Seems like Zelda and RE4 aren't the only things Nintendo have planned for Gamecube in the coming years (which is good to know):
===========================================
KONGA DRUMS
If you're not familiar with these yet, please go and play the Donkey Konga demo. Jungle Beat, Odama and possibly others will use these too.
===========================================
CAMERA
The words of IGN's Anoop Gantayat:
Registered recently in Japan were the following: "COMMANDERPACK," "COMMANDER," "MISSION," "Manebito/Camera," "Ningen-Copy/Manebito," and "Peach Hime.".....
......The first three trademarks seem to be connected to one another and are so mysterious that we can't even conjecture what they could be. The first two are written both in English and in Japanese Katakana characters while the third is just in English.
The remaining two would be just as mysterious had Nintendo not provided images with their registration. Ningen Copy translates to "Person Copy," with Manebito translating to "Someone who imitates." Given that the word "Camera" appears along side that, one gets the feeling that Nintendo may be planning a camera peripheral of some form. Perhaps this is the big GameCube peripheral that the company has been speaking about.
The images Anoop's talking about:
A camera is attached to the
"Ka" character in "Camera."
"Ningen" (person) is written with a camera
attached to the first character and a GameCube
forming the center part of the second character.
===========================================
MICROPHONE
IGN chime in on the forthcoming Mario Party 6:
Earlier today, Nintendo confirmed that Mario Party 6 will employ a microphone, settling a prolonged bout of speculation. Nintendo fans have been spouting rumors across dozens of message boards ever since Nintendo publicized its desire to introduce a new peripheral to the marketplace. Fans entertained all sorts of ideas, the most bizarre of which saw Nintendo releasing a re-vamped Power Glove.
Well, it's not a Power Glove. It's a microphone. That's right, it looks as though you'll need to talk your way to succeeding in Mario Party 6, the latest installment in the popular Mario Party series. While details remain scarce, we do know that Nintendo has implemented the new peripheral (at least partially) to make the game more accessible to non-gamers. We also know that the usual roster of Nintendo favorites will be back, including: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Daisy, Bowser, Boo and Koopa Kid. Not to mention Waluigi.
Mario Party 6 boasts 75 all-new mini-games, six new game boards and, of course, the Nintendo GameCube Mic. Plus, there's a new day and night system giving the different boards and mini-games two different modes. Boards will transform, mini-games will play differently and hidden characters will emerge according to the time of day.
Also XS games, makers of Microphone game "Digital Hitz Factory" on PS2 have had a couple of games appearing on Nintendo.com for Gamecube -- one of which is "
Git on the Mic. There are likely more games to use the peripheral.
===========================================
DANCE MAT???
XS have another title on Nintendo.com... maybe this could just be any kind of game, involving no microphones, kongas, cameras or anything else - but perhaps the title alludes to a possible dance mat release?
Get on Da Floor
* prays for DDR to hit cube at last *
===========================================
WHERE'VE YOU SEEN THIS STUFF BEFORE?
Yes, some of this precedes PS2 I know but the point is: I think it's good to see Nintendo recognise the good things competitors do and aren't too full of pride to follow in their footsteps -- even if it is in their own unique way.
Now someone show them the PS2 network adaptor and Xbox live quick!
Thom
