She\'s back, and it\'s nice to see that the glory of Metroid will be preserved for another generation. Metroid Prime, the FPS next-gen installment of one of the most beloved gaming franchises, is all set to go on Gamecube, and it is going to be a whole lot of fun. Incredible visuals paired with tight gameplay insure this a spot in any gamer\'s library. Click here.

While there were many points of interest at E3 this year, the most consistently really crowded booth was Nintendo's, where gamers flocked, nay swarmed, to see the GameCube. For those skeptics out there who think the general mediocrity of the N64 experience has soured gamers, witness the intense interest shown for the new system. Let's face it, the N64 has suffered from a general lack of titles, and some companies have released really terrible games for it, further causing pain to gamers who have been forced to pursue the "any port in a storm" strategy (Big Mountain 2000 comes to mind, er, flashes painfully across my memory). However, there have been some very good titles, and it's no mistake that the best titles on the system have been made by Nintendo and it's 2nd party developer, Rare. Nintendo is, in many ways, the Disney of the gaming world “ they have created and continue to create incredibly popular and lasting characters, who appear in all sorts of games and have firmly lodged themselves in the hearts of mainstream USA (as well as mainstream everywhere else).

As we move into the next arena of competing systems, 2001's HAL9000 may be a ways down the road, but there is a wide world of electronic-gaming glory in sight. While most have hopefully known the awesome perfection that is Dreamcast, it does behoove both the serious and casual gamer to look at the upcoming choices and see what each new platform has to offer them.
PS2 has already landed and GameCube and X-Box will within a year. PS2 and X-Box should both be in the $300.00 range and GameCube about $200.00. Like most other technical-equipment purchases, it all depends on what you want your new box to do. The PS2 has made a serious leap forward as a true 'Set-Top Box' offering movie-playback and the promise of serous internet capabilities. X-Box will offer these also and Nintendo's new entry will at least offer online browsing. With DVD players dropping in price everyday and nearly half the houses in the country connected to the internet, these are niceties in a console, but maybe not the prime focus.

Just when we were ready to count Nintendo out of the running they jump back into the arena with guns blazing. At Spaceworld in Japan this past week Nintendo unveiled the GameCube, their latest bid for the home console market. The colorful cubes look like the next generation in gaming, at least from the outside. The GameCube's most striking feature wasn't the neon colors or its shape, but the controller. It appears to be an odd mix of the N64 controller and Sony's Dual Shock controller with a completely new approach to buttons.