As E3 gets closer, the speculation about what will be announced at the show gets more and more out there. So now that E3 is actually here, we get this post from IGN's Matt Cassamassina positing that Activision is working on an accelerometer-equipped, tilt-sensitive attachment for the Nintendo DS' Game Boy Advance slot. Nothing too surprising about that news, but the post jumps off from there to suggest Nintendo is also working on a similar tilt-sensing cart for the DS slot. Why would they do such a thing? Because Nintendo is planning to release a new DS without a Game Boy Advance slot, of course.

Yes, IGN buried the lede a bit, suggesting two paragraphs down that "trusted insiders that Nintendo" say a new, slimmed-down DS (a la the Game Boy Micro) could be coming out soon. The new unit would have no GBA slot (thereby explaining the need for tilt-sensitive DS carts) and come in at a cool sub-$100 price, if IGN is to be believed. Of course, IGN still considers everything it writes just a rumor. We'll know soon enough, as anything from Activision or Nintendo would likely be revealed at their press conference tomorrow.

We understand that trailers for puzzle games, even ones with strong RPG elements, aren't exactly titillating. With very few explosions, no dialogue, and the repetitive swapping of multi-hued bricks, the odds are somewhat against them. If you never played the first Puzzle Quest, the above trailer will probably look as bland as eating toast at a Kenny G concert -- however, those who have gemswapped their way through the Challenge of the Warlords understand the fancy-tickling capacity of this debut Puzzle Quest: Galactrix trailer. With looks at the new hex-based gameplay, the massive galaxy the game takes place in, and the new visual aesthetic, this one video should be enough to cause visions of hexagons to dance in your head until the game's Q1 '09 release.

Like a vampire that refuses to stay dusted, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise continues to chug on after the TV show's 2003 cancellation. New comics, toys and even a magazine have kept the cult favorite series alive long than the First Evil. The undead march continues with 505 Games' announcement today of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Sacrifice for the DS.

The "action-packed 3D survival horror game," as the press release describe it, will follow everyone's favorite slayer and the usual gang as they try to re-close the re-opened Hellmouth sometime after the events of the seventh season. Development will be handled by Romanian developer Beast and the story will be penned by Buffy TV scribe Rob Deshotel.

Sacrifice doesn't have much of a gaming pedigree to live up to -- the two THQ-published Game Boy Advance Buffy games scored 39% and 50%, respectively, in the GameRankings averages. With review scores like that, maybe this is a gaming franchise that should learn when to stay dead.

When it comes to controller design, there truly is nothing new under the sun. You don't have to tell that to Nintendo -- the company has been sued (with varying success) over existing patents allegedly relating to the Wii Remote, the Gamecube controller and, uh, the Wii Remote again. Now, GamePolitics is reporting Nintendo is facing another lawsuit over the DS touchscreen.

In his complaint, John R. Martin alleges that the Nintendo DS infringes on his 2003-filed patent for a "Method for Operating an Electronic Machine Using a Pointing Device," (pictured above) which describes, among other things, a touchscreen input system. Nintendo, for its part, formally responded to the charges (PDF link) by saying it does not infringe on the patents, that Martin's ideas are unpatentable, and that the company is protected by something called the "doctrine of prosecution history estoppel." So there!

We're not patent lawyers, but Martin's patent doesn't seem to offer much improvement over the 1993 touchscreen patents he himself references. Still, he'll have his day in court, and we'll be sure to let you know what happens once that day is done.

The DS version of The Force Unleashed tries to cram all of the light-saber-rage from the consoles into a handheld package. You'll be disappointed if you directly compare the two. I recently tried a late version of the DS game, and I didn't think enough of the system's strengths and weaknesses affected the design. The DS game gives a 3D perspective of the action on the top screen with adequate visuals, but the chunky graphics steal some of the excitement. And since the camera can't be repositioned, you'll be regularly attacked by people just off-screen. Worse, player attacks are issued by tapping on icons, causing hunting-and-pecking through battles.

Since The Force Unleashed is about going nuts with explosive superpowers, that sense of excitement got lost by scaling everything down to fit the DS. A wireless, four-player, local battle mode might make it a fun game to play with friends, but I wasn't able to test that feature. I hope the final game will grow on me after its September 16 release. But the time I had with this portable edition left me cautious.

Nineteen-year-old German homebrew programmer "Fuzzy" recently revealed his latest project for Nintendo's dual-screened handheld; a portable port of Nintendo's franchise mash-up brawler, titled Super Smash Bros. Rumble. The above shakycam video reveals the early fruits of his labor -- so far, only three levels and one character (Mario) are available. It obviously needs a massive amount of work, particularly in the character design and animation departments, but it's a wicked idea. We hope that Fuzzy will continue working on this inspired project, provided that Ninty's legal juggernauts abide.

After much speculation and painful hours of sitting on pins and needles, Square-Enix confirmed that their chronometric teaser was, in fact, counting down to the big reveal of a Nintendo DS adaptation of Chrono Trigger. The countdown just ended, revealing the first pseudo-trailer for the game; following Squeenix's promise for a "newly revamped" version of what many consider to be the greatest RPG of all time, our hopes were high for a 3D remake, ala Final Fantasy III and IV -- though the trailer shows that the visuals will retain their charming 16-bit aesthetic.

