The weekly roundup of everything Gamecube.

Welcome again to the Weekly Digest, Cube-Europe's weekly newsletter packed with news from the world of Nintendo gaming. Last week's edition got, ahem, 'lost in the email' [It did, really - Conor], so this week's edition is a bumper one. There's no shortage of news to report, so let's get started, shall we?

Topping the bill this week is news from the Game Developers Conference in the U.S last week. There was very little to report from a Nintendo point of view, but a Zelda presentation was held, during which Wind Waker director Eiji Aonuma let slip a couple of details about the forthcoming Zelda sequel on the GC. He confirmed that that the game will be showcased at the upcoming E3 in May. Aonuma will from now on also be acting as the producer for the upcoming Zelda titles. Most interestingly, Aonuma hinted that the Nintendo DS will feature connectivity with Wind Waker's sequel. Of course, it was mentioned so obliquely you can never be sure, but it seems like an interesting prospect, despite us knowing precisely nothing about the console or the game� And then the presentation got a little bizarre. To the delight of all in attendance, slides were projected showing hand-drawn images of Shigeru Miyamoto kicking over a desk in anger! The 'Miyamoto Test' was also discussed- dealing with things as seemingly trivial as hearing the traditional Zelda puzzle chime before smoke had cleared. Confused? You should be. Anyway, from the weird and the wonderful to something altogether more dull.

This week, Capcom announced the closure of its development studio in Tokyo. The "Sixth" development studio are the ones to feel the pinch. Other areas affected are the in-house PC development studio and development studios in Nagoya. However you'll be glad to hear that none of the Capcom studios responsible for any Nintendo games were axed. However, a new Capcom studio was also announced. Named Clover Studio, the new development house will have Atsushi Inaba as it's head. Inaba-San produced Viewtiful Joe and is currently over-seeing several other projects.

Clover Studio will be owned in whole by Capcom and will be established on July 1st.

Famitsu has reported that Chunsoft's RPG for the GameCube, Homeland, is to be an online title. The game will apparently come on two disks- one for offline and one for online play. The second disc will allow players to use their GameCube as a server, which will then be able to accommodate up to 30 players. If you make your GameCube a server, you control the game for anyone who connects to you, spawning monsters, starting events and checking all the players. Sounds interesting.

Unfortunately, details on this game are about as easily found as hen's teeth, and it's chances of coming to Europe are lower than weapons of mass destruction being found in Iraq.

It was recently announced by Nintendo of America that Legend Of Zelda: Four Swords for Gamecube will be released on the Gamecube in the United States later this year on June 7th.

However, the mini game entitled "Navi's Trackers" has been ruthlessly excised from the U.S version. Navi's Trackers is, or was a multiplayer mini-game in which players must use their connected Game Boy Advance to search for stamps. It appeared to be a fun, if limited sub-game, and its omission is all the more surprising given its inclusion in the recently released Japanese version. There's no word yet on whether it'll come with the European version, but it seems improbable.

Here's one for residents of the UK and Ireland-

To celebrate the release of Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles for Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo UK has come up with an interesting site where visitors are asked to input their 'gaming fantasies'. You can vote/rate people's submissions and there are some decent prizes on offer for the top three finishers. Check out the site at http://www.yourfinalfantasy.com.

Staying with Final Fantasy, the internet was alive this week with talk of another GC-exclusive FF game. Supposedly entitled FF: Guilty Wing, the game was apparently 'revealed' by the Japanese V-Jump magazine. Since then, SquareEnix have denied that any such game exists, and the magazine also denied they'd even published anything suggesting that it was in development. The moral of the story? Never trust V-Jump magazine. Megaton, anyone?

Kuju, the London-based development studio has been signed up by to develop a "major" new title exclusively for the Nintendo Gamecube and to be published by Nintendo themselves. No further news on the title has been made available. Kuju were behind the recent PS2 game Warhammer 40,000: FireWarrior. Will it be revealed at E3? You can bet your life on it. Well, there's a fair chance, anyway. There were yet more rumours last week that suggested that Kuju would be developing a GameCube Castlevania game, but these were subsequently quashed by the spoilsports at Nintendo.

Nintendo is releasing two new GameCube hardware bundles in cooperation with Electronic Arts. The FIFA 2004 and Need for Speed: Underground bundles retail for E129, and will be rolled out across Europe in the near future. Hardly what youd call bargain of the century, but not bad either.

Finally, Nintendo are about to solve our memory card woes. While Xbox owners never even have to think about storage space for save files, and the PS2 contingent are satisfied with their ample memory card storage, GC owners have long been frustrated on this front. However, all this is set to change. Nintendo of America has announced that the Memory Card 1019 (yeah, that really is 1019 blocks) will be released in America June 8th for $30, around �17/E25.

Nintendo of Europe have yet to release any information about a European release, but you can bet your bottom dollar it will be out during the summer. Result!

More news next, from the fountain of gaming knowledge that is Famitsu. This weeks' edition comes with confirmation of a new Paper Mario game in development. The game will take place using a similar 2D graphics engine to the original game and is apparently being developed by the developer of the original game, Intelligent Systems. The highly acclaimed N64 version was released late into the N64's life. But that's not all...

A GameCube version of Nintendo's epic strategy RPG Fire Emblem is in the works. In-depth details regarding the game including its story and battle system still remain undisclosed and are expected to be released next week. The Fire Emblem series has largely been the preserve of Japanese gamers, although Europe recently saw a superb, Advance Wars-rivalling GBA version. And finally this week, Nintendo of America have given us an updated look at release dates for the U.S in 2004, for some of the company's biggest releases. Here's the eye-wateringly good timetable in full:

• WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$ - April 5
• Custom Robo - May 10
• The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures - June 7
• Pikmin 2 - August
• Donkey Konga - September
• Paper Mario 2 - Q4 2004
• Geist - Q4 2004
• Metroid Prime 2 - Q4 2004
• Star Fox 2 - Q4 2004
• Mario Tennis - Q4 2004
• Mario Party 6 - Q4 2004

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is about as good as it got as far as Nintendo news was this week. I'll let you all get back to Solid Snake and chums...

Sl�n

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