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• The game Metroid Prime for the Nintendo GameCube will have the ability to be linked with the Metroid Fusion game for the Nintendo Gameboy Advance.

August 29, 2002

• Animal Crossing will be the first game to take advantage of the E-Reader for the Gameboy Advance.  The E-reader/GBA connects to the Nintendo Gamecube to send data in.  A game such as Animal Crossing which is similar to the Sims for the PC is sure to take advantage of the E-reader's abilities.  Just imagine giving an item to your character with the swipe of a dot-coded card. 
• Nintendo has announced a Nintendo GameCube unit that comes with the Super Mario Sunshine videogame.  Yeah, that's right!  Mario now comes with the Nintendo Gamecube.  You also get a memory card 59 and a controller.  The price is going to be $189.99  The Gamecube bundle is set to hit the stores on October 14, 2002.  In my opinion, Nintendo has finally finished launching the Nintendo Gamecube because without Mario it just felt weird.  Without doubt, people who hesitated to buy the Nintendo GameCube will buy it now.

August 26, 2002 

• Super Mario Sunshine from Nintendo and Super Monkey Ball 2 from Sega were released today.  Both of this games have been highly anticipated by Nintendo Gamecube owners.  Super Mario Sunshine is one of the greatest 3D platform games ever created and Super Monkey Ball 2 is one of the greatest party games made so far.  Both of this games should provide you with hours of entertainment but personally I recommend Super Mario Sunshine but it is only for one player and Super Monkey Ball 2 lets up to four people play at once.  

August 23, 2002

• Nintendo has finally made it to the Guinness World Records book. Nintendo decided to break the World Record for the largest serving of Pasta ever cooked by serving a plate with 3265 pounds of pasta on it. The record was broken on August 22, 2002 in San Francisco, CA. Hundreds of people attended the event.  This event was dedicated to one of Nintendo's most precious characters:  the Italian plumber Mario.  Mario was the star of the videogames that made Nintendo one of the greatest videogame publishers in the world.  Mario is starring in a new videogame "Super Mario Sunshine" that debuts on August 26, 2002.. 

August 22, 2002

• Turok: Evolution is the highly anticipated prequel to the best-selling Turok series from Acclaim.  The game is a first person shooter and it has many qualities that set it apart from the rest  You take the role of Tal'Set as you are transported from 1886 Texas to the Lost lands by a dimensional Rift.   Wounded from a battle you were fighting back in Texas you pass out but are healed by the natives.  Now you must help them fight against the Lord Tyranus and his reptilian hordes.  But that is not all, your worst enemy Tobias Bruckner also made it trough the portal an is now helping Lord Tyranus.  The game features a brand new next-generation engine, stealth and ally/enemy squad based tactics to make you plan before you attack,  over thirty creatures (prehistoric insect, animals and oceanic organisms), a collection of more than thirty weapons to choose from and the ability to destroy the environment and the objects on them.  This game also features the ability to ride a flying creature for air-to-ground combat and a multi-player battle mode.  This game has lots of features that set it if apart from the rest.  The Prehistoric theme will surely appeal to most people and the realistic graphics will make many buy this game.  This game is rated M and will be released on September 1, 2002.  Finally a game that competes with PC first person shooters. 

August 21, 2002

• Cubivore is a very original survival game coming to the Nintendo Gamecube courtesy of Atlus U.S.A.  This game was created by Nintendo but it is being published in the US by Atlus.  The object of the game is to eat other creatures and absorb their powers eventually becoming the strongest creature there is.  You can evolve into one of the 100 creatures depending on which creatures you eat.  You will need instinct, cunning, stealth and strategy to stalk other creatures.  In order to survive you will have to pass on your abilities to your offspring.  The game's best thing is its graphics.  All the creatures in the game are somewhat cubed.  They look like abstract art you can find on a museum.  Well I don't know what to say about this game except that it is new like a combination of RPG and 3D action. 
• NFL 2K3 is one of the best football games to come out so far.  The people at Sega really went all out with this one.  It truly recreates the game of football on the field and off the field. It has new life-like animations, improved play-calling intelligence and a new ESPN broadcast system which highlights the game's plays.  It also offers a franchise mode which offers you full control of the team and negotiation of players's contracts.  There are over 4500 team specific plays and the computer controlled teams will behave like their real life counterparts when it comes to calling plays. The team rosters are updated for the 2002 football season.  The game also has all of the NFL stadiums.  Also in this game is the award winning play-by-play commentary which makes sports games more realistic and fun. Up to four people can play this game at once.  Too bad Online play will only be supported for the PS2 and X-box.  This seems to be a great football game because it is on the top ten sellers for every platform on Electronics Boutique.  This game is available now. 

