Nintendo Shows up at the 2001 New York Toy Fair with some big news in tow!

The 2001 New York Toy Fair started today. Nintendo of America was there to boot. Not only were they there, they were there with information concerning the release dates of their two upcoming systems, the Nintendo GameCube and the Game Boy Advance. The Game Boy Advance will now be released a month earlier in June 2001. The GameCube finally gets a date for November 2001.

Giles Goddard, the lead programmer on 1080º Snowboarding tells IGN Cube his life story... and a few more interesting things involving our beloved Cube.

The good people at IGNcube scored an interview with Giles Goddard. For those who don't know, Giles was the lead programmer on 1080º Snowboarding. He's good friends with many important people at Nintendo (including Shigeru Miyamoto) and he is in the unique position of having first hand knowledge of the PlayStation 2 and the GameCube hardware. Check out this excerpt from IGNcube's interview:

Ubi Soft swallows up Blue Byte Software.

Thanks to GameSpot, we have news that Ubi Soft has just announced the acquisition of German games-development studio Blue Byte Software. Under the terms of the acquisition, Ubi Soft adds such Blue Byte franchises as the Settlers series and the Battle Isle series to its roster. Ubi Soft plans to release games under those two particular franchises for multiple next-generation consoles, including the Sony PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo GameCube.

Now we know why Square wants to get its hands in Nintendo's GBA pockets... Could GameCube support be far off?

From FGN Online this morning comes reports that Square is suffering its first major financial losses ever. Now, Square may have more reasons to want to align themselves with Nintedo and Microsoft instead of siding only with Sony. The massive budget for the Final Fantasy movie, The Spirits Within is being blamed as one of the reasons for the losses.

First screen of Sonic Advance!

Sonic Team has finally raised the curtains on their GBA titles a little. As well as a whole page on Chu Chu Rocket Advance, they have released the first shot of Sonic in his 32-bit handheld glory!!!

Sonic's looking better than ever in Side-scrolling form for his 10th anniversary! This looks like a whole new level to me.... We'll post more pictures as they come.

Sega takes steps towards recovery.

Famitsu recently interviewed Testu Kayama of SEGA, and it has now been translated for your reading pleasure! Although a lot of the interview is about SEGA, stuff about Nintendo creeps in. Below is a quote from Mr. Kayama. Check the full thing here. And don't forget to check the page tomorrow for the second half of the interview!

It looks like Mario Advance won't make the GBA luanch, but Mario Kart will...

From NCSX comes an interesting report that Mario Kart Advance has replaced Mario Advance in the GBA launch. Shortly after Mario Advance was confirmed both it and MKA were set for the Japanese GBA launch on March 21st. Then, online play was confirmed for Mario Kart Advance and it was seemingly delayed... Read more...

The Matrix is coming to multiple, but unspecified next-gen platforms. It's to be developed by Shiny and published by Interplay.

IGNcube published a story today on yet another next-gen game using a popular license. Did everyone forget how to be original all of a sudden? No matter. At least this license is awesome, unlike some previously mentioned licenses. Yes, the Matrix will be coming to "...all major next-generation platforms..."... Read more...

Square wants a peice of that GBA pie so bad...

Unless you live in Japan, you've probably never heard of Digicube. Digicube is a major video game retailer in Japan. Beginning this Wednesday, Digicube will finally be offering Game Boy games. Now, you may ask, "Mike, what does his have to do with Square?" Well I tell you! Digicube's parent company... Read more...

You need a GBA import? Here's the info you need.

If you're planning on nabbin' an import GBA on March 21(-ish), now is the time to make sure you have your pre-order in. Yes, it still seems like you will need to get at least one game with your GBA. No biggie.

Right now, as I can see online, you have 2 options. Buy-Rite, and National Console Support. If you know of any other deals out there...feel free to e-mail me, or jump in the talk back. So who has the better price?

Another false delay rumor from Daily Radar and the first rumblings of a big Nintendo project.

Today, Daily Radar reported on an interview conducted with Nintendo's immortal leader, Hiroshi Yamauchi (conducted by Video Senki). The writer accidentally quoted the interview in a way that makes it appear as if Yamauchi is hinting at general development problems for GameCube games with a possible delay of the July launch in Japan.

Blade (that movie released not to long ago) may be coming to a Cube near you.

Thanks to Brent Childers, friend of PN2K, for leading us to this. A second story from the guys at NShooters.com reports that a game based on the character Blade may be on its way to the GameCube. According to Next-Generation Magazine, Mucky Foot is making a game based on the sequel to the movie which... Read more...

According to Next Gen magazine, Nintendo is bullying 3rd parties around with it's portable monopoly...

The guys over at NShooters.com have given us some info about Nintendo and the GBA from the latest issue of Next-Generation Magazine. According to the report, Nintendo is raising the wholesale costs of GBA carts by a dollar. Furthermore, they are adding 60 days of cartridge production time for 3rd... Read more...

Another Pokémon movie is slated to make millions for Nintendo in the Summer of 2001 (Japan).

Nintendo has announced the fifth movie in the Pokémon series: Pokémon: Serebei's Time Adventure (rough translation). The movie will open in Japan on July 7th. Of course, that's the same month that the GameCube is scheduled to launch in Japan. July looks to be a very good month for Nintendo and Nintendo fans alike, in Japan anyway.

La Femme Nikita is coming to "multiple next-generation consoles" with team based coop play to boot.

Infogrames, through a licensing agreement with Warner Bros., will release a La Femme Nikita game for multiple next-gen platforms. Players will be able to play as either Nikita or Michael (a member of an antiterrorist group). The designers intend to integrate action and cooperative team play over the course of multiple missions.

Xbox technologies just happened to register the trademark before M$... oh what to do now!?

No, it's not Bizarro World. Thanks to Magic Box, we're here to report more problems for X-Box. I don't want to seem like we're "system bashing" here at the Planet, though the state of the competition is relevent to Nintendo. On top of that, with rumors that Nintendo is afraid of Microsoft’s upcoming console, it’s good to point out reasons why it has no reason to be. Check it out:

I could do without Charlie Brown...

Infogrames have proudly announced that they have obtained the rights to create games based on & around Charlie Brown, Snoopy & other characters from the popular comic strip, Peanuts. The first title to be announced is Snoopy Tennis, slated for the Game Boy Color. Infogrames also have rights to do... Read more...

Yet another Player's Poll contest in Nintendo Power.

The Player's Poll contest has been a staple in every issue of Nintendo Power magazine since it debuted in 1988. The first grand prize back in 1988 was 10 games of your choice. What's the grand prize this month? Why, it's a trip to E3 of course! Nintendo will provide transportation for two to Los Angeles,... Read more...

Pretty please?

PlanetN2000 has been demanding a U.S. release of Treasure's Sin & Punishment ever since Billy (and many others) started giving rave reviews back at Spaceworld 2000. A high action shooter with tons of bosses and off-the-hook insanity, S&P features English voice acting & would be a perfect release for... Read more...

Paper Mario is da BOMB!

If you didn't already know, Paper Mario should be in stores now, ready for you to purchase! Billy is totally hooked on the game & if you read his recent impressions, you'll understand why he's thrilled. For even more details on the game, Nintendo's new Paper Mario site is now officially open. For those of you who have bought the game, share YOUR impressions via talkback!