DS Age of Empires Announced

One of the joys of Nintendo’s handheld DS console is the analogue control power its touch screen offers. PC gamers have always turned up their noses at console analogue sticks. They prefer the control offered by a mouse, and this is what keeps the really cutting edge FPS and RTS games on that platform.

The Metroid Prime demo included with the DS left buyers in no doubt: while the game itself is fairly unexceptional, it demonstrates that the touch screen affords you an almost identical level of control and feel to a mouse. We’d argue that it’s the most mouse-like feel any console has exhibited since the mighty Dreamcast’s actual mouse peripheral. Since playing it, we’ve been very excited at the prospect of the first full FPS to appear on the twin-screened machine. Since EA’s announcement that it will be bringing its controversial GoldenEye game to DS, we’re actually a little more excited about the second FPS that will hit the shelves.

But what about that other PC-dominated genre that favours the use of a mouse? Real time strategy games offer an excellent opportunity for the DS to showcase its versatility. So it’s unsurprising, but exciting nonetheless, to hear that a DS conversion is planned for the extremely popular Age of Empires series. Age of Empires: Age of Kings will be produced by Majesco and Digital Eclipse, and is scheduled for release this summer. The world-domination-orientated RTS game features historical figures as diverse as Joan of Arc, Genghis Khan and Robin Hood. Majesco marketing VP Ken Gold assures us that the title will take full advantage of the DS’s features, and it’s fairly safe to assume that the title will offer wireless multiplayer, another of the features that makes the admittedly ugly console so loveable. We’re eager to see the results, and hope that this game will set the stage for a rich RTS tradition on the Nintendo DS.