Your weekly roundup of everything Gamecube.

Welcome to another edition of the Weekly Digest. It may be sweltering hot outside (makes a change!) but that hasn't stopped us gathering together, into one tidy package, the week's Nintendo news. Let's get moving, then...

There's plenty to get through this week, but why not start with something on the Nintendo Revolution. Nintendo supremo Saturo Iwata has been speaking just a tiny bit more on the console- in his usual cryptic style, so he managed to give precisely nothing away. Iwata suggested that the "Revolution" console will be a different kind of product, similar to the difference of the Nintendo DS to 'traditional' handhelds.

Satoru Iwata reminded us all about his belief that the focus should be taken away from hardware during the meeting. He stated that "the Nintendo Revolution" will be a console "of a different nature that does not follow the conventional path of new game systems that increase speed and visual quality for making elaborate games. The rule of satisfying customers by increasing specifications worked once, but no longer applies now."

It seems Nintendo's focus is firmly on game play and great software with what Iwata and many Nintendo representatives, such as NoE head Gosen earlier in the week, have been saying. "What we are looking for is not next-generation technology, but next-generation game play." Iwata also decided to clear up any crazy speculation by stating, "We have no intention of making a two screen console akin to the DS." Of course, Nintendo have been saying most of this for a long time now- but we did hear something entirely new- from an unexpected source. Genyo Takeda, an engineer for Nintendo stated, "You'll be able to play not just by linking up to a television but to a computer monitor as well." This has led to great speculation, including ideas that this may be how Nintendo plan to utilise the internet. But as stated, it is pure speculation- especially given that the source of the information was an engineer, as opposed to Iwata or Miyamoto. Time will tell.

Iwata didn't end there, though- in the interview he went on to reveal a little more about the new GameCube peripheral which failed to materialise at E3. Later this year, Nintendo will release Mario Party 6 for the GameCube. However, according to Iwata the game can be played without a controller. "In the past, there have been people who have felt controllers are hard to deal with and did not play games, but this will seek to appeal to those people" said Iwata.

There is intense speculation that the peripheral is a camera or motion-sensing gadget, in the vein of Sony's popular EyeToy (something you would have though Nintendo would have originally come up with.) Other speculation points to the 'Game Eye' device which was briefly mentioned at E3 two years ago, but promptly disappeared. Nintendo are expected to hold a briefing in the next couple of months to show off the new product.

Meanwhile, GameSpy recently interviewed Eiji Aonuma about the Zelda franchise and its future. During the interview he confirmed that Nintendo were working on three new Zelda games. Two of them we already know- the new Zelda for the GameCube, and the brilliant-looking Zelda: Minish Cap for GBA. What we didn't know is that a Zelda game for the DS is already underway. Just imagine what they can do...

With the European release of Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow on the GameCube approaching, Ubisoft have released some information on the GameCube-specific features the game will have. And they're mighty fine, if I may say so. New GameCube features include:

• A new Indonesian jungle mission where gamers must evade the enemy and complete the objectives.
• The game will now display post-mission statistics and scoring based on your performance during a mission. This includes shots fired and enemies detecting you.
• Revisited missions will now sport alternate pathways to the objectives.
• The GameCube version will now include a booby trap element, where gamers diffuse the traps using functionality similar to lock picking.

GameCube to GBA Connectivity will also feature heavily in the 'Cube version. It gives you the ability to unlock an impressive eight extra missions for its GBA counterpart (shame the game isn't up to much) as well as providing a GBA map screen and other tools. It doesn't quite make up for the lack of multiplayer modes, but it's something.

During the recent ELSPA Games Summit in London, Nintendo of Europe head David Gosen spoke about how the industry is too focused on the next generation and about how Microsoft care too much about hardware.

"Grand Theft Auto, ultimately, is a dead end street," Gosen said, "I don't relish the role of defending our business from charges of gratuitous violence".

The full discussion can be found over at GamesIndustry.biz.

Game Critics have published their 8th annual Best of E3 awards. The group is composed, apparently, of the USA's finest game journalists. The awards leaned heavily towards Sony and Microsoft, with Nintendo's Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat being the sole Nintendo game to pick up any awards. The coveted 'Best of Show' award went to Sony's PlayStation Portable. The reason why, though, isn't so clear. The judges, unbelievably cited the PSP as the winner despite the console being unplayable at E3. Their justification was shockingly poor- concentrating on the console's admittedly impressive aesthetics is no reason to award it 'Best of Show'- they also said that 'Our confidence in PSP is rooted in Sony's demonstration of games that will make the system appeal to players over 18.' It unquestionably will appeal to an over 18 demographic, but that's no reason either! And where were Resident Evil 4, Pikmin 2, Paper Mario 2 and Metroid Prime 2? And, judging by the criteria used for determining the Best of Show, the Zelda trailer should have taken every award going�

Finally this week, some good news on the European sales front, with Pokémon Colosseum doing the business for Nintendo in the way that only Pokémon can.

The launch of Pokémon Colosseum has lifted Nintendo GameCube hardware sales across Europe, more than doubling its European market share from 16% to 32% in the first week of release.

Well, that's about all for this week. Until next Sunday,

Mark Cullinane
[email protected]