Nintendo yesterday became the last of Japan's big game machine makers to enter the competitive market for next-generation consoles by revealing it would start selling Gamecube in Japan next July.

The company also announced its new 32-bit hand-held Gameboy Advance, which analysts said would maintain Nintendo's dominance in that market but which will hit the shops later than they and software makers had expected.

Both machines will be internet capable and Nintendo said it would sell an adapter to link the original Gameboy and Gameboy Advance with mobile phones, enabling users to exchange email and play games online.

In the first month, Nintendo aims to ship 1m units of Gameboy Advance, which is a similar size to the original eight-bit version but with a 50% bigger screen, and will release 10 games when it launches.