PopCap finally announces Peggle DS
And appropriately, Lumines creator Q Entertainment is on development duties
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day, and by the same sort of calculation we can now claim our world exclusive news that PopCap's ball-pinging casual masterpiece Peggle is coming to DS was correct, just five months early.
To recap, we - by which I mean me - got a little carried away at the Casual Connect conference in Amsterdam in February and announced the port somewhat prematurely, giving PopCap's PR team kittens and causing a sharp retraction.
However, at the current Casual Connect conference, this time in Seattle, PopCap's business development director, Mark Cochrane, finally announced the game was in production
And significantly, Q Entertainment, the ubercool Japanese developer behind Lumines and Meteos, will be coding the game, and making sure the spectacular presentation of the web version is matched on the DS's smaller screens.
"Q Entertainment is a great match with PopCap as the two companies share similar development values, namely innovation, attention to detail and the desire to create the highest quality videogames," said Cochrane.
The DS version of the game, which is a cross between pinball and pachinko and sees you firing balls around screens full of pegs, is expected to feature more levels than existing versions of the game including some DS exclusives. Re-mastered touchscreen controls and other surprise additions not available for the existing web and iPod versions of the game are also promised.
Peggle DS will be released in the US towards the end of 2008. Its European date, as well as its publisher, are still to be confirmed.