First of all, I ruffled a few feathers last week when I inadvertently suggested that Hallowe'en falls on the same day as Bonfire Night in Britain. I know the old rhyme 'remember, remember, the fifth of November'- Guy Fawkes, the parliament, and all that jazz. It just slipped my mind for a moment. Moving swiftly on, and its been a busy week, with plenty of news to get through- so, it stands to reason that this is the week when I would get the flu. Typical. Well, I've managed to rouse myself from my bed long enough to bring you the weekly digest- now that's how much I love you, readers.

Still on the theme of All Hallows Eve, this year a lot of us in Hallowe'en-celebrating countries (Ireland among them) have cancelled all engagements for that famous night; there will be very little burning old tyres and logs, and a lot more burning up the track at death-defying speeds. That's right folks, F-Zero GX is coming to town next Friday. You know you need it.

Just as good, if not better, is the fact that two short days ago, Capcom's stunningly brilliant piece of insanity, Viewtiful Joe was released. The advice from the European Mental Health Foundation is to avoid it as, according to Martha Pembridge, 'messes with your mind, will drive you crazy with its difficulty, and is too much fun for anybody's good'. OK, I just made that up. But if our staffer Conor (my boss- he's a great guy of course) knows what he's talking about then VJ is an essential old-school fighter with attitude (not his actual words). He then proceeded to shout 'Henshin A Go-Go Baby' a lot.

Ah, yes. Last week's weekly digest was, believe it or not, the 100th edition. While I'd like to take all the credit for this, I've only been at Cube-Europe long enough to have written 35 of the blighters. So, to all the people who read this article every week, via the website, or through a weekly email, a hearty thank-you from all of us.

The makers of cult series Custom Robo are said to be working on a GameCube title. Polygon have reported that Noise is to make a game called Steel Hearts and is described as an Action-RPG. It will launch in Japan during the spring of 2004, but no other details have been released as of yet. We'll keep you posted. As if we'd do anything else� The Advance Game Port (AGP) for GameCube has been released. 'AGP' fits neatly into your GameCube's memory card slot and allows you to play your GBA games using your 'Cube's control pad- exactly like the official, bulkier model which is fixed to the underside of your GC rather than through the memory card slot. The real selling point though, is the price, which at �29.99 is quite a bit easier on the wallet than plumping for the official one. We don't know yet if there is a payoff in build quality or reliability, but all things going well we'll have a playtest for you soon.

Made In Wario- the English title for the Japanese version of the GameCube version of Wario Ware (phew) was released recently in Japan. Some Made in Wario Direct-Feed. Movies can be watched by clicking on the link. Interestingly, the game soared to the top of the Japanese charts instantly, selling 77,205 copies in its first day. Considering the garish pink box the game has I'm surprised at these figures! When it comes out in Europe next year you can be guaranteed it's going to be an excellent party title. Another game to look forward to, no doubt about it.

A quick word on sales in Europe since the big price cut: during the week Nintendo made a statement regarding how the Cubie has been doing in Europe since that stunning ?99 price was introduced. Well, last week more than ten times as many Cubes were sold in Europe as compared to the week before. Two weeks ago, when the price drop went into effect in the UK (a week before the rest of Europe), Nintendo reported a 400% increase in hardware sales in the UK. This meant 4.000 GameCube consoles were sold that week. Now with the 1000% increase in Cube sales, Nintendo sold approximately 10.000 Cubes in the UK this week! Remember when people were scoffing at Nintendo of Germany for suggesting that sales would increase tenfold after the cut was brought in? Well they were right on the buzzer on this one. In Germany, weekly sales have risen from 1.500 to 15.000 GameCubes sold.

It's all action on Cube-Europe this week with plenty of important articles up- We've got a review of the biggie- Mario Kart: Double Dash!! � and guess what? It's a cracker. Star Wars: Rebel Strike also gets the review treatment and comes through with flying colours. Oh yes, and there's another GameOff from Conor- this week, he discusses the 'mainstream-ness' of gaming, and that neither Sony's PlayStation, nor its successor,have brought gaming into the true mainstream.

Cube-Europe this week is running another of the Local Sweepstakes- this time, for residents of the UK. There are 3 copies of Rebel Strike up for grabs, and one limited edition GBA t-shirt. Time is rapidly running out if you are thinking about entering�

EA have announced a huge 'Quidditch World Cup Videogame Tournament' to be conducted in many countries, culminating in a grand final in London. Videogame enthusiasts in the UK can find out full details of how to enter the Quidditch World Cup Videogame Tournament at the official website, www.quidditchworldcup.com, or via official entry forms in Woolworths stores nationwide. If you live elsewhere, check the site for details. Interestingly, Nintendo are sponsoring the entire event, which means (apart from plenty of media exposure for the company) that the prizes will consist of Nintendo stuff (consoles and games presumably) as well as the fact that the GC version will be the one used for the competitions. The potentially brilliant GC/GBA link-up will be used, too (control the seeker with GBA). This is all good news. Bad news? Well, if you're over 14 years of age, you can't enter. Bah! Buffy: Chaos Bleeds, and Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs Death were cancelled this week. And then they were back on again. Judge Dredd however has been pushed back to a December 19th release, and Buffy should be out about now. Buffy's game is quite a solid affair, which will please fans of the series no end. Good to see them both on, anyway. Especially considering we would've had to cancel that co� (cough cough) I've said too much, apparently. You'll see soon enough.

Well, I think that's just about enough news for anybody this week. Emails, be they praise or complaint, suggestion or correction, can be sent to [email protected] and you can be assured of a prompt reply.

Enjoy the week, folks.
Slan go f�ill,
Mark Cullinane