Your weekly roundup of everything Gamecube.

Hello again, and welcome once more to the 'Weekly' Digest- Cube-Europe's very own weekly guide to the world of Nintendo. Seeing as there was no edition last week, there's plenty of news to get your teeth into this week.

But before we do, one small announcement. GameCube news tends to slow down considerably during the summer months- and this year is clearly no exception. Last week's edition was postponed due to a lack of interesting content. So, we've decided to make the digest a fortnightly feature rather than a weekly one. Hope it doesn't hurt too much. Rest assured though, come September, it will revert back to its usual timeslot.

So, without further ado...

As if trying to make us forget the current drought of decent GameCube software, Nintendo are already looking forward to September. On September 3rd, Nintendo will release Wario Ware for the GameCube. The title has already been highly acclaimed by many leading publications, and we are certainly highly anticipating the title, given the outrageous scope for 4-player party games. In Nintendo's (typically zany- this is a party game after all) press release, it is confirmed that a Game Boy Advance can be used as a controller, making gathering four controllers up that bit easier. But even better, the game is to go on sale at the bargain price of 30 Euros. Excellent!

Namco has launched the official website for Street Racing Syndicate, one of the "most realistic, high-speed multiplayer street games to date" and due out in August for PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube in the US. The European release date is still to be announced.

The new website is located at http://srsgame.com and features screenshots, trailers and wallpapers highlighting some of the game's features.

Nintendo of America are set to release a Metroid Prime GameCube Bundle in America- with a twist. Along with the GameCube hardware and controller the bundle will contain a copy of Metroid Prime and- get this- a demo of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. The bundle is set to retail for $99.99, roughly �55 or �81- which is something of a bargain, too- considering the standalone Metroid Prime game cost only twenty euro shy of that figure when it was first released. There's also a decent chance that the disk will become available in other ways, too- perhaps as a pre-order bonus. We'll see soon.

C-E's public roundtable continues apace this week, with plenty of contributions on the topic of Nintendo's upcoming Revolution- naturally, it's all speculation, but in the absence of hard facts, what can you do? There's still time to get your opinions published on C-E for next week's edition- just visit the GameCube forum here.

With the recent revelation that Animal Crossing is after all set to hit Europe (after years of campaigning I might add) Nintendo of Europe have give the game their own site. Click here to visit.

In an effort to cut costs, many of Sega's development studios have had their websites shut down. These include Amusement Visions, who created Super Monkey Ball and Hitmaker, makers of Virtual-On. Other teams such as AM2, makers of Shenmue are to have their websites cut-down. Meanwhile, Sonic Team have shut their doors as a separate studio from Sega, but do not worry as they will still be carrying on. They will become an internal studio in Sega, like they used to be back when the Sega Saturn was out.

Sonic Team are moving around with a bit of a celebration however. The makers of titles such as Sonic and Phantasy Star Online are offering people who fill in a questionnaire on their website limited edition pins. There are 2000 pins to give away and for the lucky people who gain more then 100 points will win one of 1000 gold-coloured serialized pins.

Surely Sega's restructuring programmes can't be having a good effect on game development? As if to underline this, AV, perhaps Nintendo's staunchest Sega ally (they coded Monkey Ball and the wondrous F-Zero among others) have not announced any more games for Nintendo platforms. One wonders what they are up to- and indeed Sega as a whole, which is currently in dire straits. Shutting down websites to cut costs smacks of desperation- what next, selling the Sega coffee machine? Let's hope the company can pull themselves up.

Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's worldwide president, has been speaking once again about the state of the games industry. Iwata continued his stand on the gaming industry by stating that if the industry carries on like it is then a lot of gamers will leave the industry. "We are facing a critical situation, in which the number of game players will decrease unless we change tack," he stated. "We will release software targeted at customers in different age groups. I think the charm of Donkey Konga partly lies in the fact that even a three-year-old child can play it." He carried on to talk about the increasingly adult-orientated industry "Game software should neither be exclusively targeted at children nor adults. Instead, we will develop software which anyone can instantly understand. At the same time, production of software readily acceptable to adults is worth studying." It seems though, that too much of the media and the general public aren't getting this message, and continue to put Nintendo into the box marked ' kids only'.

Iwata went on to state that the PSX is "not a game machine but a home electronic appliance." While on the issue of Sony he stated that their online golf simulation game did not sell as well as the offline version, "proof that customers do not want online games." Continuing to talk about online gaming he stated, "At the moment, most customers do not wish to pay the extra money for connection to the Internet, and for some customers, connection procedures to the Internet are still not easy."

However, the DS has extensive online functionality- and WiFi access is hardly something the majority of people have access to. So it's undoubtedly going to be very interesting to see how Nintendo address this issue in the coming year. Nintendo has recently been building closer ties with other game developers, such as Capcom and Sega, and Iwata spoke about this. "We intend to expand tie-ups not only with Japanese companies but also with foreign companies. We are now holding negotiations with major Western game developers and will be able to conclude a deal by the end of the year if things go smoothly."

He also spoke about Bandai, stating "A closer relationship would be beneficial for both sides and it will be nice if the two companies can work together in doing something interesting."

Nintendo are going to tour Donkey Konga around the UK with 'The Nintendo Konga Beach Road Trip'. Starting on the 24th July Nintendo will visit 18 locations in the UK. At each location there will be a Kinga Beach Shack, which includes a Hawaiian beach bar and games. Not only will this include Donkey Konga but also a lot of the latest GameCube and Game Boy Advance games, months before they are available to buy in the UK. The tour will offer players a chance to play Donkey Konga, Animal Crossing and Pokémon Fire Red and Leaf Green from Nintendo themselves, but also third party games such as Shrek 2, Sonic Advance 3, Spyro The Dragon Fusion and Crash Bandicoot Fusion.

During the event you can compete in the Donkey Konga Bongo Battle tournament to win a host of prizes, including GameCubes, Game Boy Advance SPs, giant inflatable bananas and t-shirts. The top ten scores will be given VIP tickets to the Donkey Konga Bongo Battle final at Game Stars Live.

To read a list of venues and times, as well as other information, click here for more.

The next issue of Nintendo Power in the U.S will confirm that GEIST will be delayed in America until 2005. N-Space's game, which undoubtedly has terrific potential, could definitely do with another year in development. Let's hope that they and Nintendo can make this one into a real winner.

David Gosen, Managing Director, Sales and Marketing, is leaving Nintendo of Europe after being with the company for five years.

Nintendo announced that he will be leaving to join Digital Bridges, a worldwide leader in the publishing and distribution of wireless entertainment, as Chief Operating Officer. David's portfolio includes the launch of the GameCube, GBA, and GBA SP in Europe. "David has made a huge contribution to Nintendo over the last five years and we would like to thank him for all his hard work and wish him all the success in the future," said Satoru Shibata, President, Nintendo of Europe. Following David's departure, Jim Merrick will be promoted to Senior Director of European Marketing and will assume overall responsibility for Marketing in Europe, reporting to Satoru Shibata. Tim Freystedt will become senior European marketing manager.

David will be leaving Nintendo on 31st August 2004. We wish him all the luck with his new job and would like to thank him for all the good work he has done for Nintendo of Europe. That just about wraps up this week's edition of the Weekly- oops, Fortnightly Digest. And yes, the image will be seen to.

Check back in a fortnight.

Sl�n,

Mark Cullinane
[email protected]