GameCube hardware sales increasing in ratio to the XBox? Software selling great in January? I'm drunk, aren't I?

New Titles Drive Strong Video Game Sales

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The release of two new hit games has boosted U.S. video game sales in the first weeks of the new year, traditionally a slack time after the year-end boom season, according to a brokerage survey released on Wednesday.

The... Read more...

Konami's following up the success of Circle of the Moon with a new Castlevania game for the GBA.

Castlevania: White Night Concerto is the name of the next game in the Castlevania series. This title will be landing in Japan on June 6th. A US date hasn't been announced yet.

This new title follows the story of Jeust Belmont trying to save his friends (Maxim Quicin and Liddy Erlanger) from Dracula.... Read more...

Nintendo is sending cease and desists to stores selling "Flash Advance Linker", plus more on the DMCA front ...

It's turning into a very interesting week for folks involved in the grey market of selling mod chips or flash carts.

Zophar's Domain, an internet import store, just received a cease and desist letter (posted to their site), citing its accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, asking the store to stop selling "Flash Advance Linker" (a product that stores GBA games in Flash memory), and to turn over all of its stock to Nintendo.

Hallmark Entertainment is envolved? More Dinos are heading to a Game Boy Advance near you. Well maybe your little sister's GBA. You can't frag these Dinos. Sorry.

TDK Mediactive Announces Dinotopia: The Timestone Pirates for the Game Boy Advance

Action-Adventure Title Featuring the World of Dinotopia Debuts May 2002

TDK Mediactive, Inc. (OTCBB:TDKM), a global publisher of entertainment software, today announced that "Dinotopia(R): The Timestone... Read more...

That's Mummy love, YEAH, Oh-we-oh-we-oh! I don't know what a Mummy has to do with Morris Day. But you gotta love the Time!

Ubi Soft Unwraps The Mummy For The Game Boy® Advance

20 February 2002 – Ubi Soft® Entertainment has signed a worldwide licensing deal with Universal Studios Consumer Products Group (USCPG) to bring the children’s animated TV series, The Mummy, to the Game Boy® Advance hand-held video game... Read more...

Acclaim have most of their release dates for Europe available. What’s this? The first game will be out before the GameCube release date.

The first Acclaim published game (and possibly first GameCube game) that will be released in Europe is Extreme G 3 on April 22nd. That is nearly two weeks before the actual launch date.

The next three to follow are BurnOut, Crazy Taxi and Dave Mirra BMX 2 on May 3rd, the day the GameCube is released. 18 Wheeler (now available in the US) will also be out that month on the 31st.

Swedish gamesite FragZone has posted an interview it conducted with Shigeru Miyamoto and an IGN forum poster, Zenith_II has translated it.

Here is the translated interview, thanks to Zenith_II for the original source (left unedited):

Shigeru Miyamoto could be called Mr. Videogame - he is the man behind for example Mario, Donkey Kong and Zelda.

Shigeru Miyamoto was in Milano in the weekend and talked about GameCube, but... Read more...

Want to work on Metroid Prime? Retro may be looking for you if you’ve got experience in level design.

We have been contacted by our former colleague & friend, Jon Lindemann concerning an interesting recruiting ad he spotted on Monster.com for Retro Studios:

--------------------------

DESIGN

If you want to take game design to the next level and develop for one of the

next hottest titles out there, Metroid Prime, then Retro Studios is for you.

VHS E3 2001 tape currently sold out due to missing shipments. CD set, and Japan Experience still available! All the news inside...

Thanks again Planet GameCube Readers!

Our E3 2001 VHS Video Sets are currently sold out. I have e-mailed people and let them know if they will be receiving it. We may have more available, but I am still waiting for the remainder of our stock from Gaming Edge. Seems as if they forgot to send the remainder to me. Will the nightmare ever end. Seriously.

The up-and-coming publisher announces several new GBA titles for this year, along with reconfirming The Scorpion King for GameCube.

