Sombreros, monkeys, and maracas are a recipe for success any day of the week. Inclined to agree, Sega today officially revealed that it would be reviving the Dreamcast classic Samba de Amigo with a Wii version of the game, aptly titled Samba de Amigo. The decidedly Japanese take on Latin culture is slated to shake its way exclusively to the Wii in spring 2008.

　　What a happy little monkey. Speculation over whether Sega's musically inclined monkey would hit Nintendo's latest console took off after a blurb for the game appeared in the final in-house published issue of Nintendo Power several weeks ago. Sega finally officially confirmed today that the Wii Remote and Nunchuk would replace the at-the-time outrageously priced maracas that were necessary to take full advantage of the original game.

　　Sega also confirmed that it would be reviving some of the more popular songs from the original game as well as adding in a number of new samba-infused tunes. Gameplay will be much like the original, where players keep a beat to the music by shaking the Wii Remote and Nunchuk in time with onscreen indicators.

　　In a radical departure from its previous offerings, Gearbox Software will be developing Samba de Amigo. It's the first rhythm game for the Texas-based studio, which is best known for first-person shooters such as the Brothers in Arms series. It's also the second game Gearbox and Sega are collaborating on, with the pair developing a sci-fi FPS based on the film Aliens. Other upcoming Gearbox games include the recently delayed Brothers in Arms Hells Highway for Ubisoft and the sci-fi shooter/RPG hybrid Borderlands for 2K Games.