannounced games.

Mysterious developer Zoonami, founded by ex-Rare producer Martin Hollis, has finally updated its website with a new design and plenty of new info...but virtually nothing about their upcoming games. Currently, the only announced game from Zoonami is Funkydilla, a music/rhythm game that can be played... Read more...

Hey, have you heard about this new 'wireless' thing? All the cool kids are doing it.

Mad Catz Launches New Line of MicroCON Wireless Controllers in Time

for the Holidays!

The Ultimate Stocking Stuffer Spotted on Retail Shelves

SAN DIEGO--Dec. 23, 2004--Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. (AMEX/TSX:

MCZ), the world's leading third party video game accessory

manufacturer, announced the launch of wireless versions of its highly

Nintendo of America touts its legendary customer service department.

Did You Know?

Santa Delegates to Nintendo's Consumer Service Department

Santa has a good gig. You'll notice that once he leaves his packages,

he doesn't stick around to help you figure out how to work or play all

your new gifts. Fortunately, Nintendo is here to help. During "Crunch

Week," the week between Christmas and the new year, the Consumer

I guess EA got a big Christmas check from Grandma.

Only a week after announcing that they signed an exclusive deal with the NFL, EA has dropped another bombshell. Today they acquired 19.9% of Ubi Soft from Talpa Beheer B.V. As soon as the Securities Exchange Commission approves the transaction, EA will most likely hold a majority share in the French developer/publisher. Financial details of the transaction will not be released.