March 1^st, 2003 (12:00am) - At the D.I.C.E Summit in Las Vegas Nintendo’s master game designer Shigeru Miyamoto was part of a roundtable discussion, and at this discussion he managed to reveal some interesting tidbits about some upcoming Nintendo products.

-One of the first things discussed was, believe it or not, Metal Gear Solid for the GameCube. The game is currently in development and as of now, will not feature GCN/GBA Connectivity.

-Hal Labs has current gone through an increase in staff, and their latest GameCube title will be the once canned Nintendo 64 game Kirby’s Air Ride. The gameplay of Kirby’s has been described as something similar to EAD’s Mario Kart, except with the Kirby antics we all know and love, such as the ability to suck up opponents, and fly. Whether or not this means other Nintendo characters are in the game… I’m not too sure, but we did see a recent screenshot of the game showing Kirby dressed like the Legend of Zelda’s Link. When the question arose about HAL developing a Super Smash Bros. Melee sequel, Miyamoto said that he “doesn’t know”, and if there would be he would like for Sonic the Hedgehog to be included.

-Miyamoto-san also reiterated to the press that a new Donkey Kong game is in development, something that we’ve known since the departure of Rare from last year. Rumors have been flying about this game being a 2D sidescroller for the GameCube, which would be much like the Super Nintendo’s amazing Donkey Kong Country games, but nothing is concrete as of yet. The game is expected to be revealed at E3 this May, but Miyamoto did not clarify if it would appear at E3, or anytime soon. Miyamoto’s own EAD is expected to develop the title, but once again nothing is concrete.

-Of course, the question about Nintendo’s online plans came up during the roundtable, and when asked, Shigeru had responded in a way that made it seem like it wasn’t going to happen next year, but like in classic Miyamoto fashion he smiled and giggled, which almost always means that it is going to happen. But when asked if Nintendo was considering Networking GameCubes via LAN, Miyamoto said he could not talk about it. If a few of you can remember, at last year’s E3, Sega had Phantasy Star Card Battle for the GameCube being played with networked GameCube’s, much like their recent TriForce arcade game, Keys of Avalon.

- Finally, to round things up, the US version of The Wind Waker has been altered from its Japanese counterpart with some tedious sections of the game being cleaned up, something that will hopefully make the game more enjoyable. Also, Miyamoto also mentioned that nearly 70-80% of GameCube games coming out this year will feature GBA connectivity. Finally, in what has to be the most confusing tidbit of them all. Britney Spears was in London at the same time as Shigeru, and oddly more people came to visit the gaming genius than the pop star. Miyamoto is a sexy beast!