May 10^th, 2005 (1:00am) - Majesco has announced that their internal development studio Full Fat is currently working on a Nintendo DS version of Lionhead Studio’s popular god simulation series Black & White. The game is being called Black & White Creatures and is scheduled for a release in early 2006.

Just like it predecessors, Black & White Creatures will allow players to become a god-like being who can shape the earth and its civilization(s) as preferred. In the game players command massive creatures that the inhabitants of the land fear and worship. Players will train this creature and give it a personality that will allow it to perform numerous tasks.

This Nintendo DS version of Black & White hopes to keep the same critically acclaimed level of AI that its PC predecessors are known for. In addition, the game will feature up to eight unique environments, as well as ten different species of creatures to command and train. Many of these new creatures will be exclusive to this handheld instalment of Black & White.

Black & White Creatures should lend itself well to the Nintendo DS’ touch-screen and stylus control since the original games developed by Lionhead are ideally controlled with a mouse on the PC. The DS’ stylus control easily and comfortably mimics that PC control scheme. The game is also said to include voice recognition functions in order to send out commands to control the game’s creatures.

The DS version of Black & White will feature a decent amount of gameplay modes in order to keep gamers busy for hours on end. It will, of course, feature a single-player campaign that rivals the length of its PC brethren and will feature some multiplayer modes such as Creature Battle, and a multitude of mini-games, including a challenge called Creature Dance that puts a beasts’ dancing skills to work. There are also a number of unlockables planned.

Majesco is also working on a PlayStation Portable instalment of Black & White Creatures.