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dolphin558 writes "Warp Pipe may be in partnership with Nintendo to bring online gaming to the Nintendo DS! What's more, the project is supposed to add a "social aspect" to online gaming that hasn't been seen before. A press conference is scheduled for October 7th. I cannot wait!" This would seem to partially confirm earlier speculations, and partially explain Warp Pipe's decision earlier this year.

Thanks to Nintendojo for its list of the latest NES titles to be re-released on the Game Boy Advance in Japan. Though "it remains to be seen if any of these particular games will make it to North America", highlights include "Super Mario Bros. 2 [Japanese version], Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Metroid, Kid Icarus, [and] Castlevania." We've previously covered earlier NES Classic iterations - in a similar vein to a recent GameSpy article, how many dollars would you actually spend on these NES re-releases for GBA?

Thanks to Nintendojo for its review of the GameXplain series of DVD-based game strategy guides, in this case oriented around Mario Kart: Double Dash!! for the GameCube. The reviewer seems to approve, arguing: "Why bother struggling through conventional strategy guides by reading vague text and squinting at tiny images when you can actually see in motion exactly how you're supposed to solve that puzzle, defeat that annoying boss, or shave 15 seconds off your best lap around the track?" He also notes: "When the video arrives at the critical part of the strategy the video will pause, cued by a camera clicking sound effect, and everything unimportant will gray, leaving only the important information in color." The official GameXplain site also mentions forthcoming guides to Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

Thanks to Nintendojo for its editorial discussing ways to help Nintendo increase the amount of GameCube-only titles it releases. The writer notes that "...it is all too apparent that Nintendo's exclusive games lineup is very thin at the moment", and suggests one of many possible solutions: "Nintendo must figure out a way to increase the [development] capacity of Retro Studios and/or Silicon Knights. These companies must have as much depth [in amount of releases] as Rare had at the latter part of its life." How would you like to see Nintendo partnering to release more high-quality GameCube-only games?

Thanks to Nintendojo for their editorial discussing why Nintendo may be heading for a fall by branding itself a 'video game company', as opposed to Sony and Microsoft's wider goals as part of the "entertainment or technology industries". The writer points out: "Theodore Levitt introduced an idea called Marketing Myopia. To summarize the basic idea of his concept: in an industry where future growth seems guaranteed, a leading company will mislabel itself and ultimately lead to its own downfall." Apparently, the best historical example of this is the railroad industry, who "...labeled themselves as being in the railroad business and not the transportation business, limiting themselves and causing their own downfall." The writer concludes: "The industry has changed. Nintendo is no longer the biggest player in a relatively large niche market. They are in last place in a huge segment of the home entertainment sector, and they need to remember this fact, because no one needs another Amtrak."

Thanks to Nintendojo for revealing new details regarding the previously rumored, Namco/Nintendo co-produced GameCube-exclusive rhythm game, Donkey Konga. The site has pictures of the "new Congo Drum peripheral dubbed as 'Barrel Konga Drums'" which will be shipping with the game, and the 4-player, 32 music-track title may include the Super Mario Bros theme alongside "Latin beats, pop music, dance, classical, Anime and children's tunes." Adding to the fun, "the drums will include a microphone that's designed to pick up the sound of claps thus making the game require you to clap as well as bang on the drums", but Nintendojo reckon a U.S. release to be "highly unlikely" since "it caters too perfectly towards the Japanese audience" weaned on games like Taiko No Tatsujin.

JFMulder writes "Retail partners Amazon.com and Toys 'R Us announced today that they were dropping the Gamecube console price down to $99. Even though Nintendo is probably losing money now on the GameCube, this is the move that Nintendo may be hoping will close the little gap between Xbox and GameCube in worldwide sales, and help it gain a solid lead over Microsoft in the coming months." A Reuters story mentions further indications that an official announcement is on its way, and all on Nintendo's 114th birthday, too.

Thanks to Nintendojo for their story regarding Shigeru Miyamoto's positive reaction to an online petition about the Earthbound games. Miyamoto, discussing the series (soon re-released for GBA in Japan) in an interview with Official UK Nintendo Magazine, says "We had high hopes for Earthbound, the Super NES version, in the US, but it didn't do well... You might not know this, but there was a petition in the US, a 'Please make Mother 3 [an Earthbound sequel]' petition and it got about 30,000 signatures! After that, we thought 'Wow... Earthbound fans are really solid'." The petition in question was put together by the fansite Starmen.net, and Video-Fenky previously got hold of a copy, commenting on the "testament to the Mother fanbase's... deep-seated devotion to the game they love."

Thanks to Nintendojo for the news that Konami and Hudson are creating a mascot-infested fighting game in the vein of Nintendo's classic multiplayer fighter Super Smash Bros. The title, called Dream Mix World Fighters, is being released for PS2 and GameCube in Japan this December, and the game will ship "...featuring such enigmatic characters as Bomberman, Peach Taro, Master Higgins, Bonk, Takao, Yugo, Rika, Simon Belmont, Dracula, and many more." But, as Video-Fenky points out, where are the Kojima-game characters?

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!

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!

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a new Nintendojo editorial entitled 'The Nintendo Indifference' This noticably bitter editorial on the state of the Big N begins: "I bought my GameCube with the expectation of the delivery of the promise of innovation, and you failed to deliver. Worst of all, I don't forget. Because of your misleading statements, it's time for a reckoning, Nintendo. You owe me." Has Nintendo really "failed to be innovative as a first party developer for their console", or did the writer of this editorial just get out of bed on the wrong side?

Thanks to Nintendojo for posting a preview of the forthcoming GBA title, Metroid: Zero Mission. This game, which the site says is rumored to be either a prequel, or more likely, a partial remake of the NES Metroid, was shown only in video form at E3. The Metroid Database comes to similar conclusions about the game, saying "..it looks as though we will be taken back to Zebes for Samus' first encounter with Mother Brain, but this time our girl will have all the abilities and weapons she's gained in all her adventures since then."

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Nintendojo report discussing the price drop, to $39.99 in the US, for a number of forthcoming Gamecube games. It appears that Nintendo has reduced its royalty rate for all third-party publishers, so not only can publishers like Eidos, Rockstar, and Acclaim choose to put some titles out at $39, Capcom and Sega seem to be releasing all their titles at that price (including Viewtiful Joe, Billy Hatcher, and more.) Seems like good news for gamers.

basscomm writes "Nintendojo has the first two parts of a two part editorial on the career of Gunpei Yokoi. Mr. Yokoi worked at Nintendo for many years and was responsible for such innovations as the D-pad, R.O.B., the Game and Watch, Kid Icarus, Metroid, the Game Boy, and the ill-fated Virtual Boy. This prolific inividual was killed in an automobile accident in 1997."

basscomm writes "Nintendojo has the first two parts of a two part editorial on the career of Gunpei Yokoi. Mr. Yokoi worked at Nintendo for many years and was responsible for such innovations as the D-pad, R.O.B., the Game and Watch, Kid Icarus, Metroid, the Game Boy, and the ill-fated Virtual Boy. This prolific inividual was killed in an automobile accident in 1997."

joystick101.org writes: "In this article, Nintendojo is reporting that the hyped Sega - Nintendo partnership is really just that -- hype. Sega is working with Satoshi Kayama, who has worked with both companies, to help with their networking."

joystick101.org writes: "In this article, Nintendojo is reporting that the hyped Sega - Nintendo partnership is really just that -- hype. Sega is working with Satoshi Kayama, who has worked with both companies, to help with their networking."