While there are certainly reasons for thinking the Gamecube might not make its US launch date in October (as announced by Nintendo at Spaceworld 2000 back in August), Nintendo representatives are denying any sort of schedule change. Nintendo of Europe made this abundantly clear when it released the following statement: "There was inaccurate information released regarding the North American launch date of Gamecube. Please note that Nintendo has not made any new announcements regarding the launch date of Gamecube since the original announcement at Spaceworld in August, 2000."

Be that as it may, new information has surfaced that makes it clear that Nintendo of America, at least, is very set in its October launch date. In our Retro story yesterday we mentioned that the layoffs at Retro could have an impact, or have been impacted by, problems with Gamecube. One response we got from Nintendo, however, quite simply said that there was "no hardware release delay."

Nintendo is sticking to its story. The Gamecube will come out in October. It's still possible it will get pushed back -- October is still eight months away, after all -- but as of now, Nintendo is sticking to its announced plans. While we normally would scoff at Nintendo's ability (or lack thereof) to stick to announced release dates, the fact that it has pushed up the release of the Game Boy Advance gives us pause. It could be that Nintendo really is on track, and given the number of third-party developers working on Gamecube games and the pressure on Nintendo from Sony and Microsoft, we feel that even if Nintendo pushes back the release date of the Gamecube, it will likely only be by months, rather than a year.

Certainly, we'll have more answers at this year's E3 in May. Until then, we'll keep our ears peeled for any new information on the subject.