The weekly roundup of everything Gamecube.

Hello again, ladies and gentlemen, to another (ever so slightly late) edition of the weekly digest, C-E's round-up of the last seven days in the world of Nintendo. Let's dive in then, shall we?

Topping the bill this week is that in the next couple of days, Nintendo are expected to hold their long-awaited January press conference. It is probable that the company will unveil their much-talked about 'New Game Product�'. Last week's prime piece speculation was that 'it' would be a successor to nothing, but rather a completely original...something or other. Intriguingly, but no less disturbingly, Nintendo's Japanese President said that 'if only 10% of gamers' are interested by the new product, then they'll be happy. Mind-boggling, eh? Well, we'll know soon enough what it is he's talking about. This week, in fact. So stay tuned to C-E- we'll have the details, as they happen. It's also just possible that we'll hear the very first details of the new GameCube Zelda. The mere mention of that has me salivating�

Electronic Arts have scooped the rights to publish one of gaming's most anticipated titles, Criterion's Burnout 3. The company also own the rights to publish the "Burnout" series; so all future sequels will be handled by EA. An official announcement regarding this will be made soon. So what does this mean for GC owners? Granted, it means yet more dominance for EA, which probably isn't a good thing, but considering Nintendo's cozy relationship with EA, this is good news- should previous Burnout publishers, Acclaim, have got hold of the license once again, the PS2 and/or Xbox would probably have got an exclusivity deal (as with Burnout 2), if only for a while. EA though are nigh-on certain to release simultaneously on all consoles. Result!

With the release of Silicon Knights/Konami's Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes coming ever close, Nintendo have announced details of a special bundle for the game- Japanese gamers are to get an amazing new Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes GameCube package deal!

For the measly sum of 21,000 yen (that's around �110 sterling) Japanese owners will receive the following: Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes game, Bonus Disk with EXCLUSIVE video footage AND the original Metal Gear NES game! A Forty page booklet of artwork, and a Metal Gear solid themed GameCube (whatever that may be- expect a picture soon) A fine deal this most certainly is. A similar deal for the U.S and Europe isn't currently on the cards, but given the huge mass-market appeal for any Metal Gear game in both territories, it's a distinct possibility. It may also help to shed Nintendo's 'kiddy' image. Groan. Rumours persisted of late that Metroid Prime 2 (well, the name is unconfirmed, but it's a fair guess) won't be released on the GameCube but rather on the N5 (see? We're reduced to making up names for everything these days). We received some trustworthy intelligence (not the kind the U.S military use, mind) that the game is on course for a Cube release. When? We're not even going to speculate.

The obligatory sales boost thing, next: This week, Nintendo of America announced that it has taken a leadership position in the video games industry, around the world and around the world. Hardware and software sales in 2003 made significant leaps over 2002, and Nintendo's success bumped Microsoft's Xbox to the No. 3 position in the 2003 console wars.

Global holiday sales for Nintendo GameCube in 2003 outpaced 2002 by a whopping 70 percent, and Nintendo anticipates it will meet its global sales target of 6 million Nintendo GameCube systems this fiscal year. Nintendo estimates for 2003, Nintendo GameCube U.S. hardware sales increased by more than 35 percent over 2002; Sony's PlayStation 2 dropped by about 25 percent and Xbox showed no relevant market growth. In December alone, Nintendo GameCube hardware sales soared 69 percent over December 2002, compared to a drop of about 30 percent for PlayStation 2. Again, Xbox showed little change.

U.S. sales got a boost from a Sept. 25 price drop, which brought Nintendo GameCube down to $99.99. Now Nintendo GameCube has nearly 6.8 million units sold in the U.S. since its 2001 launch, of which 3.17 million were sold throughout 2003. And to top it all off Mario Kart: Double Dash!! has become the fastest-selling Nintendo GameCube game in the United States, selling more than 1 million units in just seven weeks. At a time when many say that Mario is losing his games-selling appeal, this is a welcome relief that the world has not yet had its fill of the fat Italian plumber from Brooklyn. Now, go children, and use this as ammunition against your PS2-loveing buddies. Not that they'll listen, mind. In other news, Capcom have confirmed plans to release the excellent Dreamcast Resident Evil title, Code Veronica X for the GameCube. February 27th is the date for Europe. It comes on two disks, and goes on sale for full price (about 50 euros).

Ubisoft recently confirmed that the former Xbox-exclusive Rainbow 6 3: Raven Shield will be making its way to your GameCube sometime later this year. The game is currently in the "planning stages" for the machine so we can perhaps expect a release towards Christmas-time this year. Without online features, mind.

Those kind and talented people at Ubisoft have also revealed the release dates for their anticipated titles Beyond Good and Evil and Prince of Persia. Both are top quality titles, and deserve to be in your collection. Ubisoft said it will release both titles for the GameCube on the 26th of February in both Europe and Australia, but not for normal price. In Europe, Beyond Good & Evil will retail for the budget price of � 29.99 and Prince of Persia will retail for � 44.99. In Australia, the games will cost respectively AUS$49.95 and AUS$99.95. BG&Es price is designed to stimulate sales, which have been very poor on both PS2 and Xbox. I've championed both these games before, and I urge you to buy at least one of them if possible. Well, that's it for now.

Until next week, folks.

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