Lost Magic DS info found

Taito has revealed the first details of Lost Magic, an RPG that's currently in development for the Nintendo DS.

The game is set in a land where a group of philosophers, known as the guardians of the world, are in charge of six types of magic and seven wands left to them by a dying god. You play as a young boy who finds himself the new owner of one of the wands, and so must embark on an epic quest etc.

You can command monsters on the handheld's touch screen by selecting them with the stylus and then clicking on the enemy you want them to attack - much as you might order troops about in a real-time strategy game. There are plenty of different types of monster and each has unique abilities useful for dealing with certain obstacles.

You can also use the stylus to perform magic, drawing individual rune shapes to cast different spells. Plus you can combine runes to create new shapes and unleash extra-powerful magic, and we're promised that there are lots of different combos to learn.

Anime fans may be interested to know that the game's art is being done by Studio Ghibli, the people behind films such as Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle. We've only seen the first one but it was jolly good, in a sort of so weird it makes you feel sick way.

Lost Magic is out in Japan this winter - there's no guarantee that the game will also make it to Europe, but since the DS is crying out for a few good RPGs, here's hoping.