Were you looking to spend your Thanksgiving afternoon curled up next to a fireplace whilst collecting jigsaw puzzles as a lovable bear? Prepare yourself for crushing disappointment.

Due to Street Fighter II HD's release this week, the arrival of Rare's Banjo-Kazooie Xbox Live Arcade port has been pushed back to Wednesday, December 3.

The title will sell for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15), and will finally introduce the infamous "Stop 'N' Swop" feature.

Fresh off yesterday's announcement that Rare's original N64 Banjo Kazooie will hit Xbox Live Arcade on November 26 for $15, publisher Microsoft has provided the first screenshots of the downloadable platforming game running on Xbox 360.

The XBLA title interfaces with Rare's full-fledged Banjo sequel Nuts & Bolts (360) to provide new unspecified content, with those that pre-order Nuts & Bolts able to download the XBLA effort for free nearly two weeks before its official release.

Update: Microsoft has curiously pulled the press release that this story was based on.

Original Story: Rare's Xbox 360 port of its Nintendo 64 platformer Banjo Kazooie will be downloadable through the console's online Xbox Live Arcade beginning Wednesday, November 26, publisher and studio owner Microsoft announced today.

Priced at 1200 Microsoft Points ($15), the game will also be available as a free download to those that pre-order Rare's latest effort, Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (360), which hits retailers on November 11. In addition, pre-ordering folk will gain access to Banjo Kazooie XBLA roughly two weeks before its debut in late November.

The Xbox Live Arcade version of the bird-bear duo's debut adventure will enable players to unlock additional content in Nuts & Bolts through the game's Stop N' Swop feature, which was included in the Nintendo 64 version but never utilized.

A downloadable Xbox Live Arcade release of the Nintendo 64 sequel Banjo Tooie will follow in early 2009, which according to Microsoft, makes the "Xbox 360 the new home of the beloved 'Banjo-Kazooie' franchise."

After the floodgates broke on coverage of Rare's new Banjo Kazooie game, you might've found yourself wondering whether this was the Banjo you remember. And depending on your slant, it can be interpreted as good news or bad news—it's familiar territory, certainly, but populated by a whole new breed of animal.

As you may well have heard by now, the new focus in Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is, of course, vehicles. And from what we saw at Microsoft's Spring Showcase demonstration, the developer is not at all shy in making use of this new cornerstone of gameplay.

Banjo Kazooie QA lead Chris Chamberlain estimates that vehicle use takes up some 70% of total gameplay time, while traditional Banjo-style platforming assumes the remaining 30%. With such a significant portion of gameplay chalked ... Read more

First there were screenshots, then there was an official name and gameplay details. Now there is gamepay footage of Rare's Xbox 360 platformer Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, which is due out in November.

Note: The following is unedited b-roll footage. It is meant to be chopped up into little bits for a larger segment and has not undergone the traditional editing process of a trailer.

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Publisher Microsoft has unveiled plot and gameplay details for UK-based Rare's recently dated platformer Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts (X360).

The title features a pronounced focus on building vehicles for Banjo to pilot over land, water, and air. By combining a total of over 100 parts found throughout the game, such as body panels, engines, wheels, and weapons, players can design vehicles to suit virtually any goal in the game.

For those who want to skip the workshop and get straight to the gameplay, Nuts and Bolts also features pre-built contraptions for use in the single-player campaign.

In Rare's revival of the classic platforming series, Banjo is pit... Read more

Beginning an avalanche of media and details, Microsoft has revealed that Rare's Xbox 360 action-adventure title Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (X360) will arrive in November.

Meanwhile, Rare's pinata-breeding sequel Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (X360) is officially slated to hit in September.

Update: Eleven more screenshots have surfaced to accompany the original two.

Be sure to hit up our Spring Showcase Roundup for all the news and media from Microsoft's recent event, including a hands-on preview Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.

Original Story: Two supposed but rather legitimate-looking screenshots of Rare's upcoming Xbox 360 action-adventure title Banjo Kazooie began making rounds on the internet today.

Representing the first media of the game to arrive since its 2006 announcement trailer, the images provide an in-game glimpse of the first Banjo effort to hit a home console since the Nintendo 64 release of Banjo Tooie in 2000.

