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You can now order Killer 7 on Amazon UK through Samurai Nintendo (if you want to do so, please follow one of the links we provide, we will get 5% from the sale). The game will be released on November 14 in Europe according to Amazon which sells it for about 30Ł.
» Order Killer 7 on Amazon UK !
The site has been quiet for a week and more now. However, we're not really gone, we are preparing several updates for the beginning of September on monday; updates will concern Baten Kaitos, Mario Party 5, F-Zero GX, 1080 Avalanche, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, Killer 7 and more. So, as they say: stay tune !
As every week, Japan Weekly has been updated: check the ranking for the latest GameCube sales. Because of the ECTS, we don't have the UK charts this week.
Both Japanese and UK charts have been updated. For Japan, go to check in the Japan Weekly section. For UK, don't look further, it's here:
01- Star Wars: Rogue Leader
02- WWE Wrestlemania X8
03- Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut
04- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
05- Medal of Honor: Frontline
06- Lord of the Rings: The Two Tower
07- Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions
08- James Bond 007: Nightfire
09- Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer
10- FIFA 2003
11- Wario World
12- Turok Evolution
13- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
14- Burnout 2: Point of Impact
15- Sonic Mega Collection
16- Smuggler's Run: Warzones
17- Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
18- Enter the Matrix
19- Die Hard Vendetta
20- Simpsons: Road Rage
A more interesting piece of news now. Nintendo officially announced today the dates for Europe of the most awaited games to come till the end of the year on GameCube and Game Boy Advance. A joyful banquet indeed ! 60 new titles for each system, bringing the GameCube's library over 200 titles and Game Boy Advance's over 400. One thing drew my attention in the press release, it's about Pikmin 2, it's stated that dungeons will be "randomly generated", that sounds really sweet ! I had not heard of this before. Another curious thing is that Mario Golf does not appear in the planning. So is it banned from Europe ?
Exclusive titles for GameCube to be released this year:
P.N.O3 - 29th August 2003
F- Zero GX - 31st October
Viewtiful Joe - 31st October
Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike - 7th November
Mario Kart: Double Dash!! - 14th November
Billy Hatcher and The Giant Egg - 21st November
1080 Avalanche - 28th November
Pikmin 2 - 28th November
Mario Party 5 - 5th December
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes - to be announced
3rd party titles for GameCube to be released this year:
Soulcalibur II - 26th September 2003
Harry Potter Quidditch World Cup - 31st October
FIFA Football 2004 - October
James Bond 007 Everything or Nothing - November
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Winter
Exclusive titles for Game Boy Advance to be released this year:
Golden Sun2: The Lost Age - 19th September 2003
Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land - 26th September
Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising - 3rd October
Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros 3 - 17th October
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance - 24th October
Top Gear Rally - 7th November
Pokemon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire - 14th November
Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga - 21st November
3rd party titles for Game Boy Advance to be released this year:
Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup - 31st October 2003
FIFA Football 2004 - October
Banjo Kazooie - October
Tony Hawk's Underground - November
James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing - November
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Winter
Coming next year:
Pokémon Channel, Pokémon Colosseum, The Legend of Zelda: The Four Swords, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, Kirby Air Ride and Mario Tennis, all this on GameCube.
Hamtaro: Rainbow Rescue, Sword of Mana, Mario Golf: Advance Tour, Mario Tennis and Fire Emblem, all this on game Boy Advance.
Don't panic ! They just bought one subsidiary of Sega, Sega.com Inc, for "an online unit and wireless game technology". Nokia acquired the Sega's Network Application Package, or SNAP to use with their portable console that nobody reasonnable will buy (did you know that Nokia pays their employees quite badly while the executives are filthy rich ?). This SNAP service is used on GameCube as well as on PS2 for online gaming. However, given the importance of online gaming on GameCube which is just 2 titles from Sega, Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II and the not even released Episode III, it shouldn't be a big problem. About a year ago, the SNAP technology was supposed to be used to develop online games, but has it really been used for the GameCube ? The next question now is to know if it's going to affect PSO's players.