The trailer doesn't show off the game's new features, like the new dungeon, wireless play and touch screen support -- though it does end by touting the Winter 2008 release window we'd previously heard. Hopefully, future media for the title will show us exactly why we'll need to purchase the game again (other than the fact that it's frakkin' Chrono Trigger) -- until then, we'll be anxiously awaiting Christmas morning, when we'll scurry to the foyer to discover that Ho-Ho has left us stockingfuls of heartwarming nostalgia.

Update: We've got the post-countdown trailer posted after the jump, courtesy of GameVideos.

Sure, it's sad to see all those beautiful, Special Edition DS models in Japan never reach US or European soil. Fortunately for those with a bottomless wallet, the DS is region-free. If you're the kind to covet DS units like Pokemon, here's a collection of some of the best colors and designs from around the world.

We know there are probably one too many prerequisites for you to find this story truly interesting -- but if you're one of those rare DS Lite owners who recently purchased Guitar Hero: On Tour, and is also into homebrew applications for the handheld, and also fancies themselves a modern day Botticelli, then there's a new homebrew painting application with some surprising peripheral functionality that the four of you should really consider picking up.

The app in question is BassAceGold's UAPaint (v1.02), which allows the use of the On Tour guitar grip buttons for easily accessible short cuts to important tools, streamlining the digital painting process. It's a really sleek setup -- unfortunately, we're not entirely convinced that DS doodlers really need faster, more powerful methods of etching poorly-rendered genitalia into their luminescent screens.

We've had many Game Boy Pockets, GBA SPs and other portable devices snatched up by certain agitated educators during our formative years, which is why the recent news of a new program to teach English to Japanese students using the Nintendo DS fills us with unbridled, elderly bitterness. Think of the things our generation of handheld companions could have taught us! Geometry from Tetris! Microbiology from Dr. Mario! Animal husbandry from Pokémon!

To be fair, the program (which was recently examined in a Reuters write-up) requires students at Japan's Joshi Gakuen all-girl junior high school to use special English-instructing software with the handhelds, which are collected at the end of each class to prevent any unsavory Pokédueling during recess. The program is just barely into its one-year trial period, though the school's vice principal is very optimistic -- if only he knew he was actually transforming his pupils into rot-brained, knife-wielding miscreants!

It's actually pretty difficult for us to tell if the above trailer is any good -- you see, when the original Final Fantasy Tactics Advance came out, we played it until our GBA SP's brilliant backlight peppered our poor eyeballs with cataracts. From what we can tell through blurs and blind spots, Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift looks similar to it's last-gen predecessor, with a few minor graphical tweaks and improvements in sound. Considering Square-Enix has added a handful of new classes and races, and yet another lengthy single-player campaign, we're wondering where we can find a black market eyeball dealer/installer in our neck of the woods, and if they can pencil us in before the game's June 24 release date.

Designed by artist and former EGM editor Shawn Smith, Ninjatown is so sugary-cute that it should come packaged with flavored DS screen protectors. Its looks are just as sly as ninjas themselves, as we found a (so far) surprisingly deep action-strategy game underneath all the serious eye-fluff.

We got some stylus time with a nice and solid pre-release version of the game yesterday. At first, we caught ourselves giggling a bit as the game's mechanics were explained. After all, it's not every day that you see a special attack where you literally blow away ah-dorable fire demons using the DS microphone. Keep reading for more silliness and our full impressions.

With the impending launch of the iPhone App Store promising to finally (officially) bring games to Apple's all-in-one portable, a Forbes editorial is again floating the idea that Nintendo's DS may be facing a threat to its market-leading portable perch. The editorial notes that the iPhone combines the touch-screen and microphone of the wildly popular Nintendo DS with the motion-sensitivity of the wildly popular Wii. Add in the support of Sega, EA and Ubisoft, along with the ability to download games wirelessly through the App Store, and you have the makings of a portable gaming game-changer.

The piece makes some good points, but we think we're going to join with The Motley Fool, MacWorld and ZDNet in the ranks of those skeptical that the iPhone is going to take the gaming world by storm. The reasons for our skepticism include the iPhone's high price point, limited on-board storage space and the lack of major announced titles (Super Monkey Ball and Spore will only get you so far).

The MacWorld writer probably summed it up best: "The iPhone, at its heart, is not a gaming machine. Not in the way that the DS is, where every design consideration is given to one task, and one task only: playing games." Hey, since we're already talking about wild speculation, there's always a chance Apple and Nintendo could just merge and make the upcoming "battle" moot.

Though EA puts a positive spin on bringing "the adventure, fun and drama of close quarters of apartment living to your Sims," life has shown us that putting a bunch of gibberish-spouting hipsters into an enclosed living space is a recipe for disaster. This latest Sims 2 expansion, Apartment Life, promises new social networks, character types, buildings and a "reputation meter," but it's all inevitably going to devolve into spats over how we left the toilet seat up or forgot the cat outside in the rain. Again.

Incidentally, you'll probably want to avoid doing just that in The Sims 2 Apartment Pets, a matching "apartment adventure" just for the Nintendo DS. The portable pet sim will task you with taking care of a variety of pets -- including "cats and dogs, slithery snakes, hamsters, colorful birds, and cuddly rabbits" -- and realizing that putting them all in the same room is probably not a great idea.

Both games are due on August 26 in North America and August 22 in European and Asia-Pacific regions. The Sims 2 Apartment Life will also be available in a Limited Collection, which includes The Sims 2 Double Deluxe ... and that would be The Sims 2, The Sims 2 Nightlife Expansion Pack, The Sims 2 Celebration Stuff and a DVD filled with "tips and tricks." Those should come in handy for defeating the final boss, Death.