Thanks to IGN Cube for confirming that the GameCube hardware will soon be bundled with a Legend Of Zelda bonus disc, containing multiple classic Zelda titles. According to the piece, which comes with "recently released artwork to retailers" as proof of the (pre-Xmas?) bundle: "The disc will feature The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and a demo of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker." It's currently unknown if the disc will be offered stand-alone, though IGN speculatively "...hope we'll also see it as a bonus for those who order The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords."

Thanks to CNN Money for their article discussing the state of the console market heading into the Xmas season. The author discusses the lack of major price-cuts for the PS2 and Xbox, suggesting: "Sony feels it can make more money this holiday season from its existing customer base", and speculating: "It's more and more likely that the reason we haven't seen price cuts from Sony and Microsoft is their next generation machines won't hit stores until 2006." If this is the case, it's suggested that "...the life cycle of this [hardware] generation will be the longest of any in the industry's short history", perhaps surprising considering rapidly advancing technology.

Thanks to CNN Money for their article tipping Sony's EyeToy USB camera and games as "a sure-fire contender" for this Xmas's must-have holiday toy. It's argued this intriguing motion-capture party game is "...the sort of thing that could get parents (or others who otherwise might not care about video games) off the couch and playing games with their kids", and consumer response looks good in the UK, where it's already racked up 5 weeks atop the charts. It's even audaciously suggested that the game/camera combo, which is due on November 4th for $49, "could take the family audience away from Nintendo."

Thanks to GameSpy for their hands-on preview of Unreal Tournament 2004, checking out the PC FPS title that's due out this Xmas. This latest upgrade "...will ship with vehicles, new weapons, two new game modes, and more new maps than all the maps UT2003 shipped with", and a new space level has you "...piloting small Wing Commander-style space fighters [before] the action switches to more traditional-style combat." The novel 'onslaught' mode, in which competing teams use vehicles and special weapons to "...control a series of nodes connecting your base to theirs" was the "clear favorite of the day" for the author, and IGN PC has another hands-on report that suggests these new modes introduce a "surprisingly satisfying strategic layer" to the upgrade.

Thanks to the Gaming-Age forum regulars for pointing to info on the EB Games site showing Microsoft's Xbox hardware bundle for Christmas, consisting of the online-friendly Star Wars: Clone Wars, Tetris Worlds, and 2 free months of Xbox Live, priced at $179. Meanwhile, GameInformer.com has a rumor (via unconfirmed sources) of a Zelda-related GameCube hardware bundle this Xmas, including "...a bonus disc that will include the following Zelda games and goodies: Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Zelda Documentary." While this GameCube bundle is still a rumor, new Player's Choice budget titles from Nintendo have been officially confirmed, including (from September 25th) Metroid Prime, Animal Crossing, and Super Mario Sunshine for $29.99, and Star Fox Adventures, Pikmin, and Luigi's Mansion for $19.99.

Thanks to GameSpot for their hands-on impressions of Deus Ex: Invisible War, the long-awaited PC/Xbox FPS from Warren Spector and cohorts at Ion Storm Austin. As well as confirming the game will ship in time for Xmas, the article illuminates: "Invisible War will give you more freedom of choice than the original Deus Ex", claiming that, similarly to the prequel, even non-violent conduct will work: "...one tester has made it about two-thirds of the way through the game without having acquired so much as a pistol." Boomtown also has a new preview of this "pivotal title" for Eidos.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing out that Fantasy Flight Games have announced a boardgame version of the seminal Warcraft videogames. Fantasy Flight are particularly known for their Lord Of The Rings and Dragonball Z licensed boardgames, as well as the Game Of Thrones CCG and the Legends & Lairs and Dragonstar lines for the d20 System. Gameplay details and artwork aren't yet forthcoming, but the press release claims the boardgame of the classic RTS series, due in time for Xmas 2003, will feature "..innovative designs [that] will portray the real-time strategy element of the computer games and make time itself a resource."

Several online sources have rumored the development of an as-yet unannounced Terminator 3 FPS title for the PC, Terminator 3: War Of The Machines, to be published by Atari for Xmas 2003. Apparently, the title is currently in development at European Steel Of Haste developers Clever's, who have a teaser splash screen on their site seeming to back up the rumor. The game allegedly has heavy online components, and is completely different from the console Terminator 3 title from Black Ops, which is also scheduled to ship later this year. Update: 06/03 14:26 GMT by S : Thanks to boomtown.net for pointing out they sneaked a look at this low-profile title at E3.

Courtesy of Gamespy, there's a new interview with Lawrence Holland about Secret Weapons Over Normandy. This sequel to the classic PC flight combat game Secret Weapons Of The Luftwaffe comes from Holland and his Totally Games development house, who are also legendary for the X-Wing series of games for Lucasarts. This game is due in time for Xmas on PC, PS2, and Xbox, and Holland offers - "We're not very complicated. What we emphasize is re-creating the WWII combat experience, meaning that we try a visceral, seat-of-the-pants, total involvement on the violence of the actual battles."

