Strategy First turns to DS

Think the DS is only about cute, colourful games for kids, or weird brain-stretching games for grey oldies? Well, Canadian publisher Strategy First certainly doesn't. And as its name suggests, it's about to unleash a phalanx of hardcore strategy games for your stylus-twisting pleasure.

First up is Warlords DS, which is a handheld version of the long-running PC turn-based fantasy strategy game.

Significantly, like its PC brothers, the game is designed from the ground up to be an eight-player experience, supported either through adhoc wi-fi connectivity or passing around one DS – the so-called hot-seat option. Of course, if you can't gather together a sufficient crowd, artificial intelligence will fill in the gaps, as you mix up cunning combinations of economics, diplomacy, exploration and (mainly) combat to try to rule the land of Illuria.

There will be 20 basic scenarios for you to overcome, with a random world generator ensuring plenty of variations in the starting conditions of each. Throwing more mathematical uncertainty into play are 28 different types of armies, such as men, dwarves, orcs, dragons, demons and the undead, different terrain – ranging from grasslands and desert to wastelands and frozen tundra – while hidden maps will also provide certain surprises.

As for what you'll get up to during your moves, the options include exploring the land for items and knowledge, resource managing your cities, and bustling large armed groups around your opponents' possessions.

You can make alliances with the other players too, but the goal of Warlords DS is always to defeat everyone.

Holding your hand through this maelstrom of decision-making will be an in-game advisor, and all the data will be neatly recorded and analysed via the statistical tracking system, so you can get an idea of your playing style, and where (if anywhere) you're going wrong.

Strategy First's next new DS opus is Disciples II DS. Once again based on an existing PC series of strategy and action role-playing games, this time the multiplayer only supports four players. The game's focus is much more about combat, as you level up your characters, gaining experience and items as you battle throught The Sacred Lands

Some resource management is still required as you build up your city and hence the power of your eventual army. In the meantime, though, it's a case of using your hero-led squads to explore the environment and work out the best place for the final battle. Multiple campaigns will enable you to play through the story from the different perspectives of the main races, the human Empire, the dwarven Mountain Clans, the demonic Legions of the Damned, or the skeletal Undead Hordes.

The final DS game announced by Strategy First is Jagged Alliance 2. Another long-running PC series, this time the turn-based strategy takes place in a dystopian alternative universe, where you control squads of mercenaries fulfilling missions with rocket launchers, shotguns and assault weapons.

So plenty of information to digest then. In fact, the only thing we don't seem to have been informed about is the release dates for the games. Hit the 'Track It!' button to be alerted when we learn more.