New Nintendo patent seems like it could be Wii Music U-related

Late last month, Nintendo filed a US patent for something called “Storage Medium Having Stored Therein Information Processing Program, Information Processing Apparatus, Information Processing System, and Information Processing Method”. Take that in for a second.

Takehiko Hosokawa (director, Metroid: Other M) and Goro Abe (director, Game & Wario) are both listed on the patent’s filing, which was just published today.

If you move past the incredibly long name and delve into what the patent actually is, it seems like Nintendo could be cooking up something new with Wii Music.

Here’s the abstract:

An image including at least a part of a virtual world is generated as a first display image, a first sound created in the virtual world is generated, and a second sound forming a part of the first sound is selected in accordance with a user operation. Then, control is performed such that the first display image is displayed on a first display apparatus. Control is performed such that the generated first sound is output from a first loudspeaker in synchronization with the first display image displayed on the first display apparatus. Control is performed such that the selected second sound is output from a second loudspeaker.

And a few notable excerpts from the description:

[0003] Conventionally, there is a game apparatus that outputs the sound of performing one composition as an ensemble using a plurality of instruments. In the game apparatus, a user selects a part to be assigned to the user themselves. When the selection of the assigned part is completed, the ensemble is started. Then, the user can participate in the ensemble by performing an input operation based on the assigned part.

[0004] The game apparatus, however, can merely provide the audio output of the composition performed as an ensemble from, for example, a pair of loudspeakers provided in a monitor. Thus, even a composition performed as an ensemble may lack variety, as compared to other types of sound outputs.

[0005] Therefore, it is an object of an exemplary embodiment to provide a storage medium having stored therein an information processing program capable of a wide variety of sound outputs, and an information processing apparatus, an information processing system, and an information processing method that are capable of a wide variety of sound outputs.

We’ve included images from the patent filing above. The key takeaway points: music is involved, and the GamePad is showcased.

You can find more information about this patent over on NeoGAF. Note that this is a patent and nothing more at the moment.