After a week filled with studying for exams, I return to my duties for Cube-Europe as a reporter of the recent happenings in the world of the Gameboy Advance.

Starting with the usual hardware section. This time, I'd be ready in no time with this section. The only meaningful news this week came from Japan: from AM3 to be exactly. AM3, which we've seen in two of the previous editions of Advance Weekly, decided it was time to show the audience what the AM3 adapter is capable of. That's right: 3 minutes and 46 seconds of Japanese mumbling showing you how to use the AM3 adapter and some actual footage of what the GBA screen will show (the animated series Detective Conan is shown for a while). The video is available in two different flavours: low resolution and high resolution. Your choice.

I also have a nice notice for the developers among you. A linux-kit will be released soon for developing your own GBA programs and games. The package includes a CD-Rom containing a Linux-development kit for the GBA platform, a USB connection cable (USB to GBA external port) and a 104 pages counting developers manual (printed on A4, so get ready for some serious reading). The price of the package will be about 60 euro's.

Over to the industry news. Both Atari and THQ supplied me with a nice list of upcoming releases for 2003. DBZ: Taiketsu, Mission: Impossible - Operation Surma and YuYu Hakusho: Spirit Detective will leave the Atari studios soon. THQ had a few more titles summed up: Tak and the Power of Juju, The Fairly OddParents: Breakin' Da Rules, SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle For Bikini Bottom, Jimmy Neutron: Jet Fusion, Hot Wheels World Race and Finding Nemo.

Nintendo of Japan announced today (Thursday) that their upcoming remake of Pokémon Leaf Green will be shown to the public during the 19th World Hobby Fair, held on the 18th of January in Osaka, Tokio, Nagoya and Fukuoka. So if anyone is going to Japan soon, please contact me...

On to the true games section. First of all, I found out something while I was looking through Ubi Soft's release-lists: Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow is coming to the Gameboy Advance as well. The game hasn't been officially announced yet, nor could they give me any information about the game (they promised me some in a few weeks). Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow is currently scheduled for a release on March 25, 2004... The exact same date as the release of the GameCube version. My guess is on a link-up between the versions.

Not all games will get a sequel. This was proven by EA last week. In an interview by C&VG with Interlock, it became clear that EA cancelled the sequel of Medal of Honor: Infiltrator "for whatever reason it is".

Another great game will be seen on the GBA again on the 9th of February, 2004. Metroid: Zero Mission was finally given a release date and was described by Nintendo themselves. Based loosely on the original NES maps, Metroid: Zero Mission includes all of the weapons and environments that made the original a huge hit, and also provides a totally new experience for the series' many fans by adding new enhancements and delving deeper into aspects of the story that haven't been told. For those who'd like to see the boxart featuring Samus, just follow the link.

Konami also joined the fun this week and came up with an unbelievable long title for their next Yu-Gi-Oh game: Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship Tournament 2004. With over 1100 game cards, the ability to create three different dueling decks and dozens of popular characters (25 in total) from the top-rated Yu-Gi-Oh TV-series, the excitement and exhilaration of the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG is captured in full force. A sidenote for the Yu-Gi-Oh! players among you: the game will feature the updated rules.

So what else do I have for you? Well, I've got the usual list of screenshots and movies again:

• The Sims: Bustin' Out (screens)
• Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town for Girls (screens)
• F-Zero: Falcon Legend (screens, movies)
• James Bond: Everything or Nothing (screens)
• Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship Tournament 2004 (screens)
• Tetris Advance (screens)

So that's all for this week. I'm going back to my studybooks and trying to keep up with the events from the GBA scene. Until next week!

Comments are welcome (especially positive ones) and can be send to [email protected].

Dennis Stam
(aka Blackbird on the boards)