Thanks to GameSpot for their report that sales of Nintendo's GameCube have quadrupled, following the price cut to $99. The piece quotes an effusive GameStop spokesman as saying: "Our sales of Nintendo GameCube have increased more than fourfold. We are currently increasing our shipment requests for the system throughout the holidays." Meanwhile, the Chicago Sun-Times reports on the new Nintendo adverts, both TV and print, with the tagline "Who Are You?" - the print ads "...show the heads of Nintendo characters superimposed on famous images, including players in the rock band Kiss, a person straddling the now-demolished Berlin Wall and no less an icon than the Mona Lisa", and the massive $100 million ad spending will also feature "a 60-second cinema commercial... shot on location in Asia... [and featuring] more than 500 extras."

Thanks to PlanetGameCube for their new story pointing out Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes has been delayed into 2004, according to Nintendo and Konami's websites. This GameCube-exclusive "remix of the PSone classic, Metal Gear Solid" also has a new, (spoiler-filled, brief synopsis available) Tokyo Game Show trailer, showcasing the in-game cinematic direction by Japanese movie director Ryuhei Kitamura. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater for PlayStation 2 also has a new Tokyo Game Show trailer (again, brief synopsis available), similar to the one shown at ECTS in London earlier in the month, and including many "scenes... seeping with James Bond flavor."

Thanks to GamerFeed for the news that Shigeru Miyamoto's remake of Pac-Man for GameCube/GBA will make it to consumers through a variety of bundle deals. The title, shown at E3 this year, has "...one player onto a Game Boy Advance and three players on the GameCube. The GBA player plays as Pac-Man, and he or she has a view of the maze similar to the one featured in the classic arcade maze game. The three GameCube players control the ghosts. The ghosts can see only their immediate surroundings, which makes tracking down Pac-Man a bit of a mystery." It's been announced that the GameCube exclusive "...will be packaged with Namco's upcoming [budget re-release] Pac-Man World 2... [and given] to gamers who pre-order the game I-Ninja... [and given to those who] buy the game R: Racing Evolution."

Thanks to Reuters for their story indicating Microsoft won't necessarily act on Nintendo hardware price reductions. Xbox boss Robbie Bach, in a Tokyo news conference, suggested "...the company's main benchmark when it comes to pricing would remain Sony... and not Nintendo", and added "We've been selling at a price premium to GameCube since the first day and I don't think that's going to change." Elsewhere in the news conference, Bach talked about the long-term growth of consoles, estimating that "...video games have a penetration rate of about 40 percent, but that rate can grow to 80 percent over the next decade if games become more appealing to a wider audience."

Thanks to various sources for covering Tokyo Game Show game announcements, including multiple new Capcom titles, from a Nightmare Before Christmas game for PlayStation 2, to a new multi-platform Mega Man RPG for PS2 and GameCube, and confirmed details on the Street Fighter II Anniversary Edition, which "contains every incarnation of every character from each game released under the Street Fighter II name." Apart from the Final Fantasy VII-based CG movie DVD we mentioned earlier, SquareEnix has also revealed details and initial screenshots for "Kingdom Hearts II for the PlayStation 2 and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories for the Game Boy Advance", and Famitsu.com has breaking news on two new SquareEnix PS2 online RPGs, the action-orientated Ambrosia Odyssey and Front Mission Online, though there'll be much more comprehensive coverage soon.

dade writes "Atari has dumped on Nintendo, making it the third company to do so in recent weeks. However, because the GameCube is a vehicle for first-party games, Nintendo's bottom line isn't affected. This article at switchbox asks if such a situation can last." Some good points are raised. While Nintendo is ostensibly content to hide in its niche market, it would seem to make sense that it would want to corner more of the gaming market if possible, especially given their history.

Michael_Blessed writes "An MCV story confirms the official GameCube price drop to $99, effective tomorrow. Strangely, this brings it to a similar pricepoint as the GameBoy Advance..." There's an official press release over at Yahoo which clarifies that the deal includes no bundled games, but "opens an $80 price advantage over its two console competitors", and quotes NOA President, George Harrison, as saying "So far in 2003, Nintendo GameCube is the only home console showing an increase in unit sales compared to 2002." We reported on Amazon's ahead-of-time price drop yesterday.

