Well, we're well into the Christmas season by now- only a couple of days left to the 25th; no doubt thousands of C-E visitors are impatiently awaiting some Nintendo-related they hope will be arriving Thursday morning. There hasn't been a whole lot of activity during this week- but we'll take a gander at the week's news nevertheless.

Nintendo revealed today that they are busy converting Rare's magnificent Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest to the GBA. This is unquestionably brilliant news- it is arguably the best of the series. However, we do have one reservation- the quality of the conversion. The original DKC when converted recently to GBA lost a lot of its vibrancy- it was to be quite honest a rather shoddy conversion- let's hope that Nintendo have learnt their lesson this time. It would be a shame to see DKC2's good name tarnished. If you can't wait for its release, why not get hold of the beautiful SNES version? www.ebay.co.uk have plenty of them at the moment. SNES' are rock bottom too. In fact, if you're unhappy about buying a SNES just for that game, then seek out DKC3, Yoshi's Island, Mario Kart, Link to the Past and Secret of Mana and you'll have yourself a package that no modern console can offer. Get to it, then.

Anyway, enough of my excited retro-rantings.

GAME's site have just announced their top Christmas present of 2003- and believe it or not it's our very own GameCube. Perhaps they might see fit to give the 'Cube some proper media and in-store exposure now?

Anyway, our esteemed editor Tim was recently given the unique opportunity to visit Nintendo of Europe itself, in Germany. He's producing a three-part series of articles to go along with it. The last time press visited NOE for an inside look was two years ago, so mark our words when we tell you this is a unique insight into the company that you simply won't get anywhere else Tim was the lucky one and went to NOE as the Cube-Europe representative. In his stories, you can find everything about his visit including reports on different departments, interviews, and the warehouse. It will be brought to you in three parts spread over two weeks. Part one is on C-E right as we speak.

I'm trying to steer the focus of the digest away from the financial end of things of late, but I thought some Christmas cheer was in order- so here you are.

Nintendo stocks in Japan have risen 3.7%- thanks to the company's American success, and their rating has changed from "hold" to "buy". More information on these money matters inside. Immense sales of Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and the Game Boy Advance in America have led to a 3.7% increase in Nintendo's Japanese shares- and investors are being encourage to purchase stakes in the company. Deutsche Securities have changed Nintendo's rating from "hold" to "buy"- thanks to sales of a whopping 754,000 GameCube units over the November period - compared to Xbox sales of 491,000 systems. ATI's quarterly revenue sales are also reportedly set to go up 40% thanks to the GameCube's high sales. The company is behind the graphics chip found in Nintendo's purple wonder. Nice, eh? Now you can go and be happy that the Cube is in great shape in America.

A bit of somewhat disappointing news is that Matsushita- or Panasonic, as the company is known over here- have stopped the production of their modified GameCube, "Q". The silver machine was released in Japan two years ago- offering DVD playback as well as all the standard functions of the GameCube. However, the machine never saw the light of day outside the land of the rising sun. You know, if Nintendo decide to base the aesthetics of the N5 on this console, I'll be mightily pleased- it's a glorious piece of technology and no mistake. Rest in Peace, old friend. We never met but I know we would've been good friends.

Nintendo of Europe have let slip a lot of release dates (or release periods at the least) for a good few of early 2004's most anticipated games. It's all below for your reading pleasure. And there's some essential titles in that list, to be sure...

World Racing - TDK January 2004
James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing - EA 20th February 2004
Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life - Natsume/ Ubisoft 15th February 2004
Kirby Air Ride - Nintendo 26th February 2004
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles - Nintendo 11th March 2004
Spawn Armageddon - Namco/EA 5th March 2004
R: Racing - Namco/EA 19th March 2004
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes - Konami March 2004
Scooby Doo! Mystery Mayhem - THQ March 2004
Sonic Heroes - SEGA Q1 2004
Puyo Pop Fever - SEGA Q1 2004
Pokémon Channel - Nintendo April 2004
Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour - Nintendo Q2 2004
Pokémon Colosseum - Nintendo Q2 2004
Phantasy Star Online III: C.A.R.D Revolution - SEGA Q2 2004

Looks like being a fine opening to the year, eh? Anyway, let's leave it there- enjoy the week, and don't eat too many mince pies. All correspondence to the usual address: [email protected]

Merry Christmas, everybody.

Mark Cullinane