Your fortnightly roundup of everything Gamecube (and some other stuff).

Welcome once again to Cube-Europe's very own Weekly Digest. I say 'Weekly', because, as of today, the digest is back in it's weekly slot, bringing with it an end to the searing heat of summer and almost total lack of interesting Nintendo news. So, without further ado, let's press on with the news...

Nintendo have finally revealed the nature of their brand new peripheral for the GameCube. It's the reason why Mario Party 6 wasn't shown at E3. Introducing...the GameCube Microphone! Yep, a microphone. Unfortunately we don't know quite how the peripheral will be implemented in MP6, though we do know that one will be supplied with the game. A mic, of course, opens up worlds of new possibilities. According to Nintendo, a quiz mode will feature, where players have to answer questions using the microphone. But beyond that, we can only speculate. Which we most certainly won't hold back in doing. To the forums, everyone!

Nintendo let slip this week a plethora of European GameCube release dates for us. The full list is accessible from here, but to here are the highlights of an impressive line-up for the coming months.

• Wario Ware, Inc: Mega Party Games - 3 September 2004
• Second Sight - 3 September 2004
• Animal Crossing - 24 September 2004
• Pikmin 2 - 8 October 2004
• Donkey Konga - 15 October 2004
• Paper Mario 2: The Thousand Year Door - 12 November 2004
• Tales of Symphonia - 19 November 2004
• Metroid Prime 2: Echoes - 26 November 2004

It's hard to find fault with that little lot, isn't it? Especially that tasty triple whammy in November, starting with the radiant Paper Mario 2. Bear in mind that with the exception of Second Sight, all are Nintendo exclusives and this list doesn't include other third party titles. The link to the full list is above. Looks like it's going to be an expensive few months...

One game which isn't going to be making the European Christmas rush (along with Resident Evil 4 or Baten Kaitos) is Viewtiful Joe 2, which, perhaps sensibly, won't be coming out until 2005. In the U.S on the other hand, the games release has been shunted forward to November 23rd on both GameCube and PS2. The game will retail for a reasonable $39.99 (and slash 20% off that if you're in the Eurozone). We would be very surprised if VJ2 turns out to be anything less than a worthy update to a fantastic original.

Recent price drops for both PS2 and Xbox have prompted speculation that Nintendo would follow suit with the GameCube. However, Nintendo's European PR department was quick to announce that the big N plans to stick with its 99.99 euro price point for the console. Not that we're complaining- we think that the low price has been a great move, and it would be unreasonable to expect further cuts.

Meanwhile in Germany, the GameCube has received an unexpected fillip with the news that the console is outselling the Xbox. The company is enjoying an increase in market share for June of over 4% compared to the average market share. This means that for June Nintendo had a 26% market share. As well as this 52% of video games sold in Germany during the first half of 2004 were Nintendo products.

The Games Convention 2004 took place in Germany recently. Read our report on the event here.

We've had a bit of a screenshot frenzy at C-E of late. For some lovely hi-res shots of Mario Tennis, click right here. For Call of Duty media, click here. For a Resident Evil 4 screenshot blowout, here's where you need to go. New DK:Jungle Beat screens can be found here and the very first screenshots of Nintendo's fascinating NintendoG dog simulation game, click here.

In a couple of other news snippets, Konami have announced that Yu-Gi-Oh! The Falsebound Kingdom is finally coming to Europe. It's set for release here in November. The game was released in 2002 in Japan, and is frankly rubbish. Moving swiftly on� Namco have opened up the US website for their upcoming RPG Baten Kaitos. http://batenkaitos.namco.com will take you there. It's well worth a look. It's one to watch, that...

Mortal Kombat: Deception is, in fact, coming to the GameCube despite what we initially heard. However, it won't be coming out until Spring 2005, several months after the PS2 and Xbox versions. Kudos to Midway for continuing to support the GC, although it's a bit late, isn't it?

Ubisoft have revealed some details about their forthcoming Clancy 'em up, Ghost Recon 2. The company announced that it is planning in releasing two version of the title; one for the PS2 and GameCube, developed by Shanghai Studio, and one for the Xbox and PC, developed by Red Storm's North Carolina studio.

The Xbox/PC version will be set five years after the PS2/Cube version. They will, however, feature broadly the same mechanics and squad members. The game will hit the shelves throughout Europe late November 2004. You can be also be pretty sure that the GameCube version will share the PS2 version's graphical flaws, though. Or can we? Go on Ubisoft, do a real port this time. And finally this week, troubled developer Acclaim has decided to shut it's offices. Acclaim have closed their offices in Austin, Texas, Manchester, UK and Glen Cove, New York.

"Acclaim has not nine, but 25 lives," said John Taylor, a videogame analyst of Arcadia Investment Corp. "But each time we go through this [critical financial point] it gets more challenging for them to re-establish themselves. Turok: Evolution was the most critical blow for the company financially. That really took the wind out of them. They've been heading south ever since."

It looks like the end is nigh for the company. Update: Since I've written this article, Acclaim have officially packed up and filed for bankruptcy. It's all over...

That's all for this week.

Sl�n,

Mark Cullinane
[email protected]