411mania gives a rundown on this week's game releases. Highlights include Marble Saga: Kororinpa (Wii), Brandish: Dark Revenant (PSP import), Dengeki Gakuen RPG: Cross of Venus (DS import), TrackMania DS, Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure (DS), Suikoden Tierkreis (DS), Super Robot Taisen K (DS import), and Rei Choaniki (PSP import).
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The Portable Gamer writes:

"Many Nintendo DS owners (myself included) have been disappointed time and time again with the racing games that have been released for the beloved dual-screened handheld. With the exception of a certain kart game released by Nintendo, many of the published racing games have been mediocre at best. The announcement that TrackMania would make it to the DS courtesy of Atlus brought a flicker of hope. The fact that the game is published by Atlus should be incentive enough, given their splendid track record (oh the puns! They burn!)

But, today Atlus announced a cool incentive for pre-ordering the game through Amazon."
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Ars Technica writes:

"Trackmania is a great racing game for the PC, and we've been watching the progress of the port to the Nintendo DS for quite some time. Today, Atlus sent over a video showing off the ability to create your own tracks in the game, and I have to say the footage is very impressive for a handheld system."
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GamingShogun writes, "Ascaron has announced that their upcoming Nintendo DS racer, TrackMania DS, will be released on November 21st. It was also revealed that the Nintendo DS version will feature their popular race track editor..."
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Good news, boys - TrackMania DS has finally had its release date confirmed. So sayeth this press release:

"TrackMania DS allows players to drive at mind-blowing speeds in hi-octane racers on incredible tracks made of jumps, loops, turbo boost pads and other crazy design features. Ascaron and 93 Games will release TrackMania DS on 21st November 2008, providing players with more than a hundred circuits to tear around, in three distinct single-player modes."

Darkzero are yet to get their hands on the game, but all evidence points towards this being a surprisingly faithful port of the excellent PC-based racing series - complete with the full track-editing tools and multiplayer modes - and while not all of the game's environments could be stuffed into a wee DS cartridge, the inclusion of the Rally, Desert and Stadium environments should provide plenty of variety, not least because Stadium is far and away the most popular of the lot.

It's about time the DS had a solid racer that isn't bloody Mario Kart.
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After four successful outings on Windows platforms, Focus Home Interactive has announced that the Trackania franchise will be racing onto the Nintendo DS. Developed by Firebrand Games (the firm behind the excellent Race Driver: Create & Race), the title allows players to build and race on an array of madcap courses. Nintendic has acquired first teaser trailer for your viewing pleasure.
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Nadeo's well-received TrackMania series of PC racing games will see an iteration on Nintendo DS, according to a slightly tweaked version of publisher Focus Home Interactive's media blurb on the official website of publisher-oriented event Game Connection.

The relevant passage reads, "The coming months will be exciting and full of surprises with the release of highly awaited games such as Blood Bowl, TrackMania DS, Runaway on DS and Wii, or even sport games dedicated to major events such as the Tour de France."

There has been no official announcement of the game.
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