Hamtaro squeaks onto DS

Famitsu Weekly has revealed that Hamtaro, Nintendo's cutesy hamster adventure series, is on its way to Nintendo DS - and for once we have the luxury of actually looking directly at the page to confirm that. It's called Totoko Hamtaro: Ham Ham Q.

Hamster-lovers (no, not that sort) have been speculating for a while based on retailer notices and scattered reports, but now we can actually see it for ourselves, which is a comfort - even if we still have no idea what people are expected to do with the stylus.

It's due out this year in Japan, judging by the big "2005" in the corner of the Hamtaro box-out, and it looks like you'll be gathering fuel for balloons, and generally smiling with delight as you do so.

Hamtaro followers will be aware that the series has made it to Europe four times in the past with varying degrees of success on Game Boy Color and Advance. Indeed, one of the first GBA versions, Ham-Ham Heartbreak, so enthralled us back in the day that it earned eight marks out of ten.

That said, yours truly will never get on with Hamtaro. The loss of a hamster to the forces of gravity ten years ago still haunts. Remember readers: when they're in those little balls, they're not meant to roll around the landing perilously close to the top of the stairs.