Two of Nintendo's big franchises have new games in development, according to a recent interview in Japan's Weekly Playboy magazine (they have a small black and white games section). In the interview, when asked about what's next from the company, producer Shigeru Miyamoto comments, "' Pikmin 2 ' and the 'Mario 128' game that was shown at the [GameCube] unveiling are both in development." Miyamoto elaborates a bit about the latter title, stating "I believe that with this game you'll be able to feel the "newness" that was missing from Mario Sunshine."

We already had a good idea that both games were in development, but it's nice to hear Miyamoto himself actually confirm them. Even better being able to digest the news while looking at pictures of hot Japanese girls in provocative poses (Megumi!).

More as it develops (hopefully through future issues of Playboy).

-- Anoop Gantayat, Contributor