Europe to get Tamagotchi DS

Atari has announced plans to publish DS title Tamagotchi Connexion Corner Shop in Europe next year.

The game, which was developed by Bandai, lets you open speciality shops (such as a bakery, dentist's surgery or beauty salon) and play touch-screen mini-games to serve your customers' needs (by decorating cakes, filling cavities, applying make-up and so on).

You also get a choice of three Tamagotchi business partners called Mametchi, Memetchi and Kuchipatchi, and there are loads of NPCs to meet and greet. The ultimate object of the game is to earn lots of "Gs" and get your shop up to "royal status", apparently.

Expect lots of customisation options, plenty of funky sound effects and a huge dollop of cuteness - the game has a hand-drawn visual style in very bright colours, as you can see from the newly-released screenshots.

Tamagotchi Connexion Corner Shop is out in early 2006.