New Sega merger.
Sammy? Namco? Microsoft?
We will know shortly.

	Mario Kart: Double Dash Revealed Nintendo unveiled their E3 site today (more on that in a minute), and front and center on there is Mario Kart: Double Dash, the long-awaited GameCube debut of the ever-popular Mario Kart series (high-quality screenshots mirrored here). While no official word has come out regarding the rumored 8-player multiplayer, GameSpot repeats this rumor, citing the latest issue of the Japanese magazine Famitsu. IGN repeats this as well, saying it's definitely LAN play, but they don't cite any source (I suspect it's Famitsu as well). Also in GameSpot's report is a full list of 16 confirmed playable characters.
	More Nintendo E3 Titles Also on Nintendo's official E3 site are new details and screenshots from Pikmin 2, Advance Wars 2, Wario World, Kirby's Air Ride and F-Zero, which still has no subtitle. Also on that site is a confirmation that 35 third party titles will be showcased at Nintendo's booth.
	Gran Turismo 4 at E3! According to Gamers.com, Sony will formally announce Gran Turismo 4 at their E3 press conference on May 14th, and surprisingly, the game will be fully playable on the show floor the next day. The game is said to have more of everything, along with online play via the network adapter.
	Spawn Announced Namco has announced that they have reached an agreement with Todd McFarlane productions to allow each company to utilize the other's properties (this no doubt builds on the relationship established for Soul Calibur 2). First out of the gate will be a new cross-platform Spawn title from Namco, which will be developed by Namco Hometech, their North American development studio responsible for Dead to Rights. This game will be shown at E3 next month, and released in November. On the McFarlane side, new images of those great Soul Calibur 2 figures can be found at IGN.
	PS2 Exclusive Deus Ex Confirmed Quoting a "secret source" within Eidos, IGN reports that as rumored, a PS2-exclusive Deus Ex title is in the works, and will not be a mere port of Deus Ex 2. While nothing is really said about it in any detail, their source claims "It's going to be very special indeed."
	Steel Battalion Online Not Canceled Quick! Go grab that $200 controller out of the garbage can...a news item at IGN reports that Capcom has updated their official Tekki web site with a teaser that says the game once known as Tekki Online is now titled Tekki Taisen, which may be translated as Steel Battalion Wars when published over here.
	PS2 Castlevania Revealed (Sorta) Some teasers from the next issue of EGM have been posted over at Games Are Fun, and they offer a rare glimpse at the next Castlevaniawhich will be revealed in full-force next month at E3. While it's difficult to get any real information from these, what is obvious is that this is an honest-to-god 3D game, and not another 2D adventure like the recent GBA titles or Symphony of the Night. Let the fanboy arguments begin!
	Breakdown Delayed? Way back at the 2002 Tokyo Game Show, Namco announced Breakdown, a weird sounding first-person fighting game, and we haven't heard a thing since. Well, the game's still in development, but as GameSpy notes, the official site has been changed from reading "Summer 2003" to simply "2003." This would seem to suggest a slight delay, but nothing major.
	Xbox Controller S Reigns Supreme Well, I guess you can kiss those big honking Xbox controllers good bye once and for all...Microsoft of Europe has gone ahead and made the Controller S their default gamepad out of the box, just like the rest of the world.
	Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII Coming to the US Koei has announced that Romance of the Three Kingdoms VIII, the latest PS2 installment in this long-running series of very hardcore strategy games, will be released in North America this July, and will be shown off at E3 next month.
	Misc. Media It's IGN madness tonight! Cube.IGN has three new (but oddly blurry) shots from P.N.03, PS2.IGN has new shots from Transformers: Tatakai, Xbox.IGN has the first shots from Acclaim's Alias and Pocket.IGN has shots from the GBA version of Monster Truck Madness.