Following the recent trend of shoehorning Mario into the Gamecube versions of games, EA is now planning to bring Mario and pals to The Sims 2 on Nintendo's console.

Speaking in an interview with IGN, EA's Scot Amos revealed the Gamecube incarnation of the title had been "given some custom content", leading the interviewer to ask if Mario would be making an appearance, to which Amos responded, "I cannot answer that question just yet. Hopefully at E3." That's a big 'yes' in our book.

When you consider EA's track record on Gamecube, this becomes a highly believable and likely suggestion. In some kind of mutual agreement between EA and Nintendo, EA has been given permission to use Mario and co in many Gamecube versions of its games, such as NBA Street.

Quite how Mario would be integrated into The Sims is yet to be seen. Perhaps he's one of your visiting pals. Maybe when one of your characters gives birth it turns out to be Mario. Or maybe he simply comes round when your plumbing needs fixing.

As well as pretty-much confirming the existence of Nintendo mascots in the Gamecube version of The Sims 2, Amos also confirmed other format specific features.

The Xbox version will feature full 720p compatibility (although this will probably be removed for Europe) and the PS2 version will work with EyeToy to allow players to take pictures of themselves and paste their faces on to their in-game characters.

You can also use EyeToy pictures for decorative purposes too - anything you take a picture of can be used as wallpaper, for instance.

As well as the Gamecube, Xbox and PS2 version, The Sims 2 is also coming to DS, PSP, GBA and mobile phones, with all console versions due for release this autumn.