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Now that we are closer to the debut of the GameCube it is much easier to guess how it is going to compare to the competition. Honestly the last few weeks I have seen more advertising of the GameCube than PS2 or X-Box combined (I havent seen any X-Box adverising outside of a store). Bad news for Microsoft as well, analysts are saying probably a 1 million dollar loss by 2004. Companies that would even touch Nintendo last year are now all grasping it thankfully. Nintendo even has Tony Hawk 3 as a release game which was unexpected because with the N64 it was usually released months after the competition.

Gamewise, like stated, Nintendo is having developers that wouldnt even consider Nintendo before fighting for the scarce developer kits. Nintendo has a ton of great games lined up already including, Tony Hawk 3, Super Smash Bros Melee, Sonic Adventure 2 to name a few. (Heh, Sonic on Nintendo. . . who knew?) Advertising wise Nintendo is everywhere. I open up my browser I see an add for GameCube on yahoo, I watch some TV shows another GameCube plug. Microsoft who was once seen as good to some players standards is now completely removed because of its lack of what players want. The only chance of competition is if PS2 finds a way to revamp what it has to make it more appealing to developers. Otherwise one by one people will drift back to Nintendo (which is a good thing!).

Playing wise is another thing. This weekend I finally got to play GameCube and was I amazed. Seeing as it was a CD I have to say even after what I heard until I actually saw it load myself I did not believe that it had such a short loading time. Compared to X-Box PS2 or PS, GameCube had faster loading times than all three and even faster than some Nintendo 64 games. For the controller it is as amazing as it has been said. Everything from the D-Pad to the C-Stick is in the perfect position. Not once did I have to look down at my hands to figure out which button is which the shape distinctionn is nice. As for the L and Z buttons they feel almost like they arent even there and when you push them down it is like pushing down against nothing. One of my biggest fears was the double clicking L and R buttons, that they wouldn't be distinct enough to recognize, they were very distinctive though and they it didnt seem to get in my way with any of the games that I played. Remember GCN releases next Sunday the 18th get ready for the next generation of gaming!

PCM