The publisher adds a small French developer to its internal development studios.

The publisher of Prince of Persia and Beyond Good & Evil is getting bigger. Ubisoft announced today that it has acquired French developer Tiwak. The company is a small team of only 17 employees who were (and may still be) developing Tork for Microsoft's Xbox. Tiwak was formerly known as Yeti Interactive,... Read more...

It's not exactly the comment you've been waiting for, but at least it's something.

You know that mysterious product Nintendo plans to reveal at this year's E3 Expo? The one that's not going to be the next-gen GameCube or GBA? Well, in an interview with a Japanese newspaper, Nintendo president Satrou Iwata let out a little hint of what we might be expecting in a year or two when talking about that mystery Nintendo product.

More card-battling coming to GBA.

KONAMI ANNOUNCES YU-GI-OH!TM VIDEOGAME LINE-UP FOR SPRING 2004

REDWOOD CITY, CALIF. - January 9, 2004 - Konami Digital Entertainment - America, a subsidiary of Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. today announced three new games to be released in the blockbuster Yu-Gi-Oh! series. Further expanding... Read more...

Nintendo's Japanese website reveals which games it will display on the 19th.

Nintendo will be showing off its multiplayer muscles at this year's World Hobby Fair, starting January 19th in Osaka. Nintendo will promote the already-released Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Mario Party 5 with ongoing competitions. Winners will earn stamps in order to redeem special Nintendo prizes.... Read more...

Iwata said Nintendo would sell a certain amount, and he's sticking to his story.

In a small newsbyte on Yahoo! Japan, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata was quoted as saying that Nintendo will meet its worldwide GameCube sales goal of 6 million units for the fiscal year, which finishes up in March. "The target is in sight, [but] it won't be an easy victory," he said.

Thanks... Read more...

I hear you get $10,000 for going "Back to Baghdad".

The Gathering, a publishing division of Take Two Interactive, has now shipped Conflict: Desert Storm II: Back to Baghdad for the Nintendo GameCube. The title was released on other consoles late last year. The sequel sends players back to the sands of Iraq for more squad-based urban warfare, in which... Read more...

Are you otaku enough?

One of our contacts at Capcom alerted us to this crazy eBay auction, and we thought our readers would be interested in it. It's a giant collection of Capcom action figures and toys, apparently quite exhaustive. The seller is a former Capcom employee who displayed the items in his office for years.... Read more...

The games industry in the UK is continuing to grow, with the highest sales ever recorded last year of 1.26 billion pounds spent on software.

VIDEO GAMES CONTINUE TO GROW

ELSPA, the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association, today announced the continued buoyant growth in the UK computer and video games market. UK sales of leisure software products reached an all time high in 2003, with values reaching £1.26 billion, an increase of 7.1 per cent over the previous year.

A Chinese supermarket hosted a two-day event to help promote Nintendo's oddball game device.

On November 22nd and 23rd, Nintendo held a launch event for its China-only gaming system, the iQue. It was a competition featuring Mario Kart 64 and Wave Race 64, with the winners of each receiving some iQue gear, with the grand prize winner getting something special, a framed Shigeru Miyamoto autographed picture of Mario.

Again, nothing you gamers would care about, but good to know for our industry audience.

MIDWAY GAMES ANNOUNCES NEW APPOINTMENTS TO NORTH AMERICAN MARKETING AND SALES TEAMS

Marketing, Sales, and Media Relations Appointments Bring Talent from Industry Leaders - Industry Veteran Steve Allison named Chief Marketing Officer

CHICAGO - January 7, 2004 - Midway Games Inc., a leading... Read more...

The BBC is turning their hit franchise into a set of games for PC, PS2, and GBA.

Innovative TV tournament FightBox comes to PC, PlayStation 2, and Game Boy Advance

BBC Multimedia is set to launch FightBox as a multi-format gaming title on February 6, 2004.

Based on the TV series airing on BBC Two, FightBox brings together computer gaming, Internet and TV technology to create a new entertainment format.

A state assemblyman is hoping that two new bills will keep violent games out of the hands of the kiddies.

The fight to blame videogames as the sole reason for violence among young children has no end in sight. In the state of California, State Assemblyman Leland Yee from San Francisco is introducing two new bills that he hopes will help to get M-rated games out of the hands of those who shouldn't be playing them.

Nothing too terribly interesting if you like videogames, but we thought you'd ought to know.

MIDWAY GAMES APPOINTS TWO NEW DIRECTORS TO ITS BOARD

CHICAGO - January 6, 2004 - Midway Games Inc., a leading interactive entertainment software publisher and developer, announced today the appointments of Robert N. Waxman, CPA, 67, and Jay N. Whipple III, 47, as two new independent Board directors,... Read more...

Well, sort of. Capcom has a Flash mini-game for you to try.

One of the "Capcom 5" announced alongside P.N.03, Viewtiful Joe, and Resident Evil 4, the cel-shaded thriller Killer 7 has remained the most ambiguous of the bunch. No one outside of Capcom really knows how it plays, but we do know that its story revolves around a serial killer with multiple personalities.... Read more...

The critically acclaimed adventure is now available at a reduced price on each system.

Due to the game's poor holiday sales, publisher Ubi Soft has reduced the price of Beyond Good & Evil to $19.99 on all three console platforms, half of its original MSRP. The game was released just last month, amid the torrent of software launches that always precede Christmas.

A statement from... Read more...

Pandora Tomorrow, that is. The game will automatically adjust difficulty based on what you do, says Ubi Soft.

It seems with every flashy new game that comes out, you have people complaining that it's too easy. Even with developers adding difficulty levels, you can never please anyone anymore.

In an interview with BBC Online, Ubi Soft president Yves Guillemot talked about this problem, one that a lot... Read more...

All this month, if you buy Prince of Persia you'll get Splinter Cell for free.

Ubi Soft has a deal for those still waiting on the fence about buying the excellent Prince of Persia. All through the month of January, if you buy Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, you'll get Tom Clancy's Spinter Cell for free.

Details on how exactly this will work are unclear. Ubi says that... Read more...

The Hobbit Soundtrack Available for Download

Sierra and Vivendi Universal Games have made the soundtrack for The Hobbit available to the public. You can download it from their FTP site with this link:

The Hobbit Soundtrack (MP3)

The game has some very nice music, including Celtic and styles of songs. The instrumentation includes a lot of acoustic guitar, which is quite unusual for game music. You might even hear one of these tracks on Louie FM eventually.

Well wishes from our director.

I would like to wish everyone the best on this Christmas Day. This message is a bit late if you've been celebrating Hannukah or Kwanzaa, but I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday no matter what occasion you are enjoying this time of year.

Although Planet GameCube does not take a break... Read more...

Preorder Pokémon Colosseum and get a special bonus disc!

Nintendo fans who preorder Pokémon Colosseum between February 9th and the game’s release on March 22nd will receive a bonus disc full of Pokémon goodies.

Besides giving players a preview of the GameCube game, the bonus disc will contain footage of the upcoming Pokémon movie, Pokémon: Jirachi... Read more...