Billy got a sneak peak of Mario Kart Super Circuit and Advance Wars! First ever Mario Kart Cartridge shots, and much more!

Today I was extremely fortunate to get a sneak peek of two of Nintendo's upcoming Game Boy Advance titles, Advance Wars, and Mario Kart Super Circuit. My buddy Ben and I got to have at them for a couple hours. I'll have an interview, plus previews and impressions coming shortly. Here's some Ultra super quick impressions....

The third-party peripheral company says that the handheld market has become a major portion of its business. Also, new info on the GBA GameShark.

InterAct Accessories released a statement today claiming 29.3% of North American peripheral sales for Game Boy Advance, more than any of its competitors. The company's PowerPak, PowerPak EX, and PlayLine Link Cable were all in the top ten best-selling GBA accessories during the system's first month on American shores.

As expected, Matsushita has lowered the price of the SD Memory cards, compatible with the GameCube.

With the .5 MB digicard as the GCN standard, many will find it necessary to purchase a larger SD Memory card to store information. The only potential problem is the price. Thankfully, Panasonic has lowered its prices, making the cards a more realistic alternative to the "byte-size" standard.

The 16MB card is lowered from $69.95 to $39.95, while the 64MB one has been reduced by $60 to $99.95.

Shiggy's cover art exposed! Click click click!

As we reported earlier, Edge Magazine has nabbed Shigeru Miyamoto to make the cover art for their 100th issue. So without futher ado....

Special thanks to Karlie from UK NSide for the heads up!

EA Sports clarifies what will be left out of the GameCube version. Plus: comments on SD card support!

Electronic Arts contacted IGNcube about their recent report on how the GameCube version of Madden 2002 will have some features cut out due to the small Digicard capacity. According to EA Sports, the only thing missing will be career player stats in the Franchise Mode. In other words, you won't be able to look back and see how your quarterback was performing five years ago compared to the current game season.

Tonight's Major Leauge Baseball game in Seattle will have a GBA ad right behind home plate, but not in English....

If you know anything about baseball, Seattle Mariners rookie slugger Ichiro Suzuki, and pitcher Kazuhiro Sasaki should be a names you're familiar with. Ichiro is the big name right now though, hitting .347 for the best team in baseball and leads the AL in runs scored with 76. One could almost guarantee... Read more...

Sure, go to the KNOCK OFF! Grrrr. Anyhoo, looks like Kawasaki is spreading out.

Probably one of the biggest (well there's a few) Wave Race knock offs to hit the PS2, Wave Rally (nice name) has gotten sponsorship from Kawasaki.

Click

here to see a screen.

Granted, this doesn't mean Wave Race: Blue Storm couldn't be also sponsored by Kawasaki. If Nintendo decides to... Read more...

We got the skinny that Nintendo and Interplay have confirmed Galleon for GameCube sometime next year.

The cartoony Galleon is being made by the man who brought us Tomb Raider, Toby Gard, and is said to have been in the works for quite some time.

There are no current plans for a PS2 counterpart, but there seems to be evidence of an XBox launch, so Galleon will not be a completely exclusive title.

Info on what we’re getting at SpaceWorld, 3rd party support and more from Iwata-san’s chat with Japan’s #1 game mag!

Thanks to Steven Langhorn AKA the Galloping Gaijin of Tendo Box, we have another great translated Famitsu interview. This time it is with Satoshi Iwata, who has a few details that will help chase those pre-Spaceworld blues away! Enjoy!

FAMITSU: First of all, what is so special about GameCube?

Yesterday, PGC showed off the Japanese box art. Today, we've got the box art North America will be seeing... Plus a lil' news!

Yesterday, we posted the Japanese box art for Mario Kart Advance and today we’ve got the box art that parts outside of Japan will be receiving.

There is no indication of Mobile GB (i.e. online play) on this box (zoinks!) but there is note of a 4 player off 1 game cart function.... Read more...