Rumors suggest the title, which is often referred to by series fans as Banjo Kazooie 3 or Banjo Threeie, will be compatible with the oft-rumored Wii Remote-esque Xbox 360 controller.

Given that Microsoft is set to show Banjo Kazooie at its Spring Showcase event on Tuesday, it is likely that these assets are from the media that is planned that day. Check back with Shacknews Tuesday for more on Banjo and the rest of Microsoft's 2008 lineup.

Microsoft's rumored Wii Remote-esque Xbox 360 controller could be unveiled Tuesday morning, according to the lastest round of rumors. Reportedly code-named Newton, the motion-sensitive device is said to have four face buttons, an analog stick, a speaker and a microphone.

Keeping in line with previous murmurs that Microsoft subsidiary Rare was playing a key part in the device's development, Kotaku claims that the device and its integration into Rare's Xbox 360 platformer Banjo Kazooie could be demonstrated at an event next Tuesday.

Further evidence that Microsoft will make some type announcement comes from the unusual timing of the event's press embargo, as Microsoft will be allowing coverage before any media is allowed to enter the showcase.

Check back next week for more information, as Shacknews will be attending the Microsoft Spring Showcase and will provide full details on Banjo Kazooie and any other titles shown or announced at the event.

Microsoft-owned UK developer Rare may be working on a sports-themed Xbox Live Arcade title that makes use of the Vision camera, according to Xbox 360 Fanboy. The site claims to have the inside scoop on the project, punnily titled The Fast & The Furriest.

The game is supposedly a collection of sports minigames like the 100 meter dash, hurdles, and curling, all with a Rare twist--the curling game replaces the stone with timid Diddy Kong Racing (N64) turtle Tip Tup, for instance. Most of the games can purportedly be controlled using gestures in combination with the Vision camera.

Players can also use the camera to put their faces on Rare's stable of characters, giving the impression of animal-suited mascots competing in a sporting competition. According to Xbox Live Fanboy, Rare will later expand the game with downloadable content packs for sports like croquet, bowling, volleyball, and fishing.

Rare's last offering was the pinata life simulator Viva Pinata (PC, X360), and the company is currently developing a third title in the Banjo Kazooie series for Xbox 360. Shacknews contacted Microsoft for comment, but has not yet received a response.

It wasn't until I looked at the list of Nintendo's published titles that I realized what a brilliant maneuver this is by the Big N. We all know Nintendo is responsible for a boatload of classics, but until you see them all side-by-side, it's hard to imagine how many they have. Kid Icarus, Punch-Out, Earthbound, F-Zero, Super Mario RPG, Yoshi's Island, 1080 Snowboarding, GoldenEye 007, Killer Instinct, all of the console Marios and Zeldas and so many more. All of those games, at your fingertips, and Nintendo is even thinking about making them free to download. I'm sure there some out there saying, "Who cares if they release any new games if I can get access to all those!"

It was sort of inevitable, but as many of you noticed, last night we discovered a bug that showed up on the comments page. I can't say I know what caused it, or how it was fixed (I'm blissfully unaware of so many things around here, it's a wonder I even know what site this is), but it was, so that's that. Now we can get back to working on that redesigned Misc. section. Since not all of you I'm sure have been here since the beginning, I dug through the archives and found some fun little bits of LNC history to show off tonight. These posts started way back on August 20th, 2001 with this post, which was done ER-style (get a load of some of those chilly comments!). About a week later, I switched to a slightly more legible bulleted-format, and incredibly, it took nearly a year after that to migrate to the tabled, icon sporting format that we've had ever since. The most recent change was back in March, when I rolled out the database-driven game of the evening (first game: Double Dragon 2 submitted by ease_one), which I think has been pretty successful (if still somewhat chaotic when it comes to games that have already been submitted). In case it isn't totally obvious (and I haven't said it enough), LNC really has been driven by reader feedback, so keep it coming (although some of the Misc. Previews comments haven't been particularly helpful...I get the idea already!).
Console Game of the Evening: Alien Crush for the Turbo Grafx-16. "Sexy and creepy, this organic, alien-themed pinball game put PC pinball games to shame." (submitted by Zero|DPX).

