Friday, 10/03/03
Silver and Gold
The Silver/Platinum Wavebird will be released in the USA on or around November 17th, if the
EB website can be trusted. There also seem to be plans to release a golden GBA SP, possibly as
part of a bundle with Super Mario Bros. 3.
Rockstar Games Announces GC Game
Serious Sam: The Lost Levels is coming to the GC in early 2004, although details on
exactly what this game is are a bit murky. What we do know is that it is a shooter of some
sort, somehow based or tied into the Serious Sam game universe.
GC Sales Quadruple?
NOA is reporting that GC system sales have quadrupled since the the GC's price became $99, and
that retailers are requesting new shipments of GC systems. Average weekly sales of the 'Cube
in August and September were roughly 15,000, but 61,000 were sold in the week following
the GC price cut.
If Nintendo can keep this sales momentum going into the holiday buying season, things will
be looking a lot better for the little purple wonder.
Do the Donkey Konga
NCL now has a Donkey Konga website
running on their server. Tunes known to be in the game at this point include the Super Mario Bros.
theme, the DK Rap, and whatever new tune is being created as the Donkey Konga Theme
; tunes rumored to be in the game include La Bamba and Mambo #5.
The drums, which resemble a pair of bongos made from barrels, have a sound sensor or microphone
attached, which allows the game to detect clapping noises as well as the drum beat. The game
supports up to four players at a time, although we're not sure if you need
four "Konga" drums for four player play.
As a side note, Cranky and Diddy appear in some of the released screen shots. Along with
the "standard" music game screen shots (which feature rolling barrels with notes painted on
their ends), there is a screen shot which looks very much like a
level from Donkey Kong Jr.; Donkey Kong is climbing vines to collect fruit, while
avoiding what appear to be Klap Traps.
iQue Website Active
If you visit the new iQue website, you can see nice pictures
of Nintendo mascot characters and the iQue Ltd. buildings, somewhere in China. One thing you
can't see, however, is the Nintendo logo. An English page of the site should be coming in the
future (for Hong Kong?), so perhaps we can learn more about it soon. Rumors are flitting about
that the system will play N64 and SNES ports.
Canada Continues to Confuse Us
Nintendo of Canada has announced that the GBA SP will drop in price to $140 (Canadian, of course),
thereby matching the newly reduced price of the GC. While having both systems retail for the
same cost isn't amazing, the fact that the SP spent some time retailing for more than
the GC is rather... odd.
Euro Price Slashes
Starting October 10th, UK gamers can purchase a GameCube for £79 ($131.73).
Starting October 10th, Super Mario Sunshine, Starfox Adventures, Metroid Prime, and
Mario Party 4 will become Players Choice titles.
Starting October 17th, all Europeans can purchase a GameCube for 99 Euros ($115.17)
The only thing confusing us is why UK folks have to pay more than everyone else in Europe.
GC Soul Calibur 2 Outsells Others in Australia
The GC version of Soul Calibur 2 is currently outselling the PS2 and Xbox versions in
Australia, and is 9th best selling console game overall. Sadly, the 8 games outselling it are
all on the PS2 or Xbox.
64DD Game Lives: Oriental Blue
The upcoming GBA RPG Oriental Blue was originally a N64 DD game, it seems. While we wish
we had more to say about this, we don't.
Amazing Deal #275: Super Monkey Ball 2 for $20
Visit the EB online store to purchase
Super Monkey Ball 2 for $20. If you already own it, ignore this.
In Stores This Week, Unless Your Retailer Hates You
Capcom's Auto Modellista, the cel shaded racer, should be a mere $40.
Wednesday, 10/01/03
Donkey Konga Music
News is flitting out of Japan that Donkey Konga will feature DK and DK Jr.. The game will
feature at least 32 tunes, covering classical, Latin, pop, "dance", traditional, and "anime".
Let's hope there are some Nintendo game remixes as well.
Tuesday, 9/30/03
GameCube Soul Calibur II Overshadows in Europe
The GC version of Soul Calibur II is outselling the Xbox and the PS2 versions in
Europe, much like it did in the USA. This is rather amazing given the relatively pathetic
sales of the GC in Europe.
Another Microsoft Game Comes to the GBA
THQ is publishing Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee for the GBA, which is a bit surprising
as we are now wondering how many Microsoft games they plan to release on Nintendo's portable
system. More Rare titles are coming, of course...
Atari Publishing Update
It appears that Atari will be releasing the Mission Impossible game on the GameCube
after all, but that there will be no Terminator 3 nor Driver 3 games for the
GC. Atari claims this is merely because they don't have to time to give the GC versions the
quality they deserve, or something like that.
Dead Phoenix Officially... Cancelled?
New stories from the Tokyo Game Show of Dead Phoenix being confirmed as a cancelled
title. We haven't been able to confirm this ourselves, however.
Monday, 9/29/03
Memory Card 59 No Longer Produced
Yes, Nintendo has officially ceased production of the tiny little 59. Nothing more to
see here. Move along.
Nintendo's New Ad Campaign
As part of an effort to attract more gamers, Nintendo has begun a new marketing campaign,
entitled "Who Are You?". The campaign will promote both Nintendo systems and the Nintendo
brand itself, and focus on the various Nintendo characters. A sixty second cinematic commercial
will air in theaters before several major fall films, and 15 and 30 second versions will be used
on television to promote the upcoming Super Mario Bros. 3 GBA game. Billboards and
print advertisements will appear as well. The campaign will cost NOA roughly $50 million,
half of the $100 million they have earmarked for marketing over the next year. NOA has set up a
website for the campaign, so you can take a
look and see what you think.
Another Wacky Game Deal
Amazon and Toys R Us are selling Pokemon Pinball for a mere $15.00 from their online
website. Check out
the Pokemon Pinball product page to take advantage of this deal.
