Sega confirms new Monkey Ball

Sega's confirmed rumours that Traveller's Tales is working on a new Monkey Ball game called Super Monkey Ball Adventure, due for release in Q3 2006 on PlayStation 2, GameCube and PSP.

The new game will pit players against 50 new puzzle levels split across five different Monkey Ball kingdoms, and Sega reckons it's "an exciting new direction" for the series, introducing the ability to have your balls stick to walls, hover, box and become invisible.

You'll still play as Aiai, Meemee, Gongon or Baby, and there'll still be party games - including six new ones - but it sounds like things are getting shaken up a bit. Not least in that Amusement Vision, which handled both previous Monkey Ball titles, is not involved.

It'll also mark the series' first foray onto PSP, and the PSP version will include Wi-Fi multiplayer options and a new trading card game according to Sega.