Thanks to Shack reader Chris Kelly, with whom I was able to work out a trade, I am now the proud owner of a TurboDuo system. It arrived today, and naturally I tore into the box and had it up and running within minutes, and it is indeed a huge step up from the clunky hardware of the original TurboGrafx-16. Aside from the fact that this is a faster system and incorporates the CD add-on for the original system, the Duo has an internal battery for saving games and the all-important composite video cables, both of which the original system lacked (without shelling out for an add-on unit that, is). Looking back on it, it's tough to argue in favor of any system as late as 1989 shipping without the ability to save at all in most games, and only with a password in those that could. I know the HuCard dates back a few years before to the original PC Engine in Japan, but its absence was pretty silly nonetheless. Password saves were annoying in 1986 with the original Metroid, especially considering that games like The Legend of Zelda and Phantasy Star both included on-cart battery saves around the same time. But regardless, for the entire life span of the HuCard -- across the original TG-16, Duo and TurboExpress -- very few games took advantage of the battery backup feature for systems that had it. Not being able to save really sucks in Military Madness, a tight, action-packed strategy game. Thankfully you can save in most CD games, including the sublime Ys Book I & II, which I am now the proud owner of as well. That's first on my list of games to jump into. As soon as my extension cable arrives for that damn gamepad, that is, as like the original TG-16 the Duo's gamepad has a cable that's barely two feet long.

	Still More Square Rumors Just because I know how much you all love these...Video-Fenky is the latest place to claim that SquareEnix is working on a sequel or remake to Final Fantasy VII. Slightly raining on that parade is IGN's Insider-only Gaming Life in Japan column, which speculates that even if such a project is in the works, it's more likely to be revealed at a separate press conference than this month's Tokyo Game Show. I'm inclined to agree with them there. If Square does have another title besides Front Mission 4 to unveil at the show, it's probably going to be Kingdom Hearts 2. Either that, or a new release of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, which would be an attempt on their part to make up for the bug-filled first release of the game.
	Uber-Zelda Package in the Works? GameInformer has a news item up citing sources close to Nintendo that a huge Zelda GameCube package is in the works for release this holiday season. The package will reportedly include The Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask (the second N64 game in the series), the first two NES titles and a special Zelda documentary. Missing from the list are Master Quest (AKA Ura Zelda) and The Wind Waker, whose absence would mean that this is the first console package I can think of that wouldn't include a single native game for the platform.
	Xbox 2 Details? Team Xbox has posted what they claim are rough details on ATI's GPU for the Xbox 2 (thanks HomeLAN). There is of course no way to verify any of this, and even if it is true, there's a good chance it could change between now and the 2005 - 2006 release of the system.
	Mario Kart Pre-Order Bonus Revealed Sorry retro-fans, but you're about to be disappointed...Nintendo has officially announced their bonus disc that will be sent to those who pre-order Mario Kart: Double Dash, and sadly, unlike the pre-order bonuses for Zelda: The Wind Waker and Star Wars Rogue Squadron: Rebel Strike, it's lacking in retro-fun. Instead you'll get something a bit more forward-thinking: a disc full of playable demos and previews of upcoming GameCube titles. Cool? Sure, but Mario Kart or Mario Kart 64 would have been cooler.
	Sony Reigns Supreme With the expected amount of chest beating, Sony announced today that they have shipped a colossal 60 million PlayStation 2s worldwide. The breakdown by country shows 14.17 million in Japan, 19.44 million in Europe and 26.42 here in North America.
	Suikoden IV at TGS Konami has revealed their full list of games that will be shown at the Tokyo Game Show, and as a pleasant surprise, none other than Suikoden IV will be on display in video form. Also on display will be Castlevania: Lament of Innocence and Metal gear Solid: The Twin Snakes for PS2 and GameCube respectively.
	Front Mission 4 Details Some new details from Front Mission 4 are up at GameSpot tonight. There's nothing too exciting here, but they do have some general plot information and the news that the game will likely sport a very different combat system from the other games in the series.
	Soul Calibur II Selling Well In case there was any doubt, Namco announced today that Soul Calibur II is selling very well. How well, you ask? They shipped over 1.6 million copies on the first day, a new record for the company. Unknown at this point is how each version is selling, something the console war junkie in me really wants to know.
	FIFA 2004 Interview Computer and Video Games has conducted a new interview with Dan Holman of EA, talking about their upcoming soccer game FIFA 2004. Topics dealt with include the game's extensive online component, and even more important, the number of hairstyles they'll have for David Beckham.
	Max Payne 2 Bumped Up Good news for those waiting for Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne...you won't have to wait quite as long anymore. While the console versions were originally planned for release early next year, they've been bumped up to an early December release.
	Morrowind GOTY Interview Team Xbox's Morrowind GOTY Interview talks with Bethesda's Todd Howard about their upcoming budget-priced re-release of Morrowind for the Xbox. Thanks HomeLAN for the tip.
	Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu Q&A HomeLAN has conducted a Q&A with Benoit Galarneau, the producer at Ubi Soft on their upcoming cross-platform title Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu.
	Zodiac Q&A Also at HomeLAN is a Q&A with Byron Connell, the co-founder of Tapwave, the company developing the Zodiac handheld gaming system/PalmOS PDA that's set for release later this year.
	Nintendo Adds to Player's Choice Lineup Nintendo has announced a new batch of games in their Player's Choice lineup: Star Fox Adventures, Pikmin and Luigi's Mansion will soon be available for $19.99, while Metroid Prime, Animal Crossing and Super Mario Sunshine will be available for $29.99. The prices fall on September 25th.
	Ratchet & Clank Q&A The newly relaunched GameInformer.com has posted a Q&A with Ted Price, the president of Insomniac Games, talking about their upcoming title Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando.
	New Releases This Week The big releases this week are Final Fantasy Tactics for GBA and ESPN NHL Hockey for PS2 and Xbox, but there are others as well. For PS2 there's Hunter: The Reckoning Wayward, .hack://OUTBREAK" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" class="external and Lethal Skies II, GameCube has P.N.03, for Xbox there's Starsky & Hutch, and GBA there's Banjo Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge and Battlebots: Design and Destroy.
	Misc. Media/Previews GameSpot has new shots from ESPN NBA Basketball (PS2, Xbox), a new preview of SSX 3 (GC, PS2, Xbox), the first official shots from The King of Fighters 2000/2001 (PS2), a first look at Motorsiege: Warriors of Primetime (PS2), footage from Arx Fatalis (Xbox) and new shots from Ghosthunter (PS2). IGN has new shots from Metal Arms: Glitch in the System (GC, PS2, Xbox), new previews of Activision Anthology and Ultimate Card Games (both GBA), footage from Banjo Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge (GBA) and a new trailer from Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando (PS2). Elsewhere online, PlanetGameCube has posted impressions of Tales of Symphonia (GC), CvG has shaky-cam footage from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (GC, PS2, Xbox) and shots from Fatal Frame 2 (PS2) and Pikmin 2 (GC), Gamers.com has shots from Dynasty Warriors 4 Xtreme Legends (PS2), and the official sites for Rogue Ops (GC, PS2, Xbox) and Battlestar Galactica (PS2, Xbox) have gone live.

