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Hey, did ya miss me? While Billy was packing up for his new job at Game Informer, he put me in a “cozy” little cage at the kennel… and then he forgot to get me out! A year and $5000 in lodging fees later, I’m once again a free kitty, and none too keen to go back and live with that oaf. So, I hitchhiked all the way to Las Vegas for the DICE Summit, where I’m already hearing some juicy new rumors!

I don’t have any details yet, but the word around town is that Nintendo is working on a new Mario RPG for GameCube… for real! Mario & Luigi did great on GBA, so it’s no surprise that the Big N would want to keep the franchise rolling along with a GameCube sequel. I’ve got my ears perked for anything else on this game…

The other interesting thing I’ve heard here in Vegas is that Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Plus, which comes out this month in Japan, will see some changes when it’s brought over here to America. Namely, they’re thinking about removing the Navi’s Trackers game completely. This weird talking scavenger hunt is mainly intended for young kids, and it fell victim to plenty of laughs (and not the good kind) at E3 last year. It looks like Nintendo is considering chopping it out altogether for the US release, since it doesn’t fit in very well with the Zelda series and would be really hard to translate, what with the technically advanced voice system that can pronounce each player’s name. Another little tidbit about Four Swords Plus: it looks like Hyrule Adventure, the mode that plays like Link to the Past but with four players, is bigger than anyone expected. Apparently the world map is even bigger than the one in LttP! Luckily, we’ll be able to test this hearsay once we get our import copies of the game, which should be very soon now.

Okay, gotta get back to the partying. This night could end up being pretty crazy, but remember… what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. MEOW!