Your fortnightly roundup of everything Gamecube.

Welcome back again to Cube-Europe's Fortnightly Digest. After Conor taking on digest duties two weeks ago, I'm back in the seat again. And, while I've been away, there has been a veritable avalanche of Nintendo news. I have no interested in getting repetitive strain injury, so we really should get going�

Topping the bill this week can only be one thing- the Nintendo DS. Until this week, we couldn't, in all honesty, call Nintendo's revolutionary handheld a thing of beauty. Until this week. Nintendo has released the first two shots of the revamped, completed Nintendo DS shell which sports a brand new look. The redesign is considerable- I could describe the console in detail, but frankly I think it speaks for itself- so take a gander at the two shots below.

Oh baby...

It's a genuine improvement, isn't it? Personally, I think that the DS is now an aesthetic match for Sony's PSP. It certainly doesn't look like a 'console for the under-18 market' as eloquently described by EA boss Larry Probst. It's 'desirability' has just gone through the roof!

But there are more changes- Nintendo used E3 as a testing ground for the fledgling console, and have clearly listened to criticisms of the E3 prototype. Stereo speakers are now in place, along with a slot for storing the stylus. Meanwhile, the buttons are slightly larger and the four buttons on the right side of the console are now more suitable for lefties like myself. The power button has also switched sides, to allay concerns that rapid mashing of the four face buttons would lead to inadvertently switching the console off.

An analogue stick would have been a nice way to top it off, but you can't have everything- and Nintendo are clearly happy that the combination of touch and d-pad is more than enough. All in all then, two thumbs up for the new design- now, let's see some updated versions of DS games, and some utilization of the DS's built-in microphone.

Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto has done an interview with Australian site SMH. In it, he discussed his child-like ways, the new Zelda title and developer creativity.

"This trend that things have to be bigger and better is not healthy for the industry. Game creators are feeling pressure to make games bigger than the last, bigger than the games others are creating, and that's not good for the industry. I really would like there to be an environment where creators are free to do what they want." You can read the full interview here.

After recent success Activision is already planning new games in their most popular franchises.

Ron Doornink, CEO of Activision, recently spoke to analysts about Activision. As well as announced a phenomenal success for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2005 he announced that they are planning "sequels to True Crime, Call of Duty, Spider-Man, Tony Hawk, Shrek, and Quake.". Several more titles in the money-spinning (geddit?) Spider-Man series are also being planned, including Ultimate Spider-Man. While no more details on these titles were announced, including which consoles the games will appear on, he did say that Activision will be "committed at launch to next-generation consoles.".

Activision are looking to build upon recent successes, with the ultimate goal appearing to be usurping gaming behemoth Electronic Arts.

It seems, though, that EA are going to take some beating- they've just announced that they've purchased yet another development studio- this time it's UK studio Criterion, best known for their successful Burnout series, of which the third game is coming out in September (but, in a travesty of justice, not on the Gamecube). It also gives EA ownership of Criterion's very successful Renderware middleware platform, which is used to create an awful lot of games.

Meanwhile, developer support for Nintendo's DS platform is gathering speed- Square-Enix, with already several confirmed titles in the works (Crystal Chronicles DS? We'll take it!) have included a voting card with the recent Japanese GBA release of Final Fantasy I & II. On it, punters can vote which games they'd most like to see on the DS. The options included classic SNES RPGs Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger. Imagine the multiplayer possibilities.

Meanwhile, Atlus have revealed five new titles for the Nintendo DS- one being a new iteration of the oddly addictive Snowboard Kids. With the exception of the aforementioned 'boarding game, the announced titles don't really inspire- Game of Life DS anyone?

Choro Q DS is another racer which appeared on the Nintendo 64- a game which saw you collecting cars and racing them- it wasn't great. Truth and a Goddess: Transmigration DS is a bizarrely titled RPG. Details on the final game, Kadoukeusu, are unknown- it is described as a "action" game, which in truth doesn't narrow it down too much. Let's hope the developers make good use of Ds functionality, eh? And, just as importantly, that Atlus see fit to bring these games to Europe. Their record on this is patchy at best- remember Snowboard Kids 2, anyone? Um.

Multiplayer classic Zelda: 4 Swords, the multiplayer offshoot (and all the better for it) of the Zelda series, is coming to the DS! Nintendo are promising innovative use of the dual-screens and touch-pad . Naturally. Yet another top-class multiplayer title hits the DS.

In other news-

• Nintendo are reporting an increase in profits in Japan of about 100% for the period April to June compared to last year.
• Paper Mario 2, which is already released in Japan to critical and commercial success, is going to get a subtitle for it's North America release. Paper Mario 2 will now be renamed in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door.
• Our Ash recently went along to the Donkey Konga Tour; read his impressions of it here.

Well, that just about wraps up this weeks- sorry, fortnights- edition of the digest. Stay tuned to C-E in the coming weeks, and enjoy the remainder of the summer! I'm back off to Skies of Arcadia Legends, now...

Sl�n,
Mark Cullinane
[email protected]