It's taken a looooong time, but here it is, the complete review of The Wind Waker. I assume nobody will read it all, but never mind ! I have no problem writing reviews which are not read, seriously. I know the latest trend around is to criticize severely The Wind Waker and to say scornfully: "Pff, this is not a good Zelda". Well, I don't like telling things that I don't really think and I don't like bullshiting either, so I just said why I liked this Zelda very much. Enjoying it was very easy and I'm really sorry for people who didn't. Of course, I did talk about the bad points too, no worries. For me, it remains a great Zelda, with some defects, but huge qualities above all, hope I can share that with you in this review.
» Review of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
This was actually written after the message above, but it's less important so I cheat a bit with the order. As you might have noticed, I changed the top of this frame. You can now see what the latest review and preview published on the site are, I also changed the header and inserted this Amazon ad. As I said earlier, I registered to some affiliate programs and will register to some more in order to let you purchase the games through a link in our site, well, and also to get some little pocket money myself of course ! It's going to be difficult I fear... so far I earnt strictly nothing. So don't hesitate to buy online if you see something interesting. Samurai Nintendo gets 5-7% from the sale (15% for X-Arcade if I remember right). About the reviews, I'll add another one soon and another one again this month hopefully. If you have any questions, suggestions, donations (!), just write to me.
Donkey Konga. The man himself (Satoru Iwata) confirmed the game somedays ago. A conga drum peripheral will be released at the same time. As a note, Namco, the developer of the game, is having quite a success with Taikou no Tetsujin in Japanese arcade. This popular game is... a drum simulation ! This Donkey Konga might be a smart move from Nintendo after all.
Famitsu. Here are Famitsu Cube's latest scores for the GameCube's RPGs:
- Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: 9|8|8|8 (33/40)
- Tales of Symphonia: 9|8|10|10 (37/40)
- Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life: 7|9|9|9 (34/40)
Interestingly, of all the three games Crystal Chronicles got the lowest score, Harvest Moon did pretty well and Tales of Symphonia very well. We can expect this one to be the best exclusive RPG of the console. Good news !
F-Zero Anime. Nintendo unveiled today a F-Zero anime to come soon on Japanese TV. Rather a strange idea, the series is not popular as the sales of the latest GX show, maybe Nintendo hopes to change that. The series produced by Reed and Dentsu will start in October on TV Tokyo Channel 12. The not so good design looks much more Japanese than the game.
Toshihiro Nagoshi is great. Today I read a wonderful article in the UK magazine Edge (September edition, on sale since August 6) by Toshihiro Nagoshi, the president of Sega's Amusement Vision. He has a monthly column in Edge and it's always interesting to see his view on the industry, this time though he wrote one of the most delightful game-related stories, a true story that I had never read. It's really worth reading, very funny and should be conserved by any game fans.
Samurai Nintendo is joining some affiliation programs to help you to find the best online shops where you can buy the games you're looking for. I'll tell more about it in the coming days. In the meantime, you can already start to purchase some games through the banner on the sites and some links. All the sale process is handled by the online shop, we just provide the links and in exchange we get a little percentage on the sale. Many of you asked us about Zoids, you can now buy both of them in Japanese version on Play-Asia through these links:
To order Zoids VS on Play-Asia: Click here (the game is out of stock at the moment though, sorry)
To order Zoids VS II on Play-Asia: Click here
To order Zoids VS II + the Desert Liger toy on Play-Asia: Click here
You can also buy or order your most wanted GameCube titles on Amazon UK: Click here (includes Mario Kart Double Dash, Wrestlemania XIX, Soul Calibur 2, Harvest Moon, F-Zero GX, Resident Evil 4, Viewtiful Joe, 1080 Avalanche, Harry Potter Quiditch Cup & Philosopher's Stone, SSX 3, Medal of Honor: Rising Sun and many others !)