Console Game of the Evening: Rock & Roll Racing for the Sega Genesis. "Very *rare* to see this title on Genesis, almost all were for SNES. This stands out in my mind as the all-time best, bar-none, racing/upgrade/guns games. RC Pro-Am series, eat your heart out. Wicked killer artwork, lots of cars and guns. w00t!" (submitted by loumacc).

My PS2-to-GameCube adapter arrived the other night, and although I was somewhat nervous after reading some comments posted here about similar devices, I'm pleased to report that it works like a charm. The two games I heard didn't work with such devices are Soul Calibur II and the GBA Player, and since those are precisely the two I bought this for, I was really quite worried. But work it does, and it's a godsend. For those curious, I'm using the one sold by Lik-Sang, and at only $10, I can easily recommend it to anyone frustrated with the size of the GameCube's d-pad. Since I'm only using this for games I use the d-pad with, I had originally planned on using my first-generation PSOne controller, but apparently the device only works with Dual Shock 1 or 2 gamepads. That's not a big deal, but it does mean my old PSX gamepad is going to sit around unloved for a bit longer. My beef with the GameCube's d-pad is that it's too darn small. Teeny is more like it, and the one on the Dual Shock is an improvement in every way imaginable. I don't see myself using this for anything but games where the d-pad is important, since Nintendo's games are always tweaked extensively for use with their gamepads, but for these two it makes a world of a difference.