JFMulder writes "Retail partners Amazon.com and Toys 'R Us announced today that they were dropping the Gamecube console price down to $99. Even though Nintendo is probably losing money now on the GameCube, this is the move that Nintendo may be hoping will close the little gap between Xbox and GameCube in worldwide sales, and help it gain a solid lead over Microsoft in the coming months." A Reuters story mentions further indications that an official announcement is on its way, and all on Nintendo's 114th birthday, too.

Thanks to GameSpy for their import gaming column which also collates the total hardware sales for all the major consoles by territory, information that's often hard to find in one place. The article points out: "Generally speaking, worldwide, the PlayStation 2 is crushing the competition, having sold millions and millions more consoles than the Xbox or GameCube", and "Xbox seems to be more popular [than GameCube] in both North America and Europe", leading Nintendo's console by a million in the U.S. and a couple of hundred thousand in Europe. But in the East, the situation is different, since "hardly anybody is buying the Xbox in Japan", and the GameCube has a one-and-a-half million console advantage, further bolstered by a recent weekly chart that has the GC selling 16,841 consoles, and Xbox selling just 530 machines.

Thanks to Reuters for their report that last month's video game sales rose 4 percent from August 2002, due in significant part to EA's Madden NFL 2004, which "...sold 1.45 million units on the PS2 and 310,000 units on the Xbox in the month, generating sales of more than $86 million. Sales of Madden for GameCube were negligible." There were new figures on hardware sales, too, as "PS2 sold 291,000 units in August to bring its installed base in the United States to 18.8 million, while... Xbox sold 144,000 units to rise to 5.8 million and... GameCube sold 100,000 units to 4.5 million." Analysts suggested that PS2 sales "continue to lag behind expectations" (1 million short of the 9.5 million hoped), and predicted that Nintendo will "...introduce their own bundle or price cut by the end of September" (scanned early-October print ads for a major US retailer have the GameCube at $99.)

TravelSizedMonkey writes "Planet GameCube has a press release from Capcom announcing the upcoming release of the Mega Man Collection for the Gamecube and PS2. It contains Mega Man 1 through 8, as well as two arcade games never released in the US, Mega Man: The Power Battle, and Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters. It's scheduled for release in February 2004, and includes extra unlockable content and updated soundtracks."

Thanks to GameSpy for their interview with cult programmer Jeff Minter, currently working on the psychedelic GameCube shooter, Unity. The interviewer points out that Minter's "passion for fusing music, visual effects, and gameplay remains his strong focus", and goes on to talk to him about the choice of platform ("...the 'Cube may not have so many titles as some of the others... [but] a higher percentage seem to be really excellent games with a reputation for great playability"), the continuation of his 'virtual light machine' trilogy ("Unity will contain a full version of VLM-3 which players will unlock as they play the game"), and his ever-present love for the bovine ("there probably won't be anything as overt as flying yaks or anything... I am sure people would be disappointed if I didn't slip the odd beast in there somewhere.")

Thanks to Nintendojo for the news that Konami and Hudson are creating a mascot-infested fighting game in the vein of Nintendo's classic multiplayer fighter Super Smash Bros. The title, called Dream Mix World Fighters, is being released for PS2 and GameCube in Japan this December, and the game will ship "...featuring such enigmatic characters as Bomberman, Peach Taro, Master Higgins, Bonk, Takao, Yugo, Rika, Simon Belmont, Dracula, and many more." But, as Video-Fenky points out, where are the Kojima-game characters?

Thanks to IGN Cube for their story that Nintendo of America have reached an agreement for AOL to be the 'official preferred ISP' for GameCube. Nintendo have apparently informed IGN that "...developers who choose to create online games for GameCube will be licensed AOL connectivity software that will enable their games to connect online through AOL", but Nintendo also clarified that "...this does not indicate the unveiling of a new online gaming approach from Nintendo", making this partly an oddly cryptic co-marketing announcement, rather than any major breakthrough.

