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Metroid Prime: Hunters demo bundled with DS

"First Hunt" will showcase some of the improvements made since Hunters took a bow at E3 earlier this year.

Nintendo is planning to bundle a playable demo of Metroid Prime: Hunters with the Nintendo DS handheld when it launches on November 21st, charismatic marketing boss Reggie Fils-Aime confirmed in a conference call yesterday.

The demo version, "First Hunt", will showcase some of the changes made to the game since its E3 debut earlier this year, when the game was criticised to a certain extent for some curious design decisions - like having the player inadvertently fire Samus' gun whenever he or she lifted the stylus from the screen.

Fils-Aime says the control and content has "changed modestly for the better from a playability standpoint." The demo will feature four-player wireless multiplayer support to showcase the game's deathmatch features.

First Hunt won't be the only thing you can do with the DS either. As previously reported, Nintendo is including an embedded version of PictoChat, the wireless communication tool it showed off at E3 that lets players doodle with the stylus or use an on-screen keyboard to send messages to one another.

More details on the DS launch can be found here, but, in brief, it'll be out in the USA on November 21st and Japan on December 2nd, and should retail for $149.99 (£85 / €123). The DS will launch in Europe in Q1 2005.