Game Online and FGN Online listen. Specs by the end of the year? Here's the word...

Nintendo will release the specifications for its next generation console by the end of 1999, NoA's Howard Lincoln told a conference of third-party publishers in Italy. He confirmed that the new hardware is being developed by Art-X, a company founded by ex-employees of Silicon Graphics who worked on the N64. Lincoln also said that the machine would not use cartridges, but there's no word yet on what the storage media will be.

Software development for Nintendo's next console is also gathering pace. Retro Studios, run by Jeff Spangenburg and Jay Moon, founders of Iguana Entertainment, are to develop exclusively for Nintendo, in a similar fashion to Rare. Acclaim are also said to be planning a new Turok game for the console.