In an interview with Bloomberg Japan, Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s president Hiroshi Yamauchi spoke out on the firm's future plans for GameCube, Game Boy Advance and more. As has become somewhat of a tradition, the ironfisted leader also took a stab at the competition, and laid down a few remarks about third-party SquareSoft that are sure to anger Nintendo loyalists and Final Fantasy enthusiasts alike.

Game Boy Advance preorders have already reached 2.7 million, according to Yamauchi, with no signs of slowing down. The company expects to ship 20-25 million units of the handheld by March 2002 -- a massive undertaking to be sure. "Demand for Game Boy Color has already peaked in Japan and it's clear that demand in the U.S. and Europe will also reach its height" this fiscal year, said Shunji Yamashina, an analyst with Societe Generale Securities (North Pacific) Ltd, to Bloomberg. "The earlier Nintendo switches over to Game Boy Advance the better."

When questioned about the possibility that developer SquareSoft could be working on Nintendo software, Yamauchi denied any such rumors. "There is no truth to an agreement between Nintendo and Square," the Nintendo figurehead said. "[Square] is free to say what they want, but there are no plans for a contract, and the chances that there will be one in the future are low."

Yamauchi further commented on GameCube's competition, specifically Microsoft's Xbox platform. The company president said that he didn't believe Xbox would be a major competitor, commenting that while Bill Gates may be a savvy businessman, he "does not know games." He added that the battle would be won with quality software, which GameCube would deliver. He also reiterated that the console would arrive in July of this year in Japan.

Finally, on the undying rumors that Nintendo is secretly working with Sega, Yamauchi confirmed that the two are working together on Game Boy Advance software, but firmly denied any suggestions that Nintendo would buy the company. On Sega's plans to remove itself from the hardware market, Yamauchi offered, "If Sega scraps its hardware operations, there will be certain costs to do that and a variety of negative aspects will emerge.'' The respected businessman further added that any attempts to dissolve the hardware side would require help from the parent company, CSK, and backing from Sega president Mr. Okawa. "This will take time," Yamauchi said.

More madness as Yamauchi speaks it.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg News the other day, Nintendo Ltd.'s 71-year-old president and reigning tyrant supreme spoke his mind about a number of subjects, including the upcoming console competition from Microsoft's Xbox.

We here at IGNPS2 found this Xbox bashing especially entertaining, since the Xbox has continued to receive unqualified hype because its the new kid on the block. Here's what Yamauchi said, "Everyone agrees that Bill Gates is a great businessman," he said, "but he's only human. There is one thing he knows nothing about, and that's games. If you know nothing about sumo, you can't expect to take on a yokozuna...I expect even in a year's time they'll be able to see the consequences of this."

Damn...Don't hold back now.

For more crazy talk from the leader of Nintendo, head on over to cube.ign.com to read the story, Yamauchi Spews Forth Madness , you'll be glad you did.