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Bagels writes "'I had a big company, and he had a big company, and now we have a very big company.' This very appropriate Simpsons quote begins IGN's announcement regarding its imminent merger with GameSpy Industries, their former rival. GameSpy has its own announcement about this, as well. The official press release claims the companies' two websites will remain separate entities, and those websites will retain their original feel; the merger is mainly to pool the financial (and likely informational) resources of the two companies. The merger will be completed in the first half of 2004 - SpyGN, anyone?"

Thanks to several sources for illuminating Nintendo's first-party software plans for the next few months. There's a preview of Kirby's Air Ride over at GameSpy, discussing the "very odd" GameCube racer which only uses "...the analog control stick for steering, and the A-button... for everything else." Nintendo has also confirmed Paper Mario for a GameCube release, say IGN Cube, following on from the excellent N64 version. Also, Nintendojo has news that 1080 Avalanche and StarFox 2 will also feature multiplayer LAN gameplay, as well as the already-confirmed Kirby and Mario Kart - the site suggests elsewhere that "GameSpy promised to enable Internet play for any Nintendo LAN games to be released via GameSpy Arcade", so... fingers crossed? Finally, IGN has a hands-on preview of Pikmin 2 - go, go Captain Olimar!