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Thanks to Reuters for the news that Nintendo have recaptured the top of the videogame software charts for the first half of the business year in Japan. According to the piece, "Konami, which shoved Nintendo aside in the April-September period last year thanks to its popular soccer game [the Winning Eleven series], slipped to No.2", as the two companies "sold a total 3.1 million and 2.9 million units respectively", with Super Mario Advance 4 and Wario Ware, Inc particular sales highlights for Nintendo. The story also notes: "As for hardware, sales of Microsoft's Xbox game console remained in a slump in Japan, selling only 28,656 units, well below Sony's PlayStation 2 at 1.1 million and Nintendo's GameCube at 319,037."

Ian_Bailey writes "In official announcements, Nintendo has confirmed a number of new games, including a sequel to Wario Ware Inc. for the GameCube and a new Donkey Kong game developed by Namco. Furthermore, Nintendo indicated that a 'new game product' will be unveiled in Spring 2004, which could be their N5 next-gen console. Finally, after the IGN PS2 rumor reports, they have now had a look at the 10 Biggest Rumors on GameCube, including Metroid Prime 2, Too Human, and a realistic-looking Zelda."

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing out that the official Wario Ware, Inc. website has opened, advertising the forthcoming Gameboy Advance micro-game title (that's mini mini-games, of course) being released in the States on May 26th. Here's a preview with screenshots which explains the concept a little better - you have about 5 seconds to play and win each microgame, which even include riffs on Mario, Duck Hunt, and so on, and a massive amount of different microgames are chained together until.. well, your brain dribbles out of your ears. Should be fun.