The Rumour Mine: GameCube game on iPad, iPhone HD

It wouldn't be natural if this week's rumour mine wasn't overflowing with precious iPad gems.

No worries on that front because I've got some incredibly juicy tidbits for you just ahead of the launch, not to forget information on another piece of hardware coming down the pipeline later this year: iPhone HD.

Award-winning GameCube title coming to iPad

While most complain that iPad is nothing more than a glorified iPod touch, all the processing power underneath its glass screen puts it more in line with the consoles of the last generation than any handheld. In fact, iPad is powerful enough to run games that appeared on PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube with some tweaking.

Let me put it this way: if iPhone and iPod touch could handle Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies, why wouldn't iPad be able to run a full GameCube title? There's nothing stopping one publisher from doing just that.

Sure to be one of the iPad launch's biggest surprises, I've received confirmation of a major console game being reworked for the device.

Obviously, work was done to tailor the game to iPad, specifically the controls which have been reconfigured from the original controller settings. The game won't come with any new content, but considering how phenomenal a game this is, you're not going to be disappointed. Its appearance at all on iPad is going to knock your socks off.

I've relayed a riddle regarding the game's identity to Tracy, so if you want a clue as to what this surprise title is then listen to this week's iPhone gaming podcast. Otherwise, expect the big news soon.

iPhone 4G to boast high resolution, multitasking

iPad might be capturing all the buzz this week with the launch on April 3rd, but it's never too early to start anticipation the next big piece of hardware. A new iPhone isn't that far off - the word is that Apple is preparing to unveil the next iteration this summer at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference.

A super sleek 960x640 screen is at the top of a list of impressive new features. The higher resolution screen is a big improvement from the current iPhone 3GS model, obviously: however, it's worth noting that it would beat out Windows Phone 7 handsets.

Rumour has it that the type of screen to be used will not change to an OLED because of the new technology that Apple has developed that reduces screen size and allows for proximity sensing.

Other features supposedly making it into the new handset is a front-facing camera. This would address the demands for video calling, though part of the feature's delay has been the data burden this places on carriers. Particularly in the US where exclusive carrier AT&T (not for long...) has whined about the data intensity of iPhone users, video calling has been a matter of overcoming business hurdles and not so much technical ones.

Perhaps the least glamorous but most useful of the features being discussed for iPhone 4G is multitasking. Currently, you can only do one thing at a time on your handset. The new device would allow you to play a game, stop to check the weather, then resume playing your game as though you had never left it in the first place. In short, the device will be able to run multiple applications at once.

As for the name, don't get too comfortable with iPhone 4G. It's unlikely to be called that since it won't be really running on 4G networks. Instead, expect iPhone HD or something along those lines.