During the Casual Connect Conference in Seattle, PopCap CEO David Roberts revealed that his company will be entering the DS gaming sphere. Before this announcement became official, we had the opportunity to chat with PopCap VP Greg Canessa about this new direction for the casual gaming company.

"Dating back about a year ago, we were talking about the synergy between the Nintendo and PopCap brands, and now we can announce the first fruits of that labor," commented Canessa. "Our first announcement is Peggle DS – Peggle is one of our biggest franchises and a great fit for the system, since it has an appeal to the hardcore gaming community, especially after our partnership with Valve and Peggle Extreme in the Orange Box. We've developing the game with Q Entertainment of Japan, who helped make Lumines, Meteos and Rez so we're super excited to partner with them, because with what they do, they're kinda the PopCap of Japan