This just gets better and better.

At the start of October, Nintendo of Japan revealed that they were going to release seven GameCube titles for the Wii, with added functionality. However, there has been no official word of a US release for these titles yet-- unless you want to count the "Temp." placements of Pikmin and Mario Tennis on Nintendo's 2009 release schedule, which are TBA.

In spite of the setback of no official announcement ("yet," hopefully), there has been some further good news from Famitsu via IGN about these "Wii-makes" (now officially known as "Play it on Wii Selection"), as they're going to be more than just GameCube ports with waggle:

Famitsu reports that one of the games, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, will be getting more than just a control update. Nintendo will be changing the gimmicks found in each stage, repositioning enemies, and adding mid-level check points. On top of this, those who played the GameCube original can look forward to completely new stages.

As for the control changes, Nintendo appears to be converting Jungle Beat into a more traditional platformer. The original had a unique control system that made use of the GameCube's bongo controllers. For the Wii version, you control Donkey Kong with the analogue pad on the nunchuck, and make him jump with the A button. The game does use motion controls for a few moves, including punching at enemies and performing continuous jumps.

For the Play it on Wii Selection version of Pikmin, Famitsu makes no mention of additional content aside from the new control scheme. To control the game now, you, as expected, point directly at your Pikmin using the Wiimote. You can point at locations on the screen and press A to toss Pikmin around. Or, you can press B to call out to the Pikmin. -- IGN

Still no mention of whether either game will keep the GameCube controls as an option-- one would hope so, particularly in the case of Jungle Beat, as that was half of the experience.

Donkey Kong hits Japanese shelves on December 11th, with Pikmin popping up on Christmas Day. Meanwhile, I'll continue to hold out hope for an enhanced Metroid Prime to come to North America.