More Monkey Ball 3 speculation

We'd just like to clarify before we launch into the debate - this is by no means a confirmation that Sega/Amusement Vision is developing Super Monkey Ball 3, nor is it stone cold confirmation that it plans to. This is what it is.

"And what is that?" you rightly ask. Why, it's an Amazon.co.uk listing for Super Monkey Ball 3 of course! Due for release on GameCube this 31st December 2004, it says, but clever types will spot that that's a pretty handy catchall for "TBC 2004", which doesn't really mean anything.

It must mean something? Nope, not a great deal. The chances are that Amazon is merely responding to speculation and guessing that a third Monkey Ball title is likely after the cult success of both previous versions.

The book-bundling e-commerce veterans may also have spotted comments from Amusement Vision's Toshihiro Nagoshi in a cryptic column for Japanese Nintendo Dream magazine. "What's next?" he asked. "Here's a hint: 'kanshi'." (That being the Japanese word for the Chinese zodiac, and 2004 being the Year of the Monkey.)

While obviously we'd be delighted to see a Super Monkey Ball 3 this year, the evidence so far isn't so much inconclusive as barely comprehensible. If Sega/Amusement Vision is working on a follow-up to Monkey Ball 2, we'll likely hear about it in the run-up to May's E3 trade convention in LA. So rest assured: Amazon doesn't know something you don't, it only thinks it does. Now split.