Thanks to the Gaming-Age forum regulars for pointing to info on the EB Games site showing Microsoft's Xbox hardware bundle for Christmas, consisting of the online-friendly Star Wars: Clone Wars, Tetris Worlds, and 2 free months of Xbox Live, priced at $179. Meanwhile, GameInformer.com has a rumor (via unconfirmed sources) of a Zelda-related GameCube hardware bundle this Xmas, including "...a bonus disc that will include the following Zelda games and goodies: Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Zelda Documentary." While this GameCube bundle is still a rumor, new Player's Choice budget titles from Nintendo have been officially confirmed, including (from September 25th) Metroid Prime, Animal Crossing, and Super Mario Sunshine for $29.99, and Star Fox Adventures, Pikmin, and Luigi's Mansion for $19.99.

Thanks to GameSpy for their 'Spy/CounterSpy' editorial discussing whether Nintendo has lost its way in the increasingly competitive gaming world. On the one hand, an editor argues: "One of the few concrete things [Nintendo have] said is that the successor to GameCube is coming out sooner, rather than later, but what's the point if it's as lacking in software as its two predecessors? Or if the software is as samey as the current stuff?" But on the other, there's counterpoint and optimism: "In fact, it's the companies with lots of resources who are falling behind in the race who typically come up with the biggest and riskiest innovations. Given Nintendo's ability to create good hardware and its strategic position in the handheld space, that could mean some VERY cool things in the future."

Thanks to IGN Cube for their article revealing new details from the forthcoming GameCube version of Wario Ware, as Nintendo's GameBoy Advance title "emphasizes multiplayer gaming through various new modes" in its GameCube translation. Among the wacked-out multiplayer modes are 'Listen To The Doctor', in which "...you follow the instructions of a doctor who'll tell you, among other things, to squat [in real life] while playing. Your fellow players can push buttons to rate your performance. In the end, the player with highest rating wins." The article is also accompanied by some amusingly skewed scanned screenshots, revealing some very similar gameplay to the GBA original, but with added four-player flavor.

Thanks to GamesIndustry.biz for their article discussing Take Two's comments on console exclusivity for the Grand Theft Auto franchise, following the surprise announcement of the GTA 'double-pack' for Xbox, which came about because Take Two/Rockstar had "amended its exclusivity deal with Sony, which had previously prevented the games from appearing on any console other than the PS2." Despite this amendment, Take Two CEO Jeffery Lapin confirmed "...that the next [GTA] game will be on the PlayStation 2 (not the PlayStation 3 as has been speculated by some commentators) and will have an unspecified period of exclusivity on that platform." He also stated that the company "currently has no plans to bring the series to Nintendo's GameCube", but might re-evaluate if "financially prudent".

Thanks to GamerFeed for their impressions of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga for GameBoy Advance, as they explore the November-due turn-based handheld RPG, suggesting: "Anyone who has played Super Mario RPG or Paper Mario should find themselves right at home with Mario & Luigi", and claiming it's "shaping up to be one of the best RPGs on a Nintendo console to date." Nintendophiles also have hands-on impressions of Mario & Luigi, but also take the opportunity to look back on Super Mario Sunshine, over a year after release. Opinions on this GameCube flagship title range from "Mario Sunshine will not be remembered like other Mario titles on past Nintendo systems", to "It took everything Mario 64 did, and went one step further with it" - but overall, they conclude it's not a 'classic'.

Thanks to GamerDad for their editorial discussing why there should be more difficult-to-complete games out there. The piece takes difficulty complaints regarding F-Zero GX for GameCube as a starting point, saying "This isn't the first time a top quality, high profile game has kicked people in the butts with challenge and it won't be the last. This kind of challenge is good for gaming and we need more games like it." The article goes on: "Players have grown accustomed to difficulty levels that are far too easy and I think it's contributing to their boredom with many games", but also cites specifics: "The most important thing about challenge, and it's one that F-Zero GX gets right, is that the game must let the player know it was their fault that they lost."