PDC World Championship Darts 2009 aiming for DS

According to the publisher, Oxygen's PDC World Championship Darts series is the most popular ever for games targeting this particularly popular pub sport.

It's not difficult to believe such a claim seeing as last year's effort captured the atmosphere of the championship with aplomb. And that's not just on the home consoles – the PSP version of PDC World Championship Darts 2008 turned out a fine rendition.

This year's edition, as is sadly the trend, is bypassing Sony's machine in favour of the DS (and Wii). But that doesn't mean it's compromising on the authenticity of its content. At least, that's the target little-known Brazilian development studio Abdução has set itself.

So you can expect a realistic recreation of the PDC event, along with the big names of the pro darts tour – 18 to be exact, including the likes of Raymond van Barneveld, Dennis Priestley and, of course, Phil 'The Power' Taylor, each boasting individually tailored performance traits such as accuracy, concentration, stamina, belief and ability to cope under pressure – to be squeezed into the cart.

Of particular interest to DS owners revolves around how the developer will incorporate touchscreen functionality but so far no details have emerged.

Then again, with the game expected in May it won't be long before we find out whether PDC World Championship Darts 2009 hits the bullseye.