Rare's wacky letters page once again provides a few nice little chunks of data, which is more than we can get from our "inside sources" there. Eat it up yo.

Let's dispense with the tomfoolery and get right to the quotes and analyses, yes? Yes.

"2) In Donkey Kong Racing will you also be able to ride other animals other than those shown in the opening demo such as walruses/penguins etc. in a snow world or a Triceratops/T-Rex in a Dino World?"

- ZMG

New Famitsu scores! Magical Vacation scores a platinum!

Taking a look over at Famitsu's website, we've found some interesting review scores for you.

GamePlatformScoresTotalAward

Magical VacationGBA9 9 8 935Platinum

Monster Farmer AdvanceGBA7 8 7 830Silver

Universal StudiosGCN5 5 5 520None

So, Universal Studios first official review... Read more...

A comment from Sega's Charles Bellfield leaves the issue up in the air, but it's interesting nonetheless.

According to GameCube-Europe, Sega's VP Charles Bellfield recently made an interesting statement in Europe's NGC Magazine (formerly N64 Magazine):

"We have a few gems to release on the Gamecube that we have not revealed yet, and we feel that the Shenmue series would find the format an interesting prospect."

According to Nintendo of America, the Gamecube is selling at an extremely high rate.

KA-CHING! NINTENDO GAMECUBE Selling Nonstop At Rate of 27 Per Minute

Retailers Report 600,000 Sold in First Two Weeks

REDMOND, Wash.--Dec. 3, 2001--Nintendo of America reported today

that, based on direct communications with its retailers, its new

NINTENDO GAMECUBE(TM) home video game console has reached sales of

Nintendo’s vice president of corporate affairs (and esteemed Jedi) Perrin Kaplan talks about launch, and all about GameCube. Drop that light saber and read on!

In an interview ie Magazine, Perrin Kaplan discusses the GameCube launch, the "launch delay", and all things Nintendo. Here's the just a slice of the pie. Click here to see the full interview!

ieMagazine: How much of a difference did it really make to delay the GameCube launch from November 5 to November 18 in terms of units available on day one?

It's true! The numbers don't lie. The Dengeki Console Game Ranking Top 50 has been updated. See where your favorites fall in the land of the rising sun.

Wario Land 4, Yugioh Duel Monsters 5 Expert 1, and Mario Kart Advance all outselling Luigi's Mansion? Smash Bros. takes the #2 slot? Take a gander at how well Nintendo titles did last week in Japan.

Last

Rank

It's true, our own Mike Sklens in now officially 18...and now he can legally vote, go to jail, and....the best part....E3 2002.

He is a mystery. He is Mike Sklens. One of the strange Planet Staffers that got a gig here at PGC for absolutely no reason. He stayed in Planet Chat way too long, and stalked us in Trivia. So we hired the poor sap.

Striker Obi is now 18! Look out ladies! He can now buy cigarettes! He smokes... Read more...

Capcom puts more chills into you than winter with new footage of the environments of Biohazard. Warning: Depends not included.

Capcom of Japan has released come new footage of the extremely creepy environments of Biohazard on the GameCube. The footage is available in three frightening flavors for all of you hungering for BRAINS!

(160x120)(2.3MB)

(320x240)(4.5MB)

(640x480)(8.6MB)

Finally, we've put up the SSBM mp3s up for download!

With many many thanks to Yorrike of hardcoregamers.com for hosting these files, and another big round of thanks to Neosabre of #planetchat for making these mp3s for us...

PGC is very happy to provide our readers with a batch of mp3s straight from the recently released (in Japan) Super Smash Bros. Melee!

Nintendo plans to ring in the New Year with a manufacturing price drop to make handheld cartridges cheaper for publishers, and ultimately, consumers.

Although GBA games are selling rather well, many standard games are not selling as swiftly as expected, especially at the $40 price. Fortunately, it seems that third-party GBA games will start becoming a lot more affordable with the dawn of the New Year. IGNPocket has run a report citing numerous... Read more...

Shrek and Dinotopia to hit Nintendo's console, along with the return of...Robotech?

Today TDK Mediactive announced four new titles for GameCube, expected to arrive in the 4th Quarter of 2002. One game will be based on TDK's recently acquired Robotech license, the subject of a long and ultimately fruitless N64 saga that many of you are no doubt familiar with. Shrek is of course... Read more...

Dengeki Magazine's Top 30 for Japan is out, and Super Smash Bros. DX (Melee to you and me) has done quite well.

According to Dengeki Magazine's sales rankings, Super Smash Bros. DX for GameCube was the #2 top-selling game in Japan for the week of Nov. 19-25. (It didn't even go on sale until the 21st.) The game sold over 358,000 copies according to Dengeki's figures, making it already the most popular GameCube title yet in Japan.

The GameCube is the Fastest-selling New Video Game Console Ever! It's faster than the cheetah. It's true. Hotcakes...pfft. Hotcakes ain't got nothing on the GameCube. Full details within...

Booya! On with the press release shall we?

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 28, 2001-- Ignoring strong economic headwinds, NINTENDO GAMECUBE(TM) has soared to record retail heights, becoming the fastest-selling home video game console of this generation.

Through its first week of... Read more...

Nintendo's Super Smash Brothers Melee website is open for business, and has a few fun interactive features.

Get brawler profiles, check out the arenas, and play some Smash Mail with friends!

http://www.supersmashbrosmelee.com

Charlie's Angels is heading to a GameCube and GBA near you. Wipe that drool from your chin boy!

Ubi Soft Entertainment has signed up with Sony Pictures Consumer Products for the rights to the Charlie’s Angels license.

Ubi Soft will be bringing Charlie's Angels not only to the GameCube, and Game Boy Advance, but also the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and PC.

This license will allow Ubi Soft to make games about the television series, the movie released in 2000, and its sequel.

You think? Wait a sec...a platform that's easy to develop for developers and publishers like? They must be crazy.

We've already heard a million times that the GameCube hardware is easy to develop for. But what's bringing third parties back to Nintendo?

There's a great article on ie Magazine that includes thoughts from THQ, Ubisoft, Midway and more. Check it out by clicking here.

But it's for the love of the company, really! No really! Economics is a very strange thing.

Yamauchi is planning to gain some funds for GameCube and GameCube developers by selling off, and then repurchasing his 1.18 million shares of Nintendo stock. It's all about capital gains baby! Here's the skinny...

The president of video game giant Nintendo Co Ltd plans to use capital gains from the temporary sale of his 1.18 million Nintendo shares to set up a fund to promote game development firms, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.

Subscribers to Nintendo's magazine will have something special coming to them in their annual January bonus issue.

As they do every year, Nintendo Power is rewarding subscribers by including extra goodies in their January issue. According to the December issue the bonus will include stickers for memory cards and an "exclusive game preview for 2002" and "more." It's possible that the game preview is a demo disc for the GameCube, but it could just be some kind of promotional video (Nintendo Power is known for putting those out).

Latest Famitsu stats are in.

Famitsu #677 stats

Covers 11/5 - 11/11

Name

Sales

Change

Total

Playstation 2

33,993

+2,670

2,306,240

Gameboy Advance

33,146

-2,928

3,457,032

Gamecube

18,073

-1,818

280,393

Wonderswan Color

5,099

-2,841

257,888

PSOne

Want to listen while you wait? Say no more, PGC has gone that extra mile to provide you with some aural lovin'!

That's right, with an extra-hearty "we can't thank you enough" to Neosabre of #planetchat, we at PGC bring you 6 tracks of Super Smash Bros. Melee goodness!

Just mosey on over to our relaunched Planet Radio, hosted by Live365, and let the music take control!