	GameCube Outsells PS2 in Japan It's only by a very slim margin, but the latest Media Create numbers out of Japan put the GameCube at 35,600 units sold for the week ending August 31st, while the PS2 sold a mere 35,300. This sudden upswing in GameCube sales is being attributed to the release of Tales of Symphonia and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, which marks the first release of two major RPG series for the platform (Japan has always been a very RPG-obsessed market).
	Eidos Drops GameCube Support It's not all good news for Nintendo today, as Eidos Interactive formally announced that they are dropping support for the GameCube platform. Eidos has informally been pulling out of the system all year, and in their announcement CEO Mike McGarvey is quoted as saying the GameCube is, "a declining business."
	More Eidos Wackiness In other Eidos news, I was one of many people that was left with my jaw hanging open as I read that the company has actually managed to pull a profit for the fiscal year ending on June 30th. But that wasn't nearly as strange as after reading that this profit was due to four million sellers (Championship Manager 4, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, TimeSplitters 2, and Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness), that the company is actually dropping two of them! For reasons only Eidos management is privy to, the company will not be publishing the next game in the TimeSplitters series, and they have also severed ties with Sports Interactive, the developer of the million-selling Championship Manager series. While Eidos doesn't own the IP behind TimeSplitters (allowing Free Radical to go where they please), they do own the rights to Championship Manager, so that series will continue with a different developer at the helm.
	Final Fantasy VII at TGS? Rumors have started circulating that either a remake or sequel to Final Fantasy VII will be unveiled at the Tokyo Game Show at the end of the month. LNC readers may recall Square's previous debunking of such rumors, where they said that even if they did want to make a FFVII-2, the fact that it would require 100% new assets would make that a futile task, and their time would be better spent on an entirely new game. But a remake could theoretically allow them to make two games for the price of one (or 1.5, anyway). But I still wouldn't hold my breath.
	Front Mission 4 Announced Well one game SquareEnix has announced will definitely be shown at TGS is Front Mission 4, an all-new PS2 title in this series of strategy RPGs that features battlin' robots.
	MGS: The Twin Snakes Interview A new interview with Denis Dyack of Silicon Knights is up at IGN tonight, talking with the president of the studio about The Twin Snakes, their upcoming GameCube remake of the original Metal Gear Solid. Accompanying the interview is a crapload of new media, and some hints that this will not be the only Nintendo/Silicon Knights/Konami collaboration.
	Project Gotham 2 Q&A and Geometry Wars Revealed Computer and Video Games has posted a Q&A with Chris Pickford of Bizarre Creations, which is the first in a series of Project Gotham 2 Q&As the site will be publishing over the course of the next week. In addition to other things, this interview reveals that a Robotron-style shooting game will be an unlockable bonus included with the racing game, and it will feature an Xbox Live powered scoreboard.
	UK Console Price Drops Revealed CvG is reporting that all three consoles are going to be getting a price drop in the UK in the very near future. Their leaked numbers put a new PS2 package that includes the EyeToy and Groove at £169.99, the bare PS2 system for £129.99, an Xbox package that includes the Xbox Live kit and one free game for£149.99, an Xbox package that includes two games for £129.99, the bare Xbox system for £99.99, a GameCube package with one game for £129.99 and the standalone console for £79.99. Before you get all excited about price drops here, note that these numbers bring the UK in line with the rest of the world (if still slightly more in some cases). If that's not enough for you, even more PS2 bundles are listed at gamesindustry.biz, including ones featuring Gran Turismo 4, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and GTA: Vice City (although not all at once).
	Xbox Live Trial Games Revealed Once you ignore the story reporting on a Halo 2 delay (sorry guys, but it hasn't been a 2003 game for some time now), you'll find a list of games that are going to be shipping with free Xbox Live trials over at Eurogamer. The list includes such notables as Ninja Gaiden, Unreal II and Sega's ESPN line of sports titles, and each of the games on the list comes with two months of free service, although presumably you can only do this once per console.
	"Million Seller" Revealed? It would appear that the GBA game hinted at by one Japanese magazine to sell "a million for sure; maybe even two" is...a new Pokemon. Video Fenky spotted a mention in another Japanese magazine, which said they'll have more in an issue coming out on October 3rd. If true, that would certainly justify those expectations.
	Pikmin 2 Delayed It's official: Nintendo has pushed Pikmin 2 into 2004. Surprisingly, this isn't just one of those delays where the game will narrowly miss the holiday season...it's been pushed into the second quarter of 2004, in an attempt to "ensure the final product meets the high standards that Nintendo fans deserve."
	Stan Lee Signs with Activision In an apparent attempt to keep their games from becoming as reprehensible as Acclaim's Marvel licensed shovelware during the 8 and 16-bit eras, Activision has signed Stan Lee as a consultant on their various Marvel titles. I wonder if ol' Smilin' Stan will be able to tell them how to make Marvel Online without everyone playing as Wolverine? (Okay, not everyone...I want to be freakin' Galactus).
	Killzone Interview UGO has conducted a new interview with an unnamed representative from Guerilla Games, the people bringing you Killzone (and you have to imagine they're sighing at actually being able to talk about this game at long last). Thanks HomeLAN for the tip.
	Misc. Media/Previews GameSpot swung by Konami's Editor's Day event, and so they have posted a slew of screenshots and impressions from various titles across all platforms (here's a list of all of 'em). Also at GameSpot is a look at The Simpsons: Hit and Run (PS2, Xbox), a new preview of NHL 2004 (GC, PS2, Xbox) and new shots from Rogue Ops (GC, PS2, Xbox). IGN has new movies showing off Geist, 1080: Avalanche and Mario Kart: Double Dash (all GC), a hands-on look at Banjo Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge (GBA), the box art from Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA), a hands-on look at Champions of Norrath: Realms of EverQuest (PS2), new shots from Battlestar Galactica (PS2, Xbox), the first screenshots and the box art from the just announced Grand Theft Auto Double Pack (PS2, Xbox) and a new preview of Sega GT Online (Xbox). IGN is also the latest mainstream site to launch an N-Gage-specific site. Elsewhere online, The Magic Box has new shots from Gotcha Force (GC) and Astro Boy (GBA) and Gamers.com links to a new Japanese commercial for the game that will be released here as Drakengard (PS2).

