Mystery has surrounded Nintendo's plans for a new device which will not be a GameCube or GBA successor. Since the Japanese gaming giant announced that the device was nearing completion, journalist speculation has led gamer imagination to weird and strange lands.
Nintendo executives are, no doubt, enjoying this publicity immensly and are continuously issuing cryptic comments and press releases to the media. Take, for example, the statement made by Nintendo's President, Satoru Iwata, to the Japanese press claiming that the new device will enable fun and movement not seen before. That would make most gamers think of some form of input device like an elaborate dance mat or weapon, rather than a standalone product. Then again it could be an EyeToy-Like device, something which would greatly disappoint Nintendo fans since it would leave the company far behind its Japanese rival, Sony.
The theory of Nintendo introducing some form of advanced controller has further gained momentum this week with the comments made by another executive claiming that the device is currently being tested with existing software in order to explore its full potential.
Will the device connect to the GameCube, the GBA or both? Nothing is certain although evidence points towards a product which will act as an enhancement to current Nintendo gaming hardware rather than as a piece of standalone hardware. It would seem however, that Nintendo are using such mysterious language for good reason, since they themselves do not seem too sure about their product's full potential. It is a short wait until this year's E3 in May, where Nintendo plan to unveil the details of the product and we all know that they really need to associate some excitement with the GameCube, let's hope that this will do it for them.
