Cheats-Area.com

The famous PC franchise is heading to Nintendo's portable platform at dazzling speeds, with the arrival expected for the fourth quarter of 2008.

Firebrand, the British studio who also brought us Race Driver: Create & Race for the DS, has been working for several months now (according to the official statement) at porting the fun-packed racing game onto Nintendo's handheld.

The title will be published by the Paris, France-based company Focus Home Interactive.

"We are very happy with this partnership with Firebrand," said Cédric Lagarrigue, CEO of Focus Home Interactive. "Their technology and background guarantee TrackMania DS will be a solid adaptation of the PC game, while also making the most of unique features of the DS. The fact that some members of the Firebrand team are true TrackMania fans definitely convinced us to trust them, and the first results are spectacular. We believe that the Nintendo DS console is well-suited for more casual games than to realistic simulations, and TrackMania DS, with the fun it brings in solo as well as in multiplayer mode, along with its well-known track editor, should find itself quite a nice place on Nintendo's handheld."

TrackMania DS will maintain its focus on crazy, fun and spectacular aspects of racing, offering the same incredible tracks made of jumps, loops, turbo boost pads that the PC version enjoys. Moreover, the handheld version will arrive with a full-fledged editor with different design blocks, allowing players to create their own tracks and thus pushing the replay-value to almost infinity.

The first trailer for the game is available here, while a couple of high-resolution images can be found here.