Console Game of the Evening: Sonic CD for the SegaCD. "This is perhaps the best Sonic side scroller to date and my favorite. Made for a doomed system though, this game is often forgotten." (submitted by archon).

My long-awaited (okay, it wasn't really that long...just a week) package from GameMusic.com arrived yesterday, bringing the CDs I had ordered. Yes, it's true...after listening to GamingFM for so long, I finally broke down and ordered a handful of albums. So what did I get? I picked up the soundtracks to ICO, Panzer Dragoon Orta and Panzer Dragoon Saga, along with Final Fantasy S Generation, a compilation album of arranged tracks from various Final Fantasy games. So far I've been primarily listening to Orta and ICO, and I like both quite a bit. ICO is very, very short (under 30 minutes, much of which is purely ambient). But I think it's worth it for the couple of absolutely gorgeous songs on here, including the English-language song "You were there." As for Orta, it's everything I hoped it would be, and there are a couple of bonus tracks from earlier Panzer Dragoon games thrown in for the North American release of the disc which are very cool indeed. The Saga soundtrack is immense...it's two discs, each with some 30 songs on it, and I think I've only listened to 3/4ths of the first CD alone so far. This is great, great music though, and I'll be dipping into the rest of that very soon. As for S Generation, it has some of my favorite songs from FFVII, VIII and IX, and was significantly less money than buying any one of those individually, as those tend to be seriously huge sets (the arranged FFVII is a whopping four discs!). I may pick up one of those at some point, but for now I'm quite happy with this compilation, as there are 16 gems on here and no duds. All in all, I've got a great batch of discs here which should keep me occupied for some time.