Today Universal Interactive released its software schedule for 2002. Here are the Nintendo-relevant entries to that list:

The Scorpion King: Sword of Osiris Game Boy(R) Advance Q2

Monster Force Game Boy(R) Advance Q3

Spyro: Season of Flame Game Boy(R) Advance Q3

We'll eventually play it as Animal Leader. We'll eventually get it scored in the high 9.0s too.

Famitsu is different. They add up the whole-number scores of four different reviewers, add them up, and get a total score out of 40. Not that sissy one person 10 point scale (with increments, no less). Because of Famitsu's legendary toughness, any game getting more than 30/40 has got to be a winner.

The creative minds behind Animal Leader, Doshin the Giant and Resident Evil gathered at the GameCube in Shibuya event to chat, and PGC was there!

The PGC Japan team was in the audience at the February 16 GameCube in Shibuya special event, the Nintendo Creator Talk Battle. Featured as special guests were, in order of introduction, Gento Matsumoto, graphic designer and inspiration behind Animal Leader, Kazutoshi Iida, concept writer and inspiration... Read more...

The man speaks to the European press about all things Nintendo.

Shiggy was in Milan, Italy for the grand opening of Nintendo's Italian arm. Always the target of the press, he was fired a barrage of questions from NextGame, an Italian gaming site. Check out some snippets, then click the link for the whole thing.

Nextgame.it: Talking about design, which are the ideas on which you created the GameCube?

Thanks PGC readers for your donations! What's this? An E3 2001 Video Sale? Woohoo!

Thank you Planet GameCube Readers!

I just wanted to thank the individuals that have already donated to help keep Planet GameCube alive. Obviously we’re gearing up for E3 2002, and if our traffic and bandwidth projections become reality, it’s gonna be ugly. We do really appreciate your help.... Read more...

Find out what Resident Evil's producer has to say during the GameCube in Shibuya event. The full translated transcript and zombies await you inside...

At the Nintendo GameCube in Shibuya event in Japan, a one hour Creator Talk Battle

took place. Matsumoto-san (Animal Leader's graphic designer), Iida-san (Kyojin

no Doshin's concept writer), and Kobayashi-san (Resident Evil's producer) appeared

to talk about game development and their current projects. PGC has translated

Namco, Sega and Nintendo have announced a partnership for the development of a next-generation graphics board based on GC architecture, known as the Triforce Board.

Namco, Ltd, Sega, Inc and Nintendo Co., Ltd have announced a collaborative business partnership for the development of a next-generation general purpose 3D graphics board. This new graphics hardware, known as the Triforce board, will be based upon the Nintendo GameCube architecture.

According to Nintendo’s news release, this cooperative development will have the following aims:

From his point of view, Bakudan describes what the Shibuya event was like. News about Resident Evil, Doshin the Giant, and Animal Leader!

At the Shibuya event, Nintendo allowed the public to test out their upcoming games, Kyojin no Doshin (Doshin the Giant) and Doubutsu Banchou (Animal Leader). In addition, footage of Biohazard and NBA Courtside were also shown on big television screens. A Doubutsu Banchou contest took place for 5 hours or so. And to top it off, a 1 hour round table conference between 3 game creators took place.

Mario & Yoshi helped celebrate pets at the Paws/LA First Annual "Animal Companion Appreciation" Day!

Yesterday, Nintendo sponsored the first annual “Animal Companion Appreciation” Day festival hosted by Pets Are Wonderful Support-Los Angeles (PAWS/LA). The event had several events & special guests including soap opera stars, rescue dogs from Ground Zero NYC and even an appearance by Mario &... Read more...

At the Nintendo event in Shibuya, our correspondents were given the complete control description. Pics and full translation!

Kyojin no Doshin (aka Doshin the Giant) will be released in mid-March in Japan, and we've got the full controls for people wishing to import!

Doshin Controls

Jyashin (Evil Doshin) Controls

If this bill is passed, it could become illegal to sell a violent game to a minor in Georgia ...

Four Georgia Representatives recently sent a bill before the Georgia State Legistature proposing a "Violent Video Game Protection Act". This bill would, if enacted into law, make it illegal to sell (or "furnish") a violent video game to children.

Using the ESRB ratings as a guideline, it would... Read more...