You are reading Kotaku’s once-weekly (sort of) journey back to yesteryear.

So, yes, E3 2001 was the debut event for Disney’s latest shock gaming production, the Square-Enix-developed Kingdom Hearts. That one was arguably a stranger project than a Mickey Mouse game made by the creator of Deus Ex.

But E3 2001 was also the first time reporters, myself included, could play GameCube games. I remember being blown away, but I don’t think even I was so impressed as to suggest Star Fox Adventures was an adequate stand-in for a new Zelda. You know, Star Fox, the series we’ve also been discussing this week?

Here’s Nintendo at E3 2001, according to Robert Evatt, writing in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, in May of 2001.

And the games! Everything they displayed was astounding. Leading the pack was Luigi’s Mansion, in which Mario’s timid brother does some low-tech ghostbusting with a vacuum cleaner. The lighting and mist effects were incredible, but the real kickers were the mirrors that reflected everything back perfectly. As beautiful as it was, it also managed to be extremely fun.

Rogue Squadron 2 also blew audiences away, as it was the first game to create the ships from Star Wars with perfect accuracy while keeping amazingly fluid animation. Wave Race Blue sported water effects that looked absolutely real, with water droplets even splattering on the camera.

Super Smash Brothers Melee had the Nintendo mascots beating the stuffing out of each other, while the odd Picmin [sic] allowed players to control more than 100 little creatures at once. There was no Zelda game on display, but Star Fox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet should keep adventure enthusiasts more than happy.

Any Star Fox Adventures acolytes out there?

[PIC]

It’s IGN’s Michael Thomsen that makes that argument, saying that the “dark and lonely world” of Welles’ film is comparable to the environments presented in the Metroid Prime series. It’s also the game’s emphasis on exploration over combat and its reflection of Samus Aran’s visage that helps to humanize the experience.

Maybe he’s right. Metroid Prime is arguably the best GameCube game ever made. But is it as nearly universally praised by fans and critics of the medium, as Citizen Kane is in film? Does that even matter?

Where we might disagree—and not to take away from Retro Studios and Nintendo’s work on the series—is on Metroid Prime’s comparable technical and cinematographic accomplishments. Sure, Morph Balling in 3D works like a charm, but are they on par with Welles’ and his crew’s work? And does that matter?

And do we benefit in any way from the comparison?

Nintendo’s Video Game Masterpiece [ABC via GoNintendo]

In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Admiral Dane expresses his frustration with the Space Pirates by letting out a rather mild profanity. “Damn,” to be precise. In the Metroid Prime Trilogy, which released a week ago, it’s been scrubbed.

See for yourself in the above comparison, uploaded yesterday by YouTube user ThunderChaosStudios. The cleanup didn’t affect the rating process at all. All three games in the trilogy were originally rated teen, and so is the trilogy. One wonders why someone went to the trouble of eliminating the only(?) swear word in the game, one you hear on television daily.

I’ve contacted a Nintendo public relations rep for comment. If we hear back, we’ll update the post here.

Metroid Prime: Corruptions Admiral Dane Drops the Curse Word [GoNintendo via Joystiq]

The rating says “multiplatform,” which further vagues up whatever Sega’s plans are here. That Gaming Site, which saw the listing earlier today, figures it could be a new control scheme on the Wii, an XBLA release, or part of some new compilation.

Sonic Adventure DX debuted on the Dreamcast in 1998; the Director’s Cut was the version brought to GameCube and PC in 2003.

Kotaku AU Note: When we asked them for comment this morning, Sega would only say that “nothing is confirmed at this stage” and they would “keep us posted”.

Sonic Adventure DX to be Remade Again? [That Gaming Site]

Researchers Nielsen have conducted their latest study on people’s gaming habits, and have found that compared to this time last year, console usage is up a whopping 21%.

Also released were figures showing the percentage of “active” users; as in, those who are actually using their consoles. At the top of the list are the 360 and PS3, unsurprisingly, but take a look at the bottom of the chart. Way down the bottom. Beneath the GameCube.

Yeah, that’s the Wii, with only 6% of users actually playing the thing regularly. The other 94%? They’re either using the Wii infrequently, or not using it at all.

Wii Has Fewest Percentage of Active Users, says Nielsen [Industrygamers]

1987 Nintendo financial earnings report…

Nintendo of America Inc. is the U.S. marketing and sales arm of Kyoto, Japan-based Nintendo Co. Ltd., the world’s leading manufacturer of electronic games.

1990 Press release announcing EA becoming a Nintendo-licensed developer…
(Note: “electronic games” has become “video games”… hooray!)

Nintendo of America Inc. is based in Redmond, Wash., and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nintendo Co. Ltd. of Kyoto, Japan, the world’s largest manufacturer and marketer of video games.

