2010 was a great year for DS games, with many anticipated games being released. Plus, it wasn’t just a good year for one kind of gamer. All genres were pretty equally represented so everyone had something to look forward to and play. It also wasn’t a year completely dominated by big name developers and publishers, like Square Enix, and a number of smaller developers and publishers’ games really stood out.

Join Gamertell as we reminisce about some of this year’s best DS releases. Let’s briefly remember 10 games that were an absolute joy to play…

Just when you thought you’d hate going to the mall to shop for the holidays, Nintendo decides to actually make the experience fun. From November 22nd to December 19th 2010, the company will set up demo stations at 23 malls across the country for you (and of course, your kids) to check out some games that you may or may not want to buy for Christmas…or as a present to yourself.

Kmart’s got two great video game deals in the ad circular for August 1-7, 2010. Unfortunately, it’s really only of interest to two groups of gamers – those who own a PS3 and those who own a DS. Those fortunate gamers can participate in deals which net them free things, like a copy of Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks or PS3 gaming coupons, for buying something they were probably going to get anyways.

The best deal is the DS one. If you get Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies, you get a free game…

Nintendo is going all out for Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies. No wonder Square Enix allowed it to publish it in North America. It is getting platinum treatment. In order to get people hyped up about the DS game and give game owners a reason to use Tag Mode, Dragon Quest IX is going on tour…

There are times where a game is released where you really want to know what happened but you either can’t or don’t want to buy or play it. To help you out, Gamertell offers Spoiler Alert. We’ll play the games and tell you what happened so you don’t have to spend, or waste, your time on it. This week, we’re looking at Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies, the DS RPG from Nintendo. Prepare to be spoiled…

We already knew Nintendo was going to be showing up at Comic-Con 2010 in San Diego, and now we know what games they’ll be showing off at the event. The two highlights will be the company’s two most recent releases, the DS game Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies and Metroid: Other M for the Wii. Both games will be playable throughout the entire event, which runs from July 22-25, 2010.

Dragon Quest IX-owning attendees will also want to bring their DS and their copy of the game. Nintendo will be distributing the treasure map Mortamor throughout Comic-Con. Just make sure your game is on and in the Canvass for Guests Tag Mode when you stop by Nintendo’s booth so you can download it to your cartridge…

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies was a phenomenon in Japan. It received a perfect score in Famitsu, it set a Guinness World Record and the week it was released Nintendo experienced a DSi sales explosion in Japan. That’s not even taking into account how long it stayed on video game sales charts in Japan, or how many copies were sold. Now, it’s coming to North America. Surprisingly, Nintendo is taking the reins from Square Enix, who created Dragon Quest IX and published it in Japan.

But all that means nothing until you actually play Dragon Quest IX. It’s only by playing that you understand why so many people have taken to the game and invested so much time in it.

The game begins with players making an avatar. This avatar is revealed to be a Celestian, a denizen of the Observatory who guards over mortals on the Earth below and assists them to obtain benevolessence for Yggdrisal, the world tree. You’ve just been made the guardian of your own little town, Angel Falls, replacing your mentor Aquilla. Every Celestrian is waiting for the day when fyggs bloom on Yggdrisal, meaning the time has come for them to join the Almighty and mortals no longer need their protection…

GameStop is supporting Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies and its fans with a special one-day map event! On July 31, 2010, GameStops will be giving away a Special Event map that you can download to your Dragon Quest IX cartridge if you stop by the store with your game in your DS in the Canvass for Guests mode. This map will allow you access to a new region and area in your game which will hopefully be great for leveling and perhaps contain special equipment or items.

The thing is, there aren’t that many GameStops participating in this particular event though. It isn’t like those Pokemon distribution things where all GameStops in the area get the cartridge and have the distribution going all the time during the event period. The Dragon Quest IX Special Event Map is only being distributed from 1-4pm on July 31, so if you want to get it you need to check…

Nintendo had lots of awesome games at its E3 2010 booth, one of them the July 11, 2010 release Dragon Quest IX. If you happened by the Nintendo booth, like I did, you could find three DS units set up with the game, begging to be played.

The demo begins with a pre-created party in a fairly nondescript town. It looks beautiful, and you get to look around a 3D environment with customized characters. The demo scenario placed me in a town, where a billboard proclaimed that a knight that was causing trouble for the kingdom, and the king was asking for assistance. What a coincidence! My character just happened to be an adventurer traveling with friends…

Good news DS owners who’ve been waiting for Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies! Nintendo is shooting for an almost-simultaneous release date for the US and Europe. Almost, because it’s incredibly close. The US gets it first, on July 11, 2010. Europeans shouldn’t feel too left out though, as they’ll be playing it 12 days later on July 23, 2010.

Dragon Quest IX is the latest entry in the series and is a DS exclusive. While it’s a Square Enix game, developed by Level-5, Nintendo is publishing it in North America, Europe and Australia.

Speaking of Australia, the country still hasn’t received a set release date for Dragon Quest IX. The game still has a tentative Q4 2010 release date there. It’s odd, but hopefully there’ll be a release update for that region soon.

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies is unique because of its customization and multiplayer options…