In the latest issue of Next-Gen, Peter Main offers a strange answer to the question about when we'll see Mario ...

Subscribers should be receiving their issues in no time, and some interesting news lies therein ...

In an interview about GameCube with the one and only PETERMAINCO, Next-Gen asks a question, and gets one of Nintendo's patented "non-answers." But that response is very telling when you read between the lines.

Nintendo dumps Kawasaki? Could it be true? Our screenshots tell all. Well possibly. Check it.

One of our new screens shows 3 new sponsors on one of the Jet Skis. Jet Pilot, (a company that makes wake boarding and jet ski equipment, clothing, and accessories), McDonalds and Slim Jim are on the side of this Jet Ski. Here's one of the screens we posted last week.

We're waiting to hear back from Nintendo for confimation...but where the hell is Kawasaki?

It's bad, and evil. Why would you want to do such a thing? Here's a couple more thoughts on the subject.

IE Mag had a pretty slick article as of late about GBA emulation. I'd like to state that we do not condone piracy in any way, shape or form. But do read this!

It is a shock to some, but old news to others. The fact of the matter is that Game Boy Advance (GBA) emulation is widely available on the Internet and has been since last year.

Oh baby, start revving them engines! Sure, it's box art...but it contains news! And hell it's Mario Kart!

Here's a kleenex! Start drooling!

Something's to note on this...

1. The Mobile GB logo. Well at least ranking and ghost data will be able to be transferred. Not too shabby. Unfortunately, as of right now...Only in Japan.

2. It's not called Mario Kart Super Circuit in Japan.

GameSpot interviews Sega’s licensing department about the Crazy Taxi movie & the rise of video game movies in general.

Although news of a Crazy Taxi movie is just, so, so, crazy it seems that everyone involved is serious about making it a good flick. Following the big announcement, GameSpot conducted an interview with Jane Thompson, director of licensing and character development at Sega of America. Here’s a snippet:

The kids from Pukka talk about all things Hot Potato and Thunderbirds. It may sound like something out of a fast food joint...but now I'm hungry for some Tater Tots and chicken wings. Read on!

The folks over at Nintensity have scored an interview with Pukka Games, the people behind Hot Potato and Thunderbirds 2 for the Game Boy Advance! To read the full interview click here.

Nintensity: There's a certain aspect of humour covering Hot Potato, do you think this will credit the game's overall storyline, or simply just provide more fun gameplay?

A couple screens and additional details on Konami’s handheld version of its mech-fighting sim have hit the web.

Thanks to Magic Box, we’ve got a few details & a couple screens (yes, these seem real) of Z.O.E. 2173 Testament. It turns out that the game is based on an Japanese Z.O.E. anime and takes place before the stories of Z.O.E. on PS2, with the main hero named Cage. 2173 will be scenario based and introduces... Read more...

Magic Box seemingly uncovered more playable characters in Super Smash Bros. Melee but something's fishy. Read on for the de-bunking!

In addition to the news that Sonic and Joanna Dark will indeed be playable in Super Smash Bros. Melee on GameCube, there are several other interesting additions ...

Pit (Kid Icarus) is playable, as IGNCube had surmised before. Other old-school favorites are back as well, including the Battletoads. Newer characters look to be included as well, as MewTwo, SkullKid (from Zelda), Conker, and Banjo.

Not quite. Heh. Shiggy to do cover art for a gaming magazine! Read on...

According to our good friends at Tendo Box, Shigeru Miyamoto will be doing the cover art of Edge Magazine's 100th issue!

There will also be an interview with Shiggy about the "Nintendo Difference." This issue goes on sale on July 13th.

Good to see some old friends.

Thanks to a forum member for pointing this out - Nintendo's Japanese site has some fab new SSB:M material, including some new trophy figures, and a Fox bio with some sharp pictures of his moves. (It looks like he can fire his laser at an angle now)

Here's a taste:

There is another interesting shot that features several of the other trophies. There are lots!