Virtual Villagers: A New Home is Announced

Today, Hamburg/Germany-based publisher dtp entertainment announces Virtual Villagers: A New Home for Nintendo DS. This colourful, real-time life simulation will be published in Q3 2009. Virtual Villagers: A New Home takes players to a beautiful tropical island where they are tasked with helping a tribe of stranded villagers to survive and discover the island's many secrets. Surprising events, challenging puzzles, and fun-to-play mini games all await players eager to take up the task.

When a volcano destroys their former home, a band of survivors find themselves washed up on the shores of the beautiful Isola Island. Luckily, their new homeland appears peaceful and fertile. The stranded villagers are able to find berries, fish are plentiful in the nearby ocean, and building materials are available for the villagers to construct their first huts. Until the player assigns tasks, the villagers wander around the island, just playing tag or chatting, and just like real people, the Virtual Villagers will become sad or sick if not given enough attention. However, the player can help by putting the villagers in touch with their friends. They are able to heal and cheer each other up. Good tempered villagers can even fall in love and have babies, helping the tribe to prosper.

Players can customize their Virtual Villagers in many different ways. New names can be assigned and colourful clothes and accessories including exotic flowers and other collectible items, can be changed to suit the player's current mood. Players also will help guide their villagers in their occupations, determining what role they will play on the island.

Life on the island never stands still. Due to a persistent game world, time continues to move forward even if the Nintendo DS is closed or turned off. When returning to the game, players can always look forward to a surprise such as the villagers celebrating the anniversary of their arrival, finding various messages in the bottles that wash ashore, or discovering a new mini game has been unlocked. Dozens of unexpected events will occur.

Virtual Villagers provides easy-to-play fun through discovering the island and taking care for its inhabitants – complicated micro-management isn't needed. Virtual Villagers: A New Home is dedicated to younger simulation fans and casual gamers alike. This Nintendo DS title is also for gamers on the go who only have short periods of time to play.

"keen games and dtp entertainment have done an exceptional job bringing this Virtual Villagers title to Nintendo DS", says Arthur Humphrey, Founder of Last Day of Work, the team that created the successful Virtual Villagers series for PC. "This game is a natural fit for the system and we are confident and excited to debut our Virtual Villagers franchise on this platform." Virtual Villagers – A New Home is developed by keen games in Frankfurt/Germany, based on a license from Big Fish Games.