Our good friends and affliates over at http://www.nextgencube.com/ reported the following:

Dorimaga Magazine (JPN) had the pleasure of having a conversation with master designer and genius, Shigeru Miyamoto, about the GCN. Miyamoto said he would love to see the GameCube last for seven to eight years and he thinks it will. He also said that there would be playable versions of Mario Sunshine and Zelda at E3. This is all great news and I hope Nintendo follows through with it. More as it becomes available.

IGN board member Bleutuna brings up an interesting point, he says:

"I'm wondering if Miyamoto's comments about the lifespan of the Gamecube actually an allusion that Nintendo is making a switch in it's console position, and doing what the Game Boy and PlayStation has been doing for years?

In other words, could Miyamoto's comments really mean that the GCN will be around for 7-8 years, because their next console will employ similar technology allowing for backwards compatibility?

We've seen that the PSOne and GB/GBC are both still doing quite well, even though their successors have been successful in the market.

Perhaps Nintendo has learned that backwards compatibility means a stronger hold on the gaming market."