1995 Killer Instinct press release…

Nintendo Co. Ltd. of Kyoto, Japan, is the leader in the worldwide $US15 billion retail video game industry. As a wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere, where more than 40 percent of American homes own a Nintendo system.

2000 Press Release Announcing Pokemon Gold and Silver Strategy Guides
(Note: PlayStation has passed Nintendo in the market at this point, just as Nintendo becomes much more descriptive of what it has accomplished.):

Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, is the acknowledged worldwide leader in the creation of interactive entertainment. To date, Nintendo has sold more than one billion video games worldwide, has created such industry icons as Mario and Donkey Kong and launched franchises like The Legend of Zelda and Pokemon. Nintendo manufactures and markets hardware and software for its popular home video game systems, including the Nintendo 64, Game Boy and Game Boy colour – the world’s best selling handheld video game systems. As a wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Reddmond, Washington, serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in North America.

2005 Press Release Hyping Animal Crossing Wild World
(Note: Nintendo puts its home console as third-fiddle to its two handheld platforms and adds Metroid to the list of characters it name-checks. Nintendo also dubs itself an “innovator.”)…

The worldwide leader and innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its popular home and portable video game systems. Each year, hundreds of all-new titles for the best-selling Game Boy Advance SP, DS and Nintendo GameCube systems extend Nintendo’s vast game library and continue the tradition of delivering a rich, diverse mix of quality video games for players of all ages. Since the release of its first home video game system in 1983, Nintendo has sold more than 2 billion video games and more than 360 million hardware units globally, creating enduring industry icons such as Mario and Donkey Kong and launching popular culture franchise phenomena such as Metroid, Zelda and Pokemon. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere.

2009 Press Release Announcing New Starfy Game
(Note: Now Nintendo is a “pioneer,” one proud to name-check all of its major systems except the NES and Virtual Boy.)…

The worldwide pioneer in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi systems. Since 1983, when it launched the Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo has sold more than 2.9 billion video games and more than 496 million hardware units globally, including the current-generation Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi, as well as the Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Super NES, Nintendo 64 and Nintendo GameCube. It has also created industry icons that have become well-known, household names such as Mario, Donkey Kong, Metroid, Zelda and Pokémon. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere.

I could now ask you readers how you would describe Nintendo, but that might be asking for trouble.

Ambition is what drew me to Factor 5.

As a gamer I came to the studio’s work a little late. I missed their Turrican days, their era of making games for the Super Nintendo and Genesis. I came upon them as an N64 gamer, spotting their logo at the intro to Star Wars: Rogue Squadron. That 1999 shooter was one of the first games to utilise the N64’s RAM expansion pack for improved graphics resolution. That was the first hint to me that Factor 5 was a studio interested in pushing technology.

The next game Factor 5 game I played — still before I had become a reporter — was the one that forever charmed me to the studio. It was Star Wars: Battle for Naboo, a new-Trilogy sequel to Rogue Squadron. A hidden feature is what won me over: stuffed into its N64 cart was audio developer commentary for each of the game’s levels. I’d never heard such a thing before.

This was a studio of developers with whom I wanted to speak. And I would.

At the start of the GameCube era, in 2001, I was just beginning to cover games. I played Factor 5 GameCube launch title Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader as a novice reporter at my first E3. It is, to this day, among the best-looking games developed for a Nintendo platform. I don’t remember talking to Factor 5’s U.S. president Julian Eggebrecht then, nor for its 2003 sequel, Rebel Strike. But it was by that second GameCube game that I was writing a freebie column for IGN about the GameCube.

What I wrote about Rebel Strike highlighted the second defining characteristic of Factor 5 for me: they bit off mouthfuls at a time. Rebel Strike was not just a full new game. It house the entirety of its predecessor, re-crafted for split-screen co-op. It contained not just audio commentary but making-of documentaries. But there were signs of rough edges: peculiar dips to black between gameplay and in-engine cutscenes; a group of on-foot side-scrolling levels that played poorly and curiously lacked audio commentary.

In 2006, I finally got paid for something I wrote about Factor 5. I was at MTV and covered the topic of developers using audio commentary. I referenced Factor 5 as a pioneer.

Factor 5 disappeared from my radar after that until I finally met Eggebrecht in person at a Sony event in 2006. He was showing, for the first of several times, the dragon-combat game Lair. He was a champion of PS3 motion control, a booster for the system’s technical prowess and ambitious as ever. He wanted a game with air combat, ground combat, allusions to the ethics of modern war, hooks to the PS3’s web browser, elaborate cutscenes and so much more. There were those two signatures of Factor 5 again, summed up in one word: ambition.