An update on sunday ? You're not dreaming, it's true. We bring you the latest news about the GameCube.
DK Konga. According to IGN, the recently announced Donkey Kong title developed by Namco could be... a musical game with conga drums ! The name "Donkey Konga" has been patented so it could become the title for this surprising game. Now the question is to know if it requires to use some drum accessory, which would surely raise the price of the product, and, also, when it comes.
Phoenix to ashes. Capcom seems to have decided of the termination of Dead Phoenix. The game has been removed from the planning and different sources alledge of its end. However, Gotha Force has been added to the list of Capcom's GameCube exclusive so you can keep talking about Capcom 5 with no shame ! Hopefully the game will have a second chance, it'll be interesting to see it reborn on a next Nintendo console for instance... but will Capcom keep supporting the next Nintendo ?
Soul Calibur II Arcade Stick. Japanese players could buy a special arcade stick from Namco when Soul Calibur II was released. American players will enjoy the same treatment although they won't get the same stick. The US one is manufactured by Nuby and compatible with the 3 systems, it has a cool Soul Calibur II drawing and appears like a sturdy piece of hardware. The price is set at 39.99$ and the release date on August 31. Don't forget you can also get the excellent Arcade stick from X-Arcade ! Just click here to check.
Next system in 2005-06. In a traditional move, Nintendo explained that their next console is unlikely to come as early as first stated and that such a position was merely to show they are still in the console race. Now that it appears next generation consoles won't come next year, Nintendo will take its time too. It's definitely good news, in such a short lap they wouldn't have enough time to develop high quality games, nor a good hardware either maybe. Plus, they'll give developers time to fully take advantage of the GameCube and players time to enjoy the games. Samurai N feels happy and relief !
Chinaman. It seems this news is making the headlines: Nintendo is going to enter the Chinese market ! Big deal, it's been announced long ago and their strategy at the time, which has yet to be reconfirmed, was that they would release the Nintendo 64 instead of the GameCube, in order to minimize piracy.
Price drop in US. IGN (more official than NOA or what ?) announced in their mailbag that the GameCube price is going to drop at $99 at the end of september. A way for Nintendo to begin the hostilities of the ruthless Christmas war.
The ranking has been updated in Japan Weekly with the latest results for the Nintendo GameCube in Japan. How well did Crystal Chronicles sell ? Find out in our dedicated section !
If someone understands something at the Uk's chart, well, please tell me. It seems there's no logic in what sells better than before. Last time it was extreme sport, this time it's Medal of Honor, Star Wars and other movies... oh, whatever !
01- Medal of Honor: Frontline
02- Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut
03- Lord of the Rings: The Two Tower
04- Star Wars: Rogue Leader
05- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
06- WWE Wrestlemania X8
07- James Bond 007: Nightfire
08- FIFA 2003
09- Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions
10- Turok Evolution
11- Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer
12- Wario World
13- Star Wars: Clone Wars
14- Smuggler's Run: Warzones
15- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
16- Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
17- Super Smash Bros. Melee
18- Sonic Mega Collection
19- Burnout 2: Point of Impact
20- Matt Hoffman's Pro BMX 2
Released last month in USA, to be released next month in Japan and strangely unprecisely announced for Europe, this is Mario Golf's current status. It's also one of the biggest disappointement of the GameCube, a remake-sequel of a Nintendo 64 game that didn't need to be. Nintendo could have come up with something more original than Mario Golf and Mario Tennis... Mario Olympics or Mario Tennis & Golf (2 in 1, would have been cool). Anyway, we updated our preview with 9 pictures, not really new but newer at least than the two ones before.
» Preview of Mario Golf
The week starts nicely with an update of Rebel Strike's pictures. I added several new ones, and replaced some. Also added is the content of the bonus disk or at least what we know of it. There are now 19 pictures for what has to be one of the most promising game of this semester.
