Right well first thing is first I would like to thank everyone who sent me feedback about my last article, I was shocked about how much I got but I read them all and enjoyed the vast majority of them. There were two exceptions to this and that was due to the fact that I was sent a virus "Traiteur Eddy" If you get any mail of this guy then stay well clear. I have to say that this fool must think he is clever but clearly he is not that clever because if he was he/she would realise that you can't download any mail from hotmail without it been scanned and if it contains a virus you simply can't download it.

Right now I've got that off my chest on to other things, I had a lot of angry NGC readers email me. I hope people realise that you should not take my total pro Nintendo stance to heart or indeed what I think of magazines. The internet and indeed this website is indeed the way to go. NGC recently gave Luigi a huge 92% while they said that it was short they argued that because it was fun it deserved a high mark. I would say that this is wrong due to the fact that while it may well be fun, it really is poor value for money that is just my opinion however. The truth is we all have our own opinions and the best way to get an idea of what a game is like is to go to one of the many games forums online. That said my estimation of CUBE has gone down the toilet and I admit that NGC is not bad it's just as someone who reads a lot of PC magazines I wish that the reviews were a bit more meaty.

2001 has been a huge year for gaming even though it may not seem like it. The release of the Xbox and Gamecube, the demise of Sega and Sony having free reign as King of Consoles with it's PS2 have all being milestones in an industry which does not seem to be hit by the world economical situation. Sega never impressed me much up until the Dremcast but only a fool would argue that the Dreamcast had no good games and yet Sega as a hardware giant has died and now as you load up your console and the Sega logo flashes accross the screen it will be shortly followed by the Nintendo one (who would have guessed).

It is hard to tell who has come out tops with regards Microsoft and Nintendo as they both seem to use different ways to look at the sales figure but it does seem that Nintendo sold the Gamecube at a faster rate. However here in Europe none of this matters as nither the Gamecube and the Xbox have been released over here yet and while Microsoft make the rather silly mistake of pricing themselves out of the market, Nintendo make the even bigger mistake of not telling us when they intend to release the console. This all means that Sony can laugh all the way to the bank. Up until recently the average PS2 owner had little to choose from in terms of games, recently however GTA3 and Devil May Cry have come out and they are both fantastic games plus of course GT3 but I don't like it myself but I realise many do. At a half decent price and with a few excellent games the PS2 seems an excellent buy. So why should you wait for the Gamecube?

Lets start with the bad things about Nintendo. First off and they are really there own worst enemys, there is a total lack of fanfare with everything to do with Nintendo and they have only themselves to blame, they are annoyingly vauge with everything to an extent that people are just put off and no matter how you play it releasing your console with games that are nothing spectacular while the oppostion has fantastic games out is not a good idea. To be fair the US had Star Wars but Japan had a very small choice and sales suffered accordingly, indeed only recently have the sales gone up. On the other while Sony or Microsoft have themselves never made a good Game Nintendo have been making top games for a long time so you know that even if 3rd party developers all fail to produce decent games there is always Mario. Clearly the Gamecube is cheaper and yet a better piece of hardware than the PS2 and the jury is still out on the rather large Xbox. Also if you ask an Xbox owner what there favourite game is then you can guarentee that it is heading for the PC. With the exception of Squaresoft (sob) is there anyone who is of any worth not developing for the Gamecube.

If like me you have played many games and you tire of people telling you that the Xbox/PS2 rules and the Gamecube is sad well I got a mail with a very good piece of advice just ask that person what kind of game they like and tell them a few games for Nintendo that beats the hell out of any PS2/Xbox unless hey like Final Fantasy and I have no answer for that as Nintendo do lack RPG's. The choice at the end of the day is yours and buying a PS2 will mean that you have access to a few excellent games, my advice is stay clear of the Xbox (sorry but I'll never forgive them for Windows ME) and think before you get a PS2 as there are very very few good games to come buy a second hand Dreamcast instead and wait for the Gamecube. Stick with Cube Europe and please for all those who emailed me don't be afraid to start a new topic on the forums, much of what you say is really interesting.

2002 will be the year that Europe catches up with the US and it will be very exciting for us all. Before you choose what machine you will buy think long and hard. I love all feedback on what I write and if anyone has any ideas on future articles then let me know. I hope everyone can bare with me as I am trying to find the best way of writing and as I said feedback is the best way of doing this. Have a really cool Christmas and don't play to many games!!!

Gary Samaden (princeoftheyolkfolk)

This article reflects Princeoftheyolkfolk's opinion and does not necessarily represent the opinion of the rest of the GameCube Europe staff