But Lair was rougher than Rebel Strike. Factor 5 barely attempted to hide this. In one of the more open displays of developer frustration with their own game, the studio included commentary in Lair that alluded to the game suffering from what was described as a cure of the dragon games, a problem that they said extended to personal problems among some of the staff. Following up in an e-mail, Eggebrecht said to me in 2007: “I am not a believer in ghosts, but this one was haunted.”

Factor 5 faded away again, rumoured over the next two years to have canceled its deal with Sony, possibly returned to working with Nintendo. Then came the news reported in Variety that Factor 5 was one of the studios suffering from having made a deal with the collapsed publisher Brash. I reached out to Eggebrecht again, who all but confirmed that the studio had been making a Superman adventure and expressing hope that the game would still come together.

“With that said,” he wrote to me in November, “Things are obviously in flux and we hope that the game proves to be as indestructible as our hero…”

And then? Today’s news. Factor 5 in the U.S. is no more. I’ve not heard back from Eggebrecht about this turn of events. The statement on the company’s official website indicates that its German parent company still has projects coming.

There may be a future yet for Factor 5. There definitely was a past worth appreciating.

EA published 111 console, PC and handheld games during its 2008 fiscal year, not counting cell phone games. According to the company’s official financial filings, here’s how they spread their efforts:

EA game releases for FY2008 (April 1 2007 – March 31, 2008)

PS2: 15 games
PS3: 17 games
Xbox 360: 19 games
Wii: 14
Xbox: 2
GameCube: 1

PC: 21

PSP: 9
DS: 12
GBA: 1

And then during the just-concluded fiscal year after that, EA published 147 games. The platforms that got the biggest boost were the PC and DS.

EA game releases for FY2009 (April 1, 2008 – March 31, 2009)

PS2: 14 games (-1 from FY08)
PS3: 23 games (+6 from FY08)
Xbox 360: 26 games (+7 from FY08)
Wii: 21 (+7 from FY08)
Xbox: 1 (-1 from FY08)
GameCube: 0 (-1 from FY08)

PC: 32 (+11 from FY08)

PSP: 8 (-1 from FY08)
DS: 22 (+10 from FY08)
GBA: 0 (-1 from FY08)

Note that none of the above lists includes cell phone games or iPhone/iPod games.

So the PC isn’t dead, but can we finally declare the GameCube deceased?

Nintendo has it hard. If it makes too many games, people complain. If it makes too few games, people complain. Nintendo cannot win.

This year, Nintendo seems content with release Wii-controls versions of previously released GameCube games. On the horizon, we can see the already-released-in-Japan Rhythm Heaven and the eagerly awaited Punch Out! and…

Nintendo’s thinking is apparently that the company needs to open up its platforms, which are traditionally dominated by Nintendo games, to outside game developers and give them a chance.

“Until now there have been complaints that Nintendo makes too many games or Nintendo dictates too much leadership,” Nintendo’s Japanese PR stated. “Complaining that Nintendo makes too few games is a first, isn’t it?”

A true, but rather tangy, response from Nintendo. Perhaps it’s just the development cycle, and all of Nintendo’s best and brights are busy making something spectacular. Perhaps.

「Wii」向けの新作ゲーム　「任天堂なぜ作らぬ」とネットで不満 [J-Cast]

Nintendo’s Senior Managing Director Shigeru Miyamoto was not a happy man during the GameCube era. The creator of Link and Mario describes Nintendo’s fourth-generation console entry as a time of “dilemma.”

Miyamoto says in a new Famitsu interview, by way of 1UP, that during the Nintendo 64 and GameCube lifespans, Nintendo was following in the path of other, more successful competitors.

“I was endlessly fascinated with 3D worlds, but what with all the issues I had to tinker with in terms of rendering and processing speed, it got to the point where I didn’t know who was making the games any longer,” Miyamoto said.

That Nintendo had failed to capture the imagination of the gaming public the way that Sony had during the post-Super Nintendo era made for one unhappy Miyamoto.

“If Nintendo’s games fail to stand out as games that aren’t made that way proliferate, then it shows that the creation process is for nothing, which made me very sad,” Miyamoto explained. “That was especially obvious during the GameCube era; Nintendo titles were hardly even discussed by the [non-gaming] general public back then.”

It was the GameCube’s cooler reception that led Nintendo’s engineers to think about “starting over from scratch,” revisiting NES titles for the Game Boy Advance and designing the Nintendo DS with two (initially confounding) screens. Then, well, you know what happened.

Hey, Shigeru, I think we all felt a little bad during the GameCube era. I mean, I paid full price for Luigi’s Mansion. Try going through that sometime.

Miyamoto “Very Sad” During GameCube Era [1UP]