Here's the news straight from the IGN News page:

"...Mother 3 "The Fall of the Pig King " (called Earthbound 64 in the US) is scheduled to show at Nintendo's Space World in Japan later on this week. In the meantime, though, Famitsu Weekly has released a few interesting tid-bits on the battle system for the game and a handful of new screenshots (one of which we've posted). So, here's the latest:

The fighting system appears to take place in first-person style showing only the enemies (a la Quake). An on-screen menu display enables players access to all of the following: Check, Items, Stand, Fight, Strength and Magic. Gamers will be able to use the energy of their surroundings to cast more powerful magic. However, if magic is used too often, the head of the spell caster will overheat, incapacitating him for a short time.

In traditional RPG fashion, gamers can pull off a variety of different attack patterns, such as running in and firing off multiple hits on opponents if timing is dead-on.

Famitsu also revealed four of the characters that to be introduced: The Father, the Twins Luca, Krause and the dog Boney.

IGN64 will have more on Mother 3 (Earthbound 64) later this week. Stay tuned... "

Please note that this is from a magazine, not direct from Space World, which will start later this week. This will be a VERY busy week on EB.Net, so visit regularly to check for Mother 3 updates. If you see some breaking news on Mother 3, let us know!

Q: Who exactly are Shigesato Itoi and Benimaru Itoh? Are they brothers? Cousins? Close friends? Why I ask this is because Shigesato Itoi made Earthbound (I think he also made Mother, didn't he?) and now you just all of a sudden introduce Benimaru Itoh as the man working on Earthbound 64 (though he has made Nintendo Power's comics before). What I'm trying to say is, did one of them decide to change the last letter of their last name and that their last name's use to be the same, or is it just a coincidence that the man who made Earthbound's last name is Itoi and the man working on Earthbound 64's last name is Itoh? --Nester H. Larke

"The development team is working on Mother 3 releasing somewhere around the end of this year or next spring. It depends on the 64DD's launch date. But from a software development standpoint, we're on schedule. As for Mother 3, it will use a system like we do in Zelda 64. Games like Cabbage, Mario Artist, Sim City 64 will be able to utilize the 64DD's features. So it can't be changed to a standard cartridge game. The strong point of a cart is that it can exchange data in real time. A cart's big advantage is running the basic engine. But if you're thinking about exchanging more data and producing lots of data, the DD system is more fitting for the task than a cart. For a game like Mother 3, which uses more data and needs to run in real time, using a cart and a DD is a perfect mix. Currently, we have a 256 megabit cart now. It can store much more data than in the past. So I think DD will be used for additional data so you can play the game once again after you complete it, just like after Ura Zelda appeared in the past Zelda or as a method for backing up data."

1. Final Fantasy VIII(PSX)
2. Dragon Quest VII(PSX)
3. Legend of Zelda:Ocarina of Time
4. Metal Gear Solid(PSX)
5. Ogre Battle 3
6. Pocket MonsterGold/Silver (GB)
7. Mother 3
8. D2 (DC)
9. Tokimeki Memorial2 (PSX)
10. True Love Story 2 (PSX)