Nintendo announces Boy-on-Cube add-on

Nintendo today drew the wraps off its latest European hardware announcement, but it was neither the platform holder's next home console nor news of the anticipated broadband and modem adapters. Instead the firm revealed an entirely new device, called Game Boy Player, a one-inch-high peripheral upon which the Cube rests. The two devices communicate through one of the Cube's previously enigmatic expansion ports, and owners will be able to insert any generation of Game Boy game into a front-loading cartridge bay and play it on the big screen, using either the Cube controller or GBA itself to direct the action.

This isn't the first time Nintendo has brought handheld and home console strategies this close together. Back in the days of the Super Nintendo, the Super Game Boy allowed SNES owners to play the likes of Tetris and Mario in much the same way, although that was a cartridge adapter rather than a semi-permanent bolt-on.

However, you'll have to quell your excitement about the possibility of playing GBA games like Metroid Fusion and various SNES classics including Yoshi's Island on the big screen, because Nintendo is quite aimlessly hoping for a 2003 launch for the European release of the peripheral. Meanwhile, the Japanese will be enjoying it from March, and the Yanks from May.