» Preview of Star Wars Rebel Strike
Today, we have a very interesting preview for our readers. I know many of you are fans of Zoids and we got some exclusive and fresh information about the upcoming Zoids VS 2, including 6 new pictures. These pictures are temporary, next week they'll be replaced with better quality shots and we'll try to get you the box art. You'll find in this preview a list of features including the full list of Zoids, there are VERY many.
» Preview of Zoids VS II
And remember only on Samurai Nintendo...
The news traveled and spread fast through all the web: yesterday, Nintendo had a small press conference following its first-quarter financial report and gave a few tidbits about what it's working on. What has been said wasn't properly reported everywhere so here's a clarification and the facts:
- A Warioware Inc. / Made in Wario game is coming to GameCube this year in October.
- A new Donkey Kong game is developed by Namco (for this year it seems though it's hard to believe).
- A new Zelda game before the end of 2004 (likely to be the one using The Wind Waker engine).
- "Club Nintendo" to start next year in USA and Japan, based on a reward system already in place in Europe (earn points by buying games and accesories then you can use your points to get some gifts - in France, it's possible to use points to get a Game Boy Advance or a Wavebird for free !). They expect between 300.000 / 500.000 members.
- A new product will be introduced next spring.
On that last one, nothing else was said, so all you can hear around is pure speculations: some say (IGN) it might be a new home console, some others say it'll be to compete with the PSP (Gaming Horizon), but in the end no one knows so if everyone could just shut up and wait for spring... thank you. And, by the way, Nintendo sold 800.000 GameCube world wide in the first quarter not 80.000 as you can read almost everywhere.
With release dates for Shikigami no Shiro 2 and Billy Hatcher.
The race is tough for F-Zero GX in Japan while old games are enjoying summer in UK. Check the Japanese ranking in our Japan Weekly section and here's for the UK:
01- FIFA 2003
02- Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut
03- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
04- Medal of Honor: Frontline
05- Lord of the Rings: The Two Tower
06- WWE Wrestlemania X8
07- Turok Evolution
08- James Bond 007: Nightfire
09- Smuggler's Run: Warzones
10- Matt Hoffman's Pro BMX 2
11- Kelly Slater's Pro Surfer
12- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
13- Wario World
14- Wreckless: The Yakuza Missions
15- Sonic Mega Collection
16- Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
17- Enter the Matrix
18- Super Smash Bros. Melee
19- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
20- Star Wars Bounty Hunter
Bandai will release tomorrow in Japan, Dragon Drive: D Master Shot a shooting game reminding of Panzer Dragoon. No use to blame Bandai, they are just adapting an anime. However, you are allowed to blame Treasure if this game, that they developed, is disappointing like Wario World rather than stimulating like Ikarura. Again a title developed too fast... it got a 25/40 in Famitsu, it doesn't mean that they are right, but, it's unlikely to be a good Panzer Dragoon-like. So, if you're looking for a great 3D shooter, just wait. There's nothing coming safe for Starfox Armada and this one, you'll have time to wait and see (oops, there's also Dead Phoenix, which looks cool, unfortunately, it probably fell into a hole because Capcom doesn't talk about it anymore).
» Preview of Dragon Drive
I added several pictures to the preview of Tales of Symphonia, there are now 20 and they tell you that the game looks quite promising. May it be true !
» Preview of Tales of Symphonia
There's nothing much to see here yet. We have only 6 bad looking pictures, Capcom is not very eager to communicate on this game. It's a pity because Auto Modellista U.S.-Tune is a real neat game with nice graphics and speed. It will be released in October in USA. Hopefully it will come soon after (or before ?) in Europe, so far it hasn't been confirmed yet by NOE.
» Preview of Auto Modellista
Two more pictures have been added to the preview of Viewtiful Joe because the ones we have are getting a bit old. I will try to update or add some more in the next days. And remember Joe is coming in USA in October and in November in Europe.
» Preview of Viewtiful Joe
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European Gamers: Order Killer 7 NOW !
Many Updates on the 1st of September
GameCube Weekly Best Sellers in Japan
Japan + UK Charts
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
