At a Nintendo meeting today, Kotaku has learned that it was announced that, yes, Shigeru Miyamoto has a cat. Nintendo typically keeps Miyamoto's hobbies secret because they sometimes end up as the inspiration for new games.

Currently, Miyamoto is working on the new Zelda Wii title, which will sport swordplay with the MotionPlus feature. He is also working on a "DS game to play at home" and is interested in how the DS can be used in "public spaces".

Nintendo mentioned that the company was not against HD, and Miyamoto pointed out that a title like Wii Fit would not benefit greatly from HD, but the Nintendo creator added that a game like, say, Pikmin would.

These delightful LEGO Pikmin are the work of Norwegian Filip Felberg. These are some of the highlights, but to see more of Captain Olimar and his sentient vegetables - along with Felberg's other Nintendo-related LEGO sets - hit the link below.

Filip Johannes Felberg's photostream [Flickr, via GSW]

"I'm sorry," Miaymoto said when we asked him why the new Pikmin wasn't at this E3. "Unfortunately we haven't been able to expand the team size very much, because we've been working on so many different games that we've shown off at the show. So the team is working very hard, but it's a bit of a small team."

I asked, laughing, if there were more than two people on the team.

"Of course," he said, chuckling. "The basic work that they've been doing quite nicely." I tried to confirm whether the team was working on a full new game. He thought for a bit and said: "Yeah, and my basic idea is that the sense of the depth of the game and the simplicity of the control will all be there."

Earth Day got going back in 1970 with U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson declaring a teach-in to educate Americans about the environment and the effects of an ever-expanding population on the natural ecosystem. It hasn't really caught on in gaming the way World War II has, but that doesn't mean we're without games to play in honor of Earth Day.

GamesRadar gets the ball rolling with a Top 7 Greenest Games list that also includes runners-up like the Captain Planet game on the NES and Mario Sunshine. The games it doesn't include are Pikmin and Ecco the Dolphin:

Now that we're at the end of the list, we can address two games that, on the surface, should have been included (but weren't). First is Pikmin, because all you're doing is rebuilding a rocket and telling a bunch of plants what to do, and the second is Ecco the Dolphin, because that asshole only cares about his pod and would kill you and your family in a heartbeat.

But if we ignore GamesRadar's prejudice against aliens and dolphins, that's a whopping 15 games you can play to celebrate Earth Day. That's almost as many games that contain Hitler... unless you have more green games to add?

The Top 7... greenest games [GamesRadar]

The plant will, in a week or so, unfurl to reveal a single word. Probably Pikmin!

Provided your Wii is connected to the internet, and provided you've enabled outside communication from within the game, from now until February 12 you'd best keep an eye on your mailbox, because until that date the Postman will be delivering little Pikmin hats to all and sundry.

Oh, and no, you won't have to pay for it. This one's on the house. Nintendo's house.

One thing to bear in mind: this news come courtesy of Nintendo Australia, so there's no guarantee it's a global deal, nor that those dates will be the same if/when it's offered in other regions. We'll of course update when he hear more.

Okay, for Mario Power Tennis they are. It sounds like the regular GameCube controller scheme is going by the wayside in favor of two waggle-tastic options: one playable with just a Wii-mote, another with both Wii-mote and Nunchuk.

The "Play On Wii" version of Pikmin, however, adds something swell in addition to what we already know. You'll now be able to save day-to-day records of your progress, letting you pick up the action from any point in your journey. Mulligans? Not bad!

New Features for Wii Pikmin and Mario Tennis [IGN]

Famitsu writes that new level layouts and brand new stages will be added to the former GameCube-only Jungle Beat. The side scrolling platformer will use a more simplified control scheme, with A for jumps and waggling for attacks.

Adding new content to Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat makes sense, as the game was comparatively brief for a modern platformer, somewhat thankfully so, considering you had to smack a lot of bongo skin to progress. Without that particular gimmick, a straight port for the "Play On Wii" version would likely feel even more empty.

