Shigeru Miyamoto is a games industry hero - and that's official. The designer is well known for his innovative leaps, and is under careful surveillance at all times by rivals keen to find out what the Next Big Thing will be.

Our agents hit paydirt with a recent Nintendo Q&A sessions, in which the latest revolution to sweep the console world was hinted to be... cats.

Miyamoto-san's comments followed questions from investors asking about future software development. Unable to comment on specifics, he could answer part of the investor's question: what inspired his latest project?

After a few moments' discussion on the dual uses of the DS as a home and portable console, Miyamoto finished his answer with the mysterious statement:

"And also, lately I've been petting cats."

Another Nintendo spokesman immediately commented that this was a juicy hint.

Nintendo are fond of inspirational anecdotes; Miyamoto's own Pikmin came to him while gardening, and the Pokémon series famously has its roots in Satoshi Tajiri-Oniwa's hobby of insect collecting.

The obvious and rather dull explanation is that Nintendo are going to follow up their hit Nintendogs series with a feline-orientated version, but in the face of the thousands of shovelware titles doing exactly that with every creature imaginable, it all seems a little to easy.

Could this be a plot to trick competitors into pouring forth further travesties, while Nintendo blindside them with something completely unexpected?! I watch too many espionage films.

Via Nintendo Japan.