[happy_doughnut]

Again... what's this? How come no one tells me these things?!? :

Gamespy has announced that it has reached an agreement with Nintendo whereby Gamespy will provide middleware tools and services for Nintendo's GameCube.

Scheduled to ship in July, this set of middleware and back-end software aims at providing cheap development of online components in future GameCube games. Some of the functions it supports include:

In-Game Player Matchmaking Text Chat, Instant Messaging, and Buddy Lists
Online Competitions and High Score Ladders
Online Data Storage (for virtual memory card applications)
Usage and Game Statistics Reporting and Analysis
Data Transfer to and from the Internet
"Our middleware tools will allow Nintendo developers to add critical online features to their Nintendo GameCube games within a day or two, in most cases," said Mark Surfas, CEO of GameSpy. "But that's just the beginning of what GameSpy provides. We operate the servers, provide the bandwidth, and manage the whole online back-end once the game ships, saving publishers and developers hundreds of thousands in potential hardware, connectivity and staffing costs."

GameSpy's technology and back-end services have been powering online gaming experiences for more than five years, across all major next-generation console platforms and all major PC operating systems.

"By working with GameSpy, we're able to bring our developers proven technology, a fully-outsourced back-end solution, and years of expertise in making the best online experiences for game players." said Jim Merrick, Network Marketing Director, Nintendo of America Inc.

Nintendo GameCube developers will be able to purchase GameSpy's Developer Toolbox for $995, which provides complete SDK source code, sample applications, and documentation, in early July, to begin testing code and back-end integration. Pricing for deployment licenses is based on the specific toolkit suites used by the game developer.

Thoughts?... or was I the only one who didn't know?