I spoke with an independent retailer this afternoon who told me that even though it launches on Thursday, they still don't know how many Xbox units they'll be receiving. As he is sure they won't get many, he said that their plan for the holiday season is "to focus on the Playstation 2." This isn't too surprising of course - Sony screwed over small retailers with the PS2 release last year, but it's never good to hear that independent stores have such a hard time with system launches.

• GameSpot has posted their five page review of Metal Gear Solid (in both text and video formats) and they awarded it a 9.6. Also,PS2.IGN's review (9.7) is now open to the general public. .
• Speaking of MGS2, it's now official - the game will be released in Europe on February 22, 2002 (yes, that's MGS2 on 2/22/02).
• Tons of media from the GameCube port of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 can be found at Cube.IGN tonight.
• GameSpot is reporting that Soldier of Fortune for the PS2 has shipped to retailers, and they have also posted t he first shots from Mortal Kombat for the GameBoy Advance.
• Planet GameCube has conducted an interview with Julian Eggebrecht of Factor 5, the developers of the fantabulous Rogue Leader.
• Also at PGC is an explanation that says that yes, some retailers are selling GameCube systems early, but most are not.
• Interesting news: apparently Enix is considering "online features" for Dragon Quest (Warrior) VIII. Take that as you will.

Console Game of the Evening (continuing Launch Week): Gyromite for the NES. This is one of the most pointless games ever made, and was one of only two games ever made to use Nintendo's unbelievably lame ROB robot, which was created to get the NES sold in toy stores. Of course, while the game might suck (and the robot really, really silly) that little gamble paid off big time, and the rest is history.