August 16, 2002

• Electronic Arts is offering Free Online games on their website.  Electronic Arts is best known for their best selling sports games and they are now offering free shockwave and flash games on their website.  It is worth taking a look.  Click here to go to  the website.
• The E-Reader is a new accessory coming to the Nintendo Gameboy Advance.  This product allows the Gameboy to scan cards that have special codes in them.  Kind of like when you buy groceries and they scan the items in the cash register.  After the E-Reader makes a scan it turns the info into either a picture, text or even a game.  This accessory looks like it could offer new ways of playing Gamecube because the Gamecube links up to the Gameboy Advance.   The E-reader is scheduled for release on September 16.
• Ty the Tasmanian Tiger from Electronic arts is a 3D platform/adventure game similar to Super Mario Sunshine.  Ty uses a boomerang as a weapon and can have up to eight different ones each with its own unique ability.  Ty can also bite enemies and charge up for a Super Chomp.  The game is set on Australia and features sixteen levels, over fifty non-playable characters, Power-ups, animal rides, swimming and surfing.  Ty could be the game that identifies Electronic Arts much like Sonic represents Sega.  Click here for the official website It looks pretty cool!   

August 15, 2002

• Soul Calibur 2 from Namco is probably coming to the Nintendo Gamecube by the end of this year or maybe the beginning of next year.  Soul Calibur is considered one of the best fighting games for the Sega Dreamcast.  It featured an easy to learn control scheme and lots of easy to pull combos as well as great graphics.  The sequel Soul Calibur 2 does everything the first one did and much more with the power of the Gamecube.  The game is a one on one 3D fighting game.  It features over fifteen characters to choose from and very richly detailed environments.  The game also has different animations for the same special move.  The attack will be the same one but will look different depending on whether you pull it off when you are finishing another attack, when you are just standing or when close to the opponent.  It is a nice feature that really adds a lot of realism to fighting games.  What makes this game different from other 3D fighters is that each character has his own special weapon and the coolest thing is watching them dish out a combo using some of the sweetest moves in a fighting game.  Soul Calibur 2 looks like it could change the way we look at fighting games.  

August 8, 2002

• Capcom VS. SNK: EO (Extreme Offensive) looks like a great fighting game for the GameCube.  This game will prove to be a better version than the ones in the Arcade and Dreamcast.  The graphics are simply amazing and there are new animations being added.  The game is based on the rivalry between two gigantic corporations that want to settle their scores in a martial arts tournament.  Over forty fighters that come from Capcom's and SNK's previous fighting games will join the tournament.   The controls are simple all the special moves are controlled by the C analog button while punches and kicks are performed with the L and R buttons.  This control mode is called GC-ism, AC-ism is the Arcade control mode.  GC-ism takes advantage of the controller's pressure sensitive buttons; that means the harder you press a button the stronger the attack will be.  There is also a new GROOVE combo system that will allow different ways of attacking and defending.  There are six GROOVES to choose from.  This looks to be one of the Gamecube's best and only 2D fighting game.  Dark Stalkers, Street Fighter, Fatal Fury, King of fighters and others put into one fighting game.  This game looks promising.  

August 7, 2002

• Beach Spikers is a rather interesting beach volleyball game.  It was produced by the AM2 division of Sega.  The most appealing thing about this game is that the characters are all female and they are wearing bikinis during the game.  The game will be a 2 vs 2 match on beaches from all over the world.  Some of the countries featured in this game are Brazil, Japan, USA and many others.  This game was originally released on the Arcades and most people say the game is easy to learn and pretty addictive.  The game is very detailed and keeps track of the sand as the characters step on it.  The game will also have a Arcade, Training, Multiplayer and a World Tour Mode (Story mode).  You will also be able to create your own character and assign her face, bikini, hair, sunglasses, skill points, etc,  Skill points are also given in the World Tour Mode after winning a match to increase your character's attributes.  This game looks to be more than eye candy and it should appeal to everyone, specially volleyball fans.  Cute girls, great gameplay, 4 player gaming and a story mode.   This game will be released on August 13, 2002. For more info go the Official website.
• Burnout 2: Point of Impact the sequel to one of the best driving games in the Gamecube has been announced by Acclaim.  I hear that this game has improved a lot over the last one.  There will be over fourteen cars plus hidden vehicles to choose from.  There would also be thirty two new tracks.  Weather conditions like rain, fog and snow have also been added.  There are new playing modes including one where you have race a police car, another one where you earn points to win.  Thankfully you will also be able to customize your car.  Another new addition to this game is the ability to jump.  Yeah this time the car can actually get some air if you are going fast enough in an inclined road.  A tutorial will help you learn to drive the "Burnout" way.  This game will appeal to anyone who likes driving or who feels constrained by speed limits on the road.  

August 4, 2002

• Metroid Prime will be a first person adventure game.  It is based on Nintendo's best selling metroid games.  The game features a change from the original side scrolling action to a first person one.  The graphics look amazing and the interface also looks very good.  The main character is a female bounty hunter named Samus Aran and she wears a special armor which gives her many special abilities.  Metroids are deadly organisms with great destructive power.  The game will allow you to see trougth Samus Aran eyes,  she has visors in her suit's helmet  which allow her to examine the terrain, objects and enemies in many different ways.  Samus's special armor gives her ability to morph into a ball during this time the game will shift to a 3D third person perspective and will allow Samus to squeeze trough small holes, bounce and avoid getting hit.  The past Metroid games have been great offering hours of exploration, puzzle solving and monster destroying action.  This looks to be a promising game.