Nintendo resumes production of Cube hardware

GameCube consoles are rolling off the production lines in Japan once again for the first time since January, as global demand for the system finally outstrips the backlog of units which had built up at Nintendo's warehouses.

Recent price-drops combined with the roll-out of key software titles for the machine in all three major markets have given the Cube new life in the run up to Christmas, and the production lines which had been silent since the company called a moratorium on building new hardware units at the start of the year have now rolled back into action.

When Nintendo halted production of the Cube, many sources assumed the worst for the console; however, it's still not clear just how large the backlog of units that had built up at the company's warehouses was, so it's hard to say how seriously they were pressured into taking this decision.

Either way, the news that production has resumed is incredibly positive for the company, which is confidently predicting a strong Christmas for its console. Earlier this week, Nintendo of America's senior VP of marketing, George Harrison, told the Wall Street Journal that he expects to sell two million Cubes in the US market this Christmas, and the recent price-drop and planned bundle deals for Europe are also expected to boost the installed base of the console here significantly.