August 31^st, 2003 (12:00am) - As of today, Tantalus Interactive, the developer behind the upcoming Metal Shell (originally being developed for the Xbox and PlayStation 2) and Top Gear Rally for the Game Boy Advance, has become a Nintendo 1st party developer. Details about the purchase are sketchy, but rumor has it that Nintendo was quite impressed with the recently released (in Japan) Top Gear Rally for the GBA and decided to sign Tantulus.

Of course, this announcement is a bit odd. If readers recall…Nintendo President Satoru Iwata had just mentioned in a press conference a few weeks ago that Nintendo was not interested in making new purchases, but instead more concerned about making stronger third party relationships. Well, this announcement easily contradicts Iwata-san’s comments.

For those who aren’t familiar with the work of Tantalus Interactive, here’s a list of games that are currently in development by the studio:

Metal Shell (PS2, XBOX) - In Development
Monster Truck Madness (GBA) - In Development
Top Gear Rally (GBA) – Being release November 7, 2003 in Europe, published by Nintendo of Europe.

With this announcement, it is unknown if the development of Metal Shell will continue. GameCube fans would surely be pleased to hear about the development of the title moving to the GameCube but GamersMark cannot confirm anything like this at the current moment. Also, it seems that Tantalus Interactive is developing a nice amount of Game Boy Advance games, all of which use impressive 3D engines for the handheld platform, and many which have been receiving some excellent critical acclaim.

More as it comes…