Famitsu also notes that the Pikmin Wii-make will use Wii Remote targeting to control the tiny titular characters, with mouse pointer-like controls likely to ease Pikmin management frustration. *Must resist urge to re-purchase games I own and didn't ever complete.*

New Elements for Play it on Wii Selection Titles [IGN]

A 16:9 Wind Waker with Wii Remote bow and grapple aiming would be great, Nintendo. Just sayin!

First Look: Wii de Asobu Pikmin [IGN]

Interview: Cammie Dunaway [IGN]

Maybe Piktura, speculated to be a new Pikmin game could lure them in. Nintendo filed a copyright for the name Piktura with the Japanese patent office this summer but has said nothing official about the property.

We do know that Nintendo is hard at work on another game in the Pikmin series. Miyamoto said it himself. But details on that game — its platform, title or design — have been nonexistent.

Oh, sure, we're totally speculating about a possible future Nintendo announcement, with little more than circumstantial evidence to support the theory. It's an ill-advised move, we know. Still, we wouldn't mind stylus control in our next Pikmin. And interacting with digital photos, maybe ones from our own garden, could be gee-whiz neato.

What say you? For or against Pikmin on your DS? Would it push you over the edge to rebuy the Nintendo DS for a third time?

Search Engine [Industrial Property Digital Library via Siliconera] [Pic]

Said Miyamoto:

"Making these 'traditional' games is what I am best at. Because games of that nature take upwards of two or three years to make, we always have to keep the teams working on those projects going. At any given time, the team could be five to ten people, or it could be 50-plus. People are always switching in and out of those teams.

"They are all working on more Mario, Zelda and Pikmin projects," he said. "And they all work in close proximity to me, so I can keep a good eye on them."

Could it be that all this time, Nintendo has been quietly working on traditional Nintendo titles? That in fact, they've been working all along on their core franchises?

Shigeru Miyamoto: The man behind the Nintendo Wii [Telegraph]

"We continue investigating all types of games," Miyamoto responded. "When it's time to announce such a title, I'll announce it." Then he did. "We're making Pikmin."

Again, that's "We're making Pikmin."

When they're all lined up like this, it becomes obvious that there is roughly 6-year blank before and after Pikmin. While there have been big series since then like "Animal Crossing," "Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day," and "Wii Sports" it does seem that coming up with a completely new character-driven series has gotten more difficult recently.

Odd then, that the Mii, probably the most identifiable Nintendo-created humanoid to debut in the Wii generation is not a playable character. It's understandable, given the potential issues of bringing your Mii into online brawls, given their varying hitbox sizes, but they seem like a perfect fit.

It almost seems like a waste, given the creative talent at the developer/publisher, but it's clear that Nintendo has been successful with its reliance on older characters, with nostalgia playing a big part in Super Smash Bros. Brawl interest. Add to that the interesting and more abstract gameplay concepts that have emerged from Nintendo over the past few years—we certainly can't play a Brain Age math problem or anything from Electroplankton—and it makes a great deal of sense to rely on Mario, Link and Samus. That doesn't mean it's not somewhat annoying.

Given that Nintendo's last "character" franchise, Pikmin, had debuted within weeks of the Gamecube launch and we've seen almost nothing in the way of new character IP for the Wii, it would seem we'll just have to live with it.

Just a quick warning that the Smash Bros. Dojo post on the matter may contain spoilers for those who haven't finished or played the game yet.

All-Star [Smash Bros. Dojo]

Nothing says birthday fun like smashing papier-mache. So thought Kotaku reader JL who made this Pikmin pinata for his 8 year-old party. Says JL:

He loved it so much that he couldn't smash it, so now it hangs in his room.

And the candy inside? Spoiling and drawing ants, we guess. Brian Ashcraft

Nintendo's just released Pikmin paper and pencil sets for school kids. Add this to the growing list of Pikmin goods, which includes stuffed animals, figurines and bicycles. Yes, bicycles! Products after the jump.

More Nintendo Goods [Official Site]

Pikmin Tea? Kind of makes me sad to think that each cup might come from boiling to death a screaming little red creature.

Do you fancy a cup of Pikmin tea? [Ludology]