After skulking around the Warehouse district of Minneapolis for half an hour, I found it: Gleaming in the morning sunlight, Nintendo's silver Airstream trailer. Nintendo's representative introduced himself as Brent Smith. We chatted for a while about the coast-to-coast tour that's taken the bus through places like Salt Lake City and Denver and now to my beautiful city, but quickly got down to business.



While the Wii set-up went on, Brent and I took a look at a couple DS games coming out this season. The tour, which started a few weeks ago, had games like Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky on hand, but we skipped those recently released games to check out stuff coming down the line.

First up was Style Savvy. Developed by syn Sophia and published by Nintendo, this second-party game is aimed squarely at the girls' market. Style Savvy has you opening your own fashion boutique. You start out by making your own character. If the fact that it is about fashion didn't indicate that it was aimed at girls, the character creation interface and the game itself make it entirely clear. There are no boys in this fashion world and, sadly, no Tim Gunn. Character creation went by a bit fast but it looks like you get to select your characters facial features and clothing before heading out to start "changing the world, one outfit at a time," as the website says.

The game will definitely appeal to younger girls interested in this sort of thing. With a detail-oriented focus that requires you to listen to your customer and find them the best outfit for their needs, anyone interested in that sort of thing should get a kick out of it. Brent also added at the end that the game will include lines from real-world fashion designers, downloadable over the Nintendo Wi-Fi. No word yet on whether these will be free.

Style Savvy seems to be aimed at, well, skinny young American girls. As I said, there are no boys in the game, and the variety of body-types seemed non-existent in the experience I had. I honestly think the game is a little insulting to anyone that picks up a DS, but the stuff sells like crazy so it's easy to see why it keeps coming out.

Next up on the DS was this year's big handheld holiday release, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. I want to preface some of what I'm about to say by noting that despite how it might sound, I don't mean any of it negatively. With that out of the way…

Spirit Tracks doesn't offer much new. Like Phantom Hourglass before it, the game uses the cel-shaded look of Wind Waker, which looks great on the DS. Love it or hate it, it also uses the same control scheme, based entirely around the stylus and microphone. Another character reappearing from Phantom Hourglass is that big knight, the Phantom. This time around, though, you're in control of him. You can switch between Link and the Phantom to solve puzzles by sending him through obstacles the little guy in green can't handle. This adds an interesting dimension to puzzle solving, but it also slows down the game quite a bit as you get used to moving yourself and your buddy around.

Sadly, the short demo didn't give me time to try out the big new mechanic, the train. It seems like it'll just be a bit for bit replacement of the ship from Phantom Hourglass, but it would sure be nice if it ends up being more. I'd like to see the Zelda franchise have the same variety that Mario's been fortunate enough to enjoy, but this installment doesn't bode well. For fans of the series though, this is just what the doctor ordered: more creative dungeons, more fun puzzles, and more Link.

Check out our next article for the scoop on the Wii Fit Plus and New Super Mario Bros. Wii!