Nintendo announced today in Japan that it has signed a deal with Namco to cocreate a new Star Fox game for the GameCube that will be released in April 2003 in that territory. Also, a version of the game will be developed for Nintendo's GameCube-based Triforce arcade hardware. No further details regarding the new Star Fox game were released. Namco also announced its remaining software lineup for the GameCube for the next year. A new Mr. Driller game is scheduled for release on the GameCube in Japan at the end of this year, and a Ridge series racing game is tentatively scheduled for release in March 2003. Namco will also release Soul Calibur 2 in January 2003, an installment in the Tales RPG series in July 2003, and an original RPG purported to have a unique battle system in December 2003.

　　Namco also has a healthy lineup of Game Boy Advance software in development. It will release Family Tennis Advance, Famista Advance (a baseball game), Mr. Driller Ace, Klonoa of the Wind G2 (based on the Klonoa platformers), an RPG called Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 2, an original Klonoa action RPG, a puzzle game, and a port of the SNES version of Tales of Phantasia. All of these titles will be available for Nintendo's handheld by the end of this year in Japan.

　　We'll have more details on Namco and Nintendo's partnership as they become available. Below is a complete list of the newly announced software and the respective Japanese release dates.

　　GameCube

　　Star Fox (working title) - April 2003

　　Mr. Driller (working title) - November 2002

　　Soul Calibur 2 - January 2003

　　Ridge Series Racing Game (title to be announced) - March 2003

　　Tales RPG (title to be announced) - July 2003

　　Original RPG (title to be announced) - December 2003

　　Game Boy Advance

　　Family Tennis Advance - June 2002

　　Famista Advance - June 2002

　　Mr. Driller Ace - August 2002

　　Klonoa of the Wind G2 - August 2002

　　Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 2 - October 2002

　　Klonoa of the Wind (title to be announced) - November 2002

　　Puzzle Game (title to be announced) - December 2002

　　Tales of Phantasia - December 2002