	Rare and THQ Announce GBA Lineup As was rumored last week, Rare, THQ and Microsoft announced today that they have entered into a joint GBA publishing arrangement, and revealed their first four titles for the platform. As expected Banjo Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge will be the first out of the gate (on September 15th, no less), but also announced were Sabre Wulf, It's Mr. Pants (the only totally new title to be revealed, and apparently features the oddball character from Rare's website), and Banjo Pilot, which is the renamed and rebranded title formerly known as Diddy Kong Pilot. IGN has some new screenshots and the box art from Grunty's Revenge and over at GameSpot you can find new shots from Sabre Wulf.
	New Metal Gear Solid 3 Trailer at ECTS According to Gamers.com, Konami will unveil a new trailer for Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater at Sony's PlayStation Experience outside ECTS later this month. Hopefully this one will leave out the corny jokes and show us more actual gameplay.
	No VF Quest at TGS? More show news from Gamers.com...according to a news item they posted yesterday, Sega has asked people to remove any mentions of Virtua Fighter Quest from the list of games they'll be showing at next month's Tokyo Game Show. Instead, they're being asked to put "unannounced GameCube title" which could mean that the game will be formally announced under a different name.
	UK GameCube Sales Bleak Yikes...according to gamesindustry.biz, GameCube sales dropped below the 1000 unit mark for last week in the UK. While there are many explanations for the slump in sales over there, one likely reason pointed out in this item is the dearth of major titles of late, which won't be cured for another month, as Soul Calibur II isn't due out there until the end of September, and F-Zero GX until October.
	GameCube Mace Griffin Canceled Although we reported earlier today that the North American PC release of Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter had been canceled, there's one other facet to this story: the GameCube version has been canceled outright for all territories.
	Red Dead Revolver Canceled On top of last night's news that Dead Phoenix has been canceled, GameSpot revealed today that Red Dead Revolver has been axed as well. Rumors had previously suggested that development had continued on the title, but apparently not. No word as to whether or not those rumors from last week that Dead Phoenix will be reborn as a Kid Icarus title have any truth to them.
	NeoGeo Pocket Returns If you're looking for a handheld bargain, you might want to head over to your local Electronics Boutique, as they are now selling two new Neo Geo Pocket bundles, one that includes the system and six games for $79.95 and a second that has four games (including the never-released localized version of Last Blade) for $39.95.
	New Releases This Week This week, the big release is Madden NFL 2004 for every conceivable platform (GC, PS2, Xbox and GBA), but there are a few other notables as well: Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution and Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII for PS2 and Futurama for PS2 and Xbox. Also note that as of this week Final Fantasy X joins Sony's Greatest Hits line, and as a result has dropped down to $20.
	Misc. Media/Previews GameSpot has new screenshots from Rare's Grabbed by the Ghoulies (Xbox), hands-on impressions of Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles (GC), a new trailer from Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds (GC, PS2, Xbox), a new trailer from NFL Street (GC, PS2, Xbox) and new shots from X-Men: Legends (GC, PS2, Xbox). Over at IGN they have hands-on impressions of Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm (PS2) and the first screenshots from Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee (GBA). The Magic Box has screenshots from Bomberman Jetter Game Collection (GBA), MegaMan Battle Network 4 (GBA) and some awesome in-game shots from Ninja Gaiden (Xbox). Elsewhere online, PlanetGameCube has their own impressions of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (GC), Computer and Video Games has shots from Sega GT Online and Iron Storm (Xbox), GamerFeed has shots from Dungeons & Dragons Heroes (Xbox), HomeLAN has posted their impressions of RogueOps (GC, PS2, Xbox), and Namco has launched their official site for kill.switch (PS2, Xbox).

Console Game of the Evening: Venture for the Colecovision. "Because collecting fifty treasures as a big orange circular head could never be more enjoyable." (submitted by galewind).

More E3 impressions from Jason (not the last!), this time he takes a look at several console games on display at the expo. Covered in the article are Conker: Live and Uncut, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Kameo: Elements of Power, P.N.03, Viewtiful Joe, Soul Calibur 2, Counter-Strike for the Xbox, as well as a single PC game, Condition Zero.

Grabbed by the Ghoulies (Xbox): The second game Rare was showing at Microsoft's booth was Grabbed by the Ghoulies, a fun platform game that's very much in the Rare style. Ghoulies is oriented for a younger audience than their other games (certainly younger than Conker!) but it's fun nonetheless, and may appeal to the same crowd who liked Banjo Kazooie. The idea is that you play a young boy trapped in a haunted mansion. You maneuver by moving around with the left stick, and fight by pushing the right stick in the direction you want to attack. The game has a very cartoony look to it, and there's a great deal of humor as well. ...