GameCube off to a 'flying start'

As Xbox sales slump, Nintendo is claiming to have sold 75,000 GameCube consoles in the UK in the first two days since its launch.

The GameCube hit the shelves last week with a £129 price tag, undercutting both Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation 2 by £70.

Nintendo said that the machine had a "flying start", but it remains to be seen whether it can keep up the pace.

The GameCube has been out for less than a week and is still meeting initial demand. However, Microsoft saw Xbox sales tailing off a few weeks after launch.

The underground rumour mill is also claiming that the first Xbox 'mod' chips are already in development.

According to Dutch geek news website Headliner, there are four hacking teams developing mod chips, which will allow imported and copied games to be played on the Xbox.

One team, Neo Tech, has already said that it will not be marketing its 'Neox' mod chip for fear of going into the ring with Microsoft's legal department.

Neo Tech created a mod chip for the PlayStation 2 but was forced to pull out after legal murmurings from Sony.

That leaves three other groups, Messiah X, Enigma X and Xtender, which all claim to have working chips in development, trying to get a retail version onto the street first.

All three claim to have built chips that allow the playing of imported discs as well as copied media on CD-RW and DVD-R. But rumour has it that the Xtender chip will be first to the punch.

Xtender is thought to have built the first working mod chip and claims to already be in discussion with factories for the creation of a retail Xbox mod chip.