Courtesy of PlanetGamecube, we have their recently-typed-up E3 interview with Denis Dyack, the boss of Silicon Knights (Eternal Darkness), who are currently working on Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes for Gamecube. This enhanced remake of the original Metal Gear Solid for Playstation is due out for Xmas 2003, and Dyack gives some hints as to how the original's content may be enhanced - "If you think about the first game and how it's all set up, and then think about the dynamics of the second game, it should be a completely new experience."

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing out a press release at Yahoo stating that Sid Meier's company Firaxis has signed a long-term publishing deal with Atari. This includes the announcement of Sid Meier's Pirates!, a remake of the classic Microprose strategy title, for 2004 release, and another Civilization III add-on pack, Civilization Conquests, for Xmas 2003. Since Atari, formerly Infogrames, purchased Microprose a couple of years back, they've transferred the rights to Silent Service, Colonization, and many more classic Meier titles to Firaxis, and these are also mentioned for possible remakes down the road.

Earlier today, Sony's pre-E3 press conference here in Los Angeles announced their PSP handheld console, as we've already covered at Slashdot Games. But there were plenty of other important and interesting announcements in the Sony briefing that we can summarize here, in the same way as we've done for Nintendo's and for Microsoft's pre-E3 press conferences. Read on for info about Gran Turismo 4, Eye Toy, the next Grand Theft Auto, and more..

An anonymous reader points out that TotalVideoGames has a first look preview of Black And White 2, the sequel to Lionhead's creature-poking 'god' game from a couple of years back. The preview comes complete with 16 rather attractive screenshots, and mentions that "the world now is much more chaotic and destructive" - in other words, there's lots more stopping and creating wars with your giant pet creature. Black And White 2 is due to ship for PC close to Xmas 2003.

MacAndrew writes "An NYT article today expands beyond an earlier /. and annoying futurism to a multiplying line of robots from iRobot, founded by some tinkering MIT grads in Somerville, MA. The robots have found applications ranging from chasing dust bunnies ($200) to exploring the Great Pyramid to bumping around Afghan caves for mines (a war reporter is another possibility), and so appear to be moving beyond the gee whiz Rosie Jetson stage of technology. I'm intrigued that their company name so bluntly builds off of Apple and Asimov symbols, and the prospect that a product with such a chummy name will doubtless soon be sporting lethal force (cf. Predator's recent adventures. So -- anyone get one for Xmas? Chanukah? Or just fun?"

Clark Griswold writes "My brother has outdone himself this year, installing 22,000 Christmas Lights on the outside of his house alone. The real beauty is the X10-Webcam Combo that allows you to turn the lights ON and OFF and see the results of your handiwork. It only works between 6pm and 10pm MST, but it's pretty fun to turn the zones on and off (though I'm not so sure the neighbors like it!)."

ThatKidYouDid writes "Wired.com is holding a vote for this years best vaporware. My vote definitely goes to the oqo, although I'd still snag one if they ever materialized. What do others really wish could have happened by Xmas?"

Vinnie_333 writes "Looks like the specs for HD-DVD are currently being discussed by Hollywood big wigs, with an optimistic product release date of Xmas of 2003. Unfortunately, they seem to be completely disregarding the higher storage capacity of the Blu-Ray disc standard, that will hold 6 times the amount of a DVD-9, for the current red laser format with a different compression algorithm. Come on, more storage is always a good thing. Not only will it give us the quality we deserve, it is likely to cut down on Hollywood's largest fear (piracy) by making the media ungodly HUGE."

category9 writes "One of the best xmas tv highlights for us chaps in the UK is the RI Christmas Letures. Once broadcast by the BBC, Channel4 now have the helm. Past lecturers include the world renowed cybernetics engineer, Prof. Kevin Warwick. This year Sir John Sulston, of Human Genome Project fame, will be talking about genetics and the building blocks of life over 5 lectures. This is a must see for anyone interested in artificial intelligence. The lectures are presented in a format which allows technical detail, but in a way very accessible to those outside the particilar scientific fields. The website has transcripts for anyone not able to receive Channel4, perhaps with streams coming at a later date (lobby Channel4 if you must)."

Inexile2002 asks: "Ok, I'm going to Chile this Xmas season, and a distant second cousin of mine, a monk in a Dominican monastary emailed me requesting that I bring copies of and set up Linux on their machines and network. I've NEVER set up a Linux network before, won't have reliable internet access when I'm there (if I have it at all) and to top it all off, would really rather set this up in Spanish for the non bi-lingual monks. (My spanish, of course, is weak and useless when discussing computers) For someone who doesn't know Linux well and won't be able to check online help, what is the best hard copy Linux help out there? Is there a Spanish Linux? Will the monks, once they do have reliable net connections, be able to seek bilingual online help?" We've all been in this position before, but the multi-lingual angle is a new twist. Do any of you have any hints, or suggestions to pass along to Inexile2002?

dbolger writes: "azcentral.com has this article about how scientists in Boston have found the enzyme that causes fat cells to cluster around the stomach. The hope is that this discovery will eventually lead to a "cure" for the male beer belly. Good news for those "activity challenged" geeks among us, especially at this time of year :)"