Well. Another rather turbulent week in the life of our beloved Nintendo- no question about it. Lets delve in, shall we?

This weeks news that the Dixons Group are potentially axing the Gamecube from its stores is something that has been done to death now- and its not something worth dwelling on. Suffice to say, despite what Ninty say, ceasing business with Dixon's is something the company can ill-afford if it wishes to stay in the 'race'. At the moment though, its all speculation, and the future of the GC in Dixon's depends on the success of the chain's huge price reductions. So, until hard facts replace wild speculation, I'm keeping my mouth shut on the issue. More heartening, this week, is the announcement of a reasonably impressive promotion scheme from Nintendo. To celebrate the launch of the new handheld, the Game Boy Advance SP on March 28 (just two weeks away!), Nintendo are spending E20 million on including vouchers for E50 off the price of a Gamecube. This is most definitely a step in the right direction; frankly, its about time Nintendo properly tapped into the remarkable success of the Game Boy to help the Cube- with this little promotion in place, the first 400,000 GBA SPs sold will come with a voucher. No doubt this will convert people in their thousands to the Gamecube's cause- at least, that's the plan.

Still on the subject of Nintendo's glorious handheld, Nintendo last year announced that 2003 would be the year of innovation for the company (last year's 'theme' was 'Game Giants- referring to Ninty's intention to bring their most important franchises to the 'Cube in 2002) - and key to this innovation would be the much increased use of the GBA/GC link-up capabilities, which up until now have been criminally underused. Well, I'm glad to note that since the beginning of the year, a veritable slew of new games now sport some impressive link-up with the handheld.

Some of the highlights include Rayman 3 (which features a fantastic link-up idea) Paris-Dakar 2 (again, very good use of the feature- this time including a mini version of the game for use on GBA) Zelda: The Wind Waker, (the Tingle-ceiver concept has enormous potential for fun) Splinter Cell (mini-radar, handheld-exclusive levels, new weapon) and also, the next generation of EA Sports titles are going to feature some link-up features.

Link 'em up boys.

And those are only the ones that come to my mind first. Clearly, Nintendo have spent some time (and likely money) coercing developers into using the feature. Excellent news all round, then.

The news that over 560,000 pre-orders for Zelda: The Wind Waker in the United States is brilliant news- surely, it vindicates Nintendo's decision to follow the 'toon-shaded' look. Although, arguably, Zelda would garner huge sales no matter what it looks like.

Over 560,00 pre-orders and counting. You can't blame them.

Still, it also confirms that Zelda has lost none of its appeal- unlike slightly disappointing sales of Mario Sunshine. You know, it just makes waiting for May 3rd even harder. Speaking of new releases, Metroid Prime hits the shops of Europe next Friday. You already know its going to be one of the videogame events of the year- I trust you are all going to go out and buy it as soon as possible. Yes. So, if next week's digest is a little late, I'm sure you can forgive me. So, until next week (or after I've finished with Metroid) readers, happy gamesplaying.

Mark Cullinane