The digestive system really is something, isn't it? The way the food you eat is broken down by all those digestive enzymes and hydrochloric acid in your stomach into tiny, digestible pieces. The weekly digest aims to do the same thing, except without all the unpleasantness�

The last week hasn't by any means been a particularly busy one in the videogaming world, but all the signs are pointing towards the onslaught of the Christmas rush, which is practically upon us already. Tsk, tsk. Halloween (or Guy Fawkes in the U.K) hasn't even come yet! Speaking of All Hallows Eve, that fateful of nights brings an additional surprise to us this year- it marks the release date of one of best GC games this year- Sega and Nintendo's immaculate high-speed racer, F-Zero GX. Its going to be a cracker, we guarantee you all that. Only 12 days to go, folks!

Not to dwell on sales issues (I fundamentally disagree with placing much importance on them) but the recent price cut to �79 of the GC in the U.K has yielded some tremendous results- sales in the first two days were up over 400%. Of course, the imminent release of F-Zero GX, Mario Kart and Viewtiful Joe as well as Mario Party 5 will further stimulate the Cube. The bottom line? That last Christmas will quickly become a distant memory�

Wizards of the Coast, the U.S trading card company who were behind the Pokemon Trading Card phenomenon are accusing Nintendo of abandoning a contract with them.

In addition, they have given the names two ex-Wizards of the Coast executives who were hired to Pokémon USA, and accuses them of revealing trade secrets. Ooh, nasty. The issue is going to court, and Nintendo are going to have to whip out the lawyers again. As we all know, Ninty never shy away from a good 'ol court battle. They say, a little smugly if truth be told, "We are confident that we've acted both legally and fairly with respect to Wizards and believe the issues will be resolved."

For UK 'Cube owners reading this: GAME recently shipped Viewtiful Joe demo discs to members of their Reward Card service who had ordered GameCube products before. However many people did not get one (including myself to be honest- maybe its got something to do with me living across the water in Ireland).

GAME have stated that they had a limited supply but if you wish to make enquires phone 0800 317778. You never know. You might get lucky- and if you do, you get to sample a stunning brilliant game. And if you don't- buy VJ immediately upon its release in a few weeks time.

Shock of the month: Nintendo's iQue console for China has been delayed! Cue gasping all round� Its not something you should ever expect in Europe (nor want, frankly) but nevertheless you may be interested to know that Nintendo's iQue, a new console for China that plays SNES and N64 games, has been delayed. The original date, announced at the Tokyo Games Show, was October 22nd, but this appears to be too early for Nintendo, who have delayed the console but have not supplied a new date. A reason was not given for the delay, but hey, this is typical Nintendo, so if you're thinking of importing this, you'll have to wait a while.

Datel, purveyors of great games hacking products since the mind-90s, is been working on an alternative to Nintendo's Game Boy Player, which allows you to play Game Boy games on the GameCube. Called the"Advance Game Port" the device will be smaller and cheaper than Nintendo's, costing �29.99. It will fit into the memory card slot and allow Game Boy games to be plugged into that. Whether the quality stands up to Nintendo's own is something that remains to be seen, but competition is always a good thing.

On the site this week, a couple of new pieces are up- the C-E Local Sweepstakes competition to win one of several copies of Viewtiful Joe is up and running- mais si tu me comprends, then you can enter. If, on the other hand, you're not Belgian or Dutch, well, better luck next time. 'Pause' is the name given to our newest fortnightly column. This week, our Matthew takes the controversial, but fascinating, argument that games prices should in fact remain high. Check it out, people. Advance Weekly is back, after a hiatus of, well, ages. Those of us with a GBA are advised to take a look.

Screens aplenty, this week, with a media blowout including Mario Party 5 (damn you, Hudson, if you can't get it properly right this time!) Quidditch World Cup, Pac Man VS, and Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Among others. Some snippits of footage from Donkey Konga have been unveiled- as was understood, it's a drum-based rhythm game- now we know that it bears many similarities with Namco's previous titles in this genre, which were solid efforts. We've also seen some vine-climbing sub-games. With Nintendo's backing, we expect Donkey Konga to be a top-class game; even an essential one. Kemco is postponing the release of its promising action title, Rogue Ops (what a dreary name).

This week we were informed by the distributers of Rogue Ops that the game, which was previously slated for a release November this year, has been delayed to a yet to be announced date somewhere in Q1 2004. Unfortunately, Kemco was not available for comments at the time of writing. Maybe they were all busy, or something. Or crying into their coffee that they've missed the Xmas rush. Like I've said on many an occasion, it shows that they're not prepared to rush a lazy, incomplete game into the shops for Christmas. And, given the quality titles we'll be seeing on our shelves in the near future, we won't be missing Rogue Ops a great deal.

I think that's about enough for this week, ladies and gents.

Until next week's edition,
Sl�n
Mark Cullinane