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Au coeur des Cube Clubs (aux USA)

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The PN Team doesn't have any member in the United Stated anymore, that's why we asked one of our friends from America, the Webmaster of the Nintendo GameCube News Page, to represent Puissance Nintendo overthere, in order to tell us more about the Cube Clubs, and give us the feeling we all went at one of the three locations currently opened. These Cube Clubs offer a great chance to try the GameCube games a few weeks before its Launch ! The Cube Clubs are locations that place the NGC pad into public's hands, in ideal gameplay conditions, with the opportunity to meet many of the Nintendo Fans who attend the event, daily.

How can we present the Cube Clubs ?

The best thing is to ask someone who went there... Mips describes the place like this :
"The game environment was like a night club, nice and dark and every now and then they would have some multi-color lighting and even some fog.

The TV used were Panasonic 32" HDTV. The light was dark so it was easy to see the games, the did use a light to show the consoles.

All the consoles were purple GameCube's. There were Nintendo employees to explain the games as well as some female models to help as well.

There were no time limits for the regular game stations. I was able to play a full game of Madden Football... There were time limits of 5 minutes or so in the VIP rooms which were equiped with big screen HDTV and full surroud sound. The second floor of the Club had a DJ and a dance floor. I would say there was at least 200 people there, not too many kids as I went at night. My favorite games were Rogue Leader, Luigi, Star Fox and Madden. And Yes I am confident that GameCube is a a very powerful machine :) "

Which are the available games ?

A few titles were of course playable : well... Nintendo had to put something in the 32 GameCubes available for playing. All of them were tried, some longer than other, here are a few words about all of them !
"Luigi's Mansion : Of all the games shown at the Cube tour, Luigi's Mansion looks and played the best. The controls have been improved quite a bit since E3. All of the text was in English and this looks to be a buy launch game. This game is a lot more fun when you know what is going on.

Madden 2002 : Madden looks more impressive than the PS2 version of the game. The textures used for the players look much better. It was very easy to get used to playing the game with the GameCube controller. After playing Madden for a full game, I must admit that I like the GameCube controller more than the PS2 controller. The game looks much cleaner and more colorful than the PS2 version. With at least a month left to go in development this game looks to be ready for the November 18th launch. The AI has been improved and finally the linemen block intelligenty on run plays.

Star Fox Adventures : This game looked so great that it looks like a new game, instead of an improved version of the one shown at E3. All of the characters have great facial expressions and while there is text you can read when a character talks, the game also features full voice. The game allowed players to try two flying missions. During the flying missions you had to fly through 10 rings while avoiding asteroids and enemies in order to unlock the next section of the game. The R-wing flying sequences looked great, with very high detail ships, environments and unbelievable lighting. The sections of the game on a planet played very similar to the Zelda N64 games, but looked a thousand times better. Star Fox will be a great game when it arrives in February.

NBA Courtside 2002 : While this game looks nice, it is not on par with SEGA's NBA game on the dreamcast. The game looks very nice, but it did not move very well. Hopefully Nintendo will spend more time improving this one. Or I guess we can wait for NBA 2K3 from SEGA next year.

Super Monkey Ball : A simple game where you collect bananas while spinning to the end of each stage, the new muti-player mode is sure to make this game a great party game. The game does not push the GameCube hardware too much, I am not sure that this is a game to consider for launch unless it is priced to move.

Pikmin : Pikmin looks great! No idea how to play this one. The Nintendo rep was not too helpful in explaining the game to me. You definitely need some time to understand this one and a quite room would help !!!

Eternal Darkness : While this game looks very interesting, the gladiator character still moves to slow. Only 3 characters and time periods were available for play. The game is geared towards older game players as it is very bloody and spooky. I really doubt that this game will ship in December, I expect it to be delayed until 2002.

Wave Race : The courses look awesome and the weather effects are done well. One problem, it is not as fun as the N64 version of the game. If you have never played the original on the N64 you may want to buy this one !!! As for me I loved the original Wave Race and this sequel is a major disappointment!

Super Smash Bros. Melee : The ultimate Nintendo fighting game is back! Great gameplay and unbelievable graphics make this a must buy game. All the menus are in English as well. If I were Nintendo I would make SSBM a launch title in the US and delay Wave Race to improve it's lackluster gameplay.

Rogue Leader : Every time I see this game it looks better and better. The controls are perfect and the game is like playing the movie. This game looks better than the E3 version and it never goes below 60 frames per second. The Tatooine level was a training level and looked very nice. Hoth is playable as well! This will be a game to buy at launch... but will it be ready?"

As you can see there, Mips did not spend his time teasing the girls on the dance floor : a very efficient visit in order to check that the GameCube is an awesome system ! These many excellent titles show a powerful system, with great features ! To test the system is a must-do for all American people living close to the 12 locations : a unique opportunity to try some games that will, for some, only be available sometime next year !!!

Comme quoi Mips n'a pas passé son temps à draguer les Nintendomaniaques féminines présentes au premier étage : ce Cube Club était une excellente opportunité de découvrir une quantité incroyable de hits, certains moins impressionnants que d'autres, mais tous attestant d'une console puissante, aux capacités étonnantes ! Les Nintendomaniaques américains ont grandement intérêt à venir tester la GameCube : c'est une occasion unique pour eux de mettre la main sur des jeux qui, pour certains, ne seront pas disponibles avant l'an prochain !
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