DS Download Service: November 3

Since the launch of the Nintendo Channel for the Wii earlier this year, Nintendo has been providing a DS Download Service with demos of released and upcoming DS games. Wii owners can boot up the DS Download Service through the Nintendo Channel and download various playable demos directly to their Nintendo DS, using the Download Play option. It works in the same way as the in-store download stations. The third-party games get updated every week and we've got info on this week's batch to let you know a little more about what you're getting.

The week of November 3

Dragonball: Origins
The next Dragonball adventures hitting the Nintendo DS this month, and in preparation Atari is giving DS owners the ability to play through the tutorial to see just how impressive the touch-screen controlled game has turned out. There's some cool stuff to see in this demo: 3D environments that span both screens, and stylus-exclusive control that gives players the ability to take control of Goku and his crazy moves.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
The big holiday push for the sequel to Madagascar's theatrical release is happening right now, and a downloadable demo based on the Activision DS game has just hit the Nintendo Channel. In this demo, you play a mini-challenge that features the four penguins from the flick, in a Lost Vikings "work together" design to get through the structures.

Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals
Disney's Pokemon-like RPG has been given the demo treatment, but the only taste test you're going to get here is in the "excavation" process. Use your stylus to hack away at rock, or solidify lava with water, or melt ice with heat in order to get down to the fossil hidden below. You won't get a chance to see which creatures are tucked away inside, it's just a challenge to see how many fossils you can pull out as unscathed as possible.

Ninjatown
Ninjatown is Southpeak's upcoming real-time strategy game based upon the Shawnimals franchise of cute plush Ninja critters. The downloadable demo is surprisingly robust with four different levels to get your Ninja on: the task is to manage resources and build up your Ninja army to protect the village from the invading demons.

Crosswords DS - Anagrams
Anagrams returns in its own demo. The demo features three levels of the Anagram minigame. Players take six letters and try to form them into words of three or more letters using the touch screen. As players find words, the other screen displays them, along with the progress and time. There are a few different letter assortments, so players should be able to play the demo a good three or four times.




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Nintendo also keeps a selection of first party titles up for download. They're not cycled out as often and most of them have been there since the Nintendo Channel launched.

Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir
The demo offers one of the levels for the hide and seek portion of the game. Players are given five minutes to find eight items in the level. Upon completion, players can start again, and find eight different items. We played it three times without having to repeat items.

Brain Age 2
The Brain Age 2 demo features three quick play modes. There's the Brain Age Test that will give the player an approximate brain age based on a verbal match of rock, paper, scissors. There's also a quick play training mode that shows off the rotating letters minigame, complete with touch screen letter recognition. Finally the Quick play sudoku lets players enjoy a quick sudoku puzzle in one of the better presentations for the system.

Brain Age
The older sibling of the Brain Age 2 demo. It's the same kind of deal. There's a Brain Age Test minigame that has players shout colors into the DS microphone. The training game is a simple math problem test that uses the touch screen to write. Sudoku is in this one too, which means you've got two free sudoku puzzles you can play if you get both demos.

Flash Focus
Flash Focus is a game designed to improve focus and hand-eye coordination. It features a simplified Eye Age test where players remember the direction letters are facing as they flash by on the screen. The training game is more hands on. It's a baseball minigame where players have to tap the ball to hit it. The pitches get harder each time the player connects with the ball and the game ranks you at the end.

Crosswords DS
For the non-Sudoku inclined, Crosswords DS features the classic crossword puzzles that have been gracing newspapers long before number puzzles. The demo features the classic Crosswords mode, one of three gameplay modes in the final version. Players can select the difficulty of the puzzle, as well as the option to turn on an assist mode that lets the player know if the answer is right or wrong. The whole demo uses the touch screen so players can see how well the letter recognition system works.

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