With a new week, comes a new weekly digest. Well, er, that's not strictly true- you probably noticed that- shock, horror- there was no digest last week. Well, trust me when I say I was busy this week. Partying, a lot. That counts as busy, doesn't it? Well, lets delve into the realm of the 'Cube for a few moments, shall we?

The GameCube has just had a substantial price cut for Europe, mirroring Nintendo's move in the United States. Now, you can expect to pick up the Cube for a cool 99 Euro. If you're unfortunate enough to be British you'll pay a little more, at �79 sterling. The British Consumer's Association weren't a bit happy with this disparity, and blasted the issue as another example of 'rip-off Britain'.

Meanwhile, sales of the GC in the US of A have rocketed, for want of a better word. The GameCube comprehensively outsold the Playstation 2 and sold well over twice what the Xbox could manage. This isn't a huge surprise, but it does confirm the huge success of the price cut. Nice. Here are the exact figures�

GameCube :64,405
PS2 :53,834
Xbox :26,290

Cube-Europe also discovered that the platinum Nintendo GameCube is currently the most sold product on Amazon.com.

Excellent news.

The next few month is going to be a bad one financially for a lot of us. Want to know why? Well, the ridiculous number of AAA titles coming out for the GameCube could be the reason. We've already seen the release of Soul Calibur II and Tiger Woods 2004, two very high-quality titles. Over the next couple of weeks, prepare yourselves for Capcom's sublime Viewtiful Joe (IGN scored it 9.5/10), Sega's near-perfect F-Zero GX, Factor 5's stunningly beautiful Star Wars: Rebel Strike. The glorious month of the Cube, as I've just christened it, culminates with the launch of Mario Kart: Double Dash!! � a long-awaited title if ever there was one.

The real difficulty is going to be deciding which games to buy? It almost makes you glad Final Fantasy and Mario Golf have slipped into next year, eh?

We've just stopped accepting entries for our Big Mutha Truckers compo, which has got a tremendous response, as we expected from you, our magnificent readership. We have five copies of the game to give away- stay tuned to C-E to see if you've been selected as a winner.

That institution of gaming, Mario Party, is returning for its fifth instalment, in just a few weeks time. Nintendo have just confirmed December 5th as being the release date. There's no doubt that, when you have friends around, few forms of entertainment can beat Mario Party. Indeed, I've had some spectacularly amusing hours with the games. But on the one-player and longevity fronts, its somewhat lacking. Can Hudson really advance the series forward? We'll know soon enough�

After famously withdrawing the GameCube from their shelves, British chain Argos are to re-stock them. Argos decided that the GameCube wasn't selling enough so they reduced the price to �79.99 to clear stock. The GameCubes sold quickly and Argos stopped selling them. A recent advert was found in a newspaper that stated it will be being sold again, at �79.99 to comply with the price cut.

Other retailers have dropped the GameCube but reports suggest they may re-stock it for the holidays. Tsk, tsk. Retailers these days really are taking an a la carte approach to selling consoles, aren't they?

I was in Dublin the other day, and I spotted a display pod showcasing Nokia's newly released N-Gage. And after a few minutes play of Tomb Raider, I can say that the GBA needn't be quaking in its boots. Granted, it's a reasonably stylish piece of hardware, and the graphics are undeniably sharper than the GBA's, but there are way too many pitfalls that the N-Gage really suffers from. Awkward controls, a lack of really good games, and a plain stupid cartridge system (changing a game involves about 10 steps, and no small amount of irritation). The online and Bluetooth features are indeed novel, but the �240 price tag is going to do it no favours.

According to reports Nintendo of Japan are to hold a press conference on 15th October. The meeting will take place at three regional offices around Japan. Nintendo will showcase both hardware and software, including the Game Boy Advance Wireless Link Cable, the iQue and more. Rumours suggest that Pilotwings, the next Mario game, the N5 and the new Game Boy will also be showcased but nothing will be known until next week. Talk about the rumour mill going into overdrive! Me? I want to see Pilotwings. A lot. What a magical game it should be� Nintendo did something very slick this week- they re-opened, on the sly, and without any fanfare, the Stars catalogue, which if you recall was shut due to huge demand.

Unfortunately, all the good items are already sold out. However, you don't have to worry because Nintendo will be adding new items to the catalogue every week. Fascias for the Cube, the GB Player, signed Wind Waker posters and Rayman games were among the highlights this week.

Nintendo confirmed the rumours; there will be another Zelda Bonus Disc! According to our information, the disk will contain the following:
-The Legend of Zelda
-The Legend of Zelda II: Adventure of Link
-The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
-The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
-And a The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker demo.

The release date for the disc has not been confirmed as of yet. As soon as we know when and how you will be able to get your hands on the disc, we will let you know. Excellent.

Well, we'll call a halt there, folks. As per usual, emails can be sent to me at [email protected]

Until next weeks edition,
Sl�n.
Mark Cullinane