Clay asks, I heard that the GameCube officially releases in the US on November

18, but it actually ships on November 15, the same day as the Xbox, is this true? I hope

so because I would really like to have my NGC for November 16, which is a Friday. That was

I can have a full weekend of staying up late play Rogue Squadron.

Billy Says: If history repeats itself,

there will be an early launch. It'll be really interesting if stores will once again,

break the date.

Sure, stores will be getting their stock in early, but when and if it will go on sale is

still an unknown. Your best bet will be to keep an eye on Planet GameCube to find out

further details from our retail reports.

Rize Says: Well, my local Babbages (and

Wal-Mart) will be getting a lot of phone calls during that weekend in November. If any

retailers are selling their GameCube's early, you're sure to hear about it right here the

moment it happens at the very least. Hopefully we'll get some more advanced warning

though.

Jonathan Says: I remember at the N64

launch, retailers got their units early and were going to hold them, but then Nintendo

buckled in and just told them to start selling anyway. The GBA launch date was held pretty

strictly, but they may just treat handheld and console launches differently. The fact is

that Nintendo doesn't launch systems frequently enough for us to draw any reliable

patterns...so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Neil asks, what kind of nutty screwdriver is required to

open up my import GameCube. Presumably those lid-switches are used to indicate region, and

it would be great if I could get my GC prepped for Rogue Squadron before the American

launch. How do I get it open?

Rize Says: Well, if you have your import

GameCube already, it would seem that you could answer this question best by simply looking

at the nuts yourself! Historically, Nintendo has been using nuts with round heads and 6

little indentations around the edges. GBA items seem to use Philips head screws, but they

only have 3 slots instead of the normal four slots. Hopefully Billy can answer this

question conclusively.

If you're lucky enough to have an import shop in your area, they would almost certainly

sell the tools (many will actually mod the system; for a price of course). Internet import

sites will probably have the necessary tools for sale as well, possibly as part of a mod

kit.

Rob asks, How durable is analog stick? The N64 one use to get really bad and

"spongy" with a load of white dust appearing from the bottom due to physical

friction. Can you predict any similar problems with the GC hardware?

Billy Says: For right now no. I mean, there

really aren't any games that have beat on it too hard. Seems pretty durable to me, and I

haven't seen any of the mysterious N64 controller dust with the GameCube controller.

So far so good.

Rize Says: Nintendo has always been one to make really high quality peripherals.

I'm sure they're well aware of the fairy-dust problem on the N64's analogue stick! In

fact, if you look at a screen shot, you can see that they've already taken measures to

correct the problem. You can see that both analogue sticks don't have a visible base to

sink into any more. When Sony copied Nintendo's analog stick, they pioneered the

stick-on-a-ball method to improve durability. This is in use on all of the major consoles

now. No more fairy-dust! Still, analog sticks are sensitive instruments, with heavy use,

even the best products wear out after time.

TYP Says: The fairy dust was caused by friction at the base of the stick (you

could hear it squeak sometimes!) as well as rubbing/grinding the stick on the edges of

indent area. The friction at the bottom is gone (Nintendo isn't afraid to use another

person's design if it is better!) and the design of the stick greatly reduces the

side-rubbing.

And actually, I only got seve plastic-dust (and therefore a looser stick) on the one that

came with the system. I don't think this will be a problem on the Cube!

Y2Jeremy asks, Do you think, that despite Nintendo's best

efforts to broaden it's target market, developers have it stuck in their head that

'kiddie' games belong on the GameCube? They shouldn't, I mean just look at the 'mature'

line up but, well, it happens.

Mike H. Says: Nintendo's main demographic

are younger gamers, and they make no bones about it. They're not going to change either.

However, they WILL dip into the mature audience more so than on the N64, but they won't

stray from their tried and proven path of younger and "universal" titles.

As for what that means to developers... Given that demographic, the GameCube is still a

risk, but it is less of a risk now that the console uses N-ROM discs (they're not called

GODs) instead of cartridges. You'll see more mature games from 2nd and 3rd parties, but I

believe we'll still see a focus on more "universal" titles.

Dragona Says: I thought I said that anyone who asked this question again

would suffer a horrible and painful death?

Grrr... Give it up already. We've got 2nd Parties working on *gasp* mature games so bugger

that "kiddie" notion.

Rize Says: When games like Eternal Darkness and the Resident Evil series start

selling like hot cakes, any stragglers that hadn't been convinced to port all of

their franchises to GameCube will be converted. Even now though, GameCube is getting

excellent third party support before it has even gone on sale. I don't anticipate this

being a problem at all. There will always be someone with a foolish opinion, but the

majority of publishers will see GameCube as a viable platform for all of their titles.

Jonathan Says: Ya know, there are a ton of "kiddie" (universal) games

on PlayStation too...Nintendo's systems have their rep because their non-demographic games

are actually good. Nobody rags on Sony's systems for having so many Digimon and Monster

Rancher games; that's because neither of those series can even remotely compare to what

Nintendo has done with Pokemon. You can construct similar examples with just about any

subdivision of what people ignorantly make fun of on Nintendo's systems. People make light

of things they envy; it's a natural (though unfortunate) defense mechanism. See Freud for

further insight.

Dolphin64X asks, Do GameCube games come with plastic case for the games? You said earlier

that they came in cardboard boxes, but if so, how would people store them? Nintendo knows

they aren't as durable as cartridges and people need a place to put them. Some of the

pictures I've seen too seem to indicate that they do have plastic cases.

Ty Says: Nintendo GameCube games will be in DVD cases in North

America, just like PS2 and Xbox games. In Japan however, they are stored in tiny plastic

cases, with cardboard slipcovers.

Trong asks, In your opinion, what do you think is the best light accessory for the GBA? I

been surfing around the web trying to find some kind of comparison but could not find any

[good] ones.

Billy Says: In the US, I'd have to say that

every light made so far has been pretty much worthless. I've tried 3-4, and haven't had

success with any of them.

However, the Light Boy Advance, which is available by import only, is probably the best

bet. You can pick it up for around $25, and so far, it brightens up the screen the best,

and has little glare.

But overall, I don't think there is a solid light available yet for the GBA. Hopefully the

second version of the 3rd party lights will prove to be more successful.

Rize Says: If you're the adventurous type

and you don't mind voiding your warranty, check out

href="http://www.portablemonopoly.com">Portable Monopoly for a viable lighting

solution. From the pictures and descriptions, this could work very well.

Jonathan Says: It took the original Game

Boy eight or nine years to finally see a decent light solution (Worm Light). Give hardware

companies some time...the GBA design is new ground for them, and it'll take a period of

testing what works and what doesn't before we see some really high-quality peripherals.

The same rule will probably apply to GameCube as well.

Ty Says: From what I've seen most of the

current GBA lights just plain suck. I would suggest that you find a really good lamp. I,

personally, have a 7 foot tall floor lamp that has a bowl on top. The bulb is in the bown.

And the bottom of the bowl is frosted glass, while the top is open. It's the ideal GBA

light. The light pours out of the frosted glass onto my GBA and there is almost no glare

at all. And the extra light from the top of the bowl is also helpful.

TYP Says: Although there is no great solution, Pelican's Light Shield works

decently for me. The first batch seemed to have some defects, but I think that's all

ironed out (they're very good about replacing defective ones, though). You can check out

my review here.

It is far from perfect, but if you could use a screen protector, this may be your best

choice. The (very) slightly-tinted yellow light is really a moot point.

Valhart asks, Game Arts is making Grandia games on the PS2, yet they've announced

nothing for the GameCube. What are they up to?

Dragona Says: Unfortunately, we don't know yet. There's been no announcements

concerning the company in relation to Nintendo. Still, we can hope for some solid support:

a port of Grandia Xtreme (hopefully with a better name) would be nice. It's also been a

few years since we've heard anything on Lunar III. According to Vic Ireland,

president of Working Designs, (the US company who owns the rights to English distribution

of LUNAR), it looks smashing and it currently on for PS2.

Vic Ireland has also been extremely supportive of the GameCube. This is from the

fellow who won't say anything about a console unless he likes it. Whether this has much to

do with what Game Arts may/may not be offering for the GC is up in the air however.

As always, Nintendo fans have to wait patiently. NCL will probably never give information

unless it's absolutely necessary to do so.

Felix asks, About one month ago, Capcom announced the exclusivity of Resident

Evil for the Nintendo GameCube. That means Resident Evil 0 through 4 are headed to the

GameCube. I was curious to know what was happening with Resident Evil Survivor 2 Code

Veronica, because I did not hear of it since then. So I contacted Capcom, and I learned

that the game is still scheduled for the PS2 and that no US release is planned for now. I

don’t know if it's news, but I was a bit surprise to learn that, finally, Resident

Evil won’t be GameCube exclusive after all. :)

I am not very familiar with the PS2 scene. Was it already announced?

Jonathan Says: Code Veronica was indeed announced for PS2 before the GameCube

announcement... but it doesn't really matter anyway. Since it's not a real RE title, it's

not covered under the exclusivity agreement; and besides that... well, I can't say for the

sequel, but the first Gun Survivor was supposed to be pretty terrible. So anyway, nothing

to worry about. ;-)

Dragona Says: The Biohazard series is exclusive to GameCube, no if ands

or buts. The PS2 version of Gun Survivor 2 is exempt from this as it was announced

long before the BH conference was held. It's only a port of an arcade game anyway, so it's

not that big of a deal.

If its anything like the PSX original, you'll be happy it isn't on GameCube. (Capcom

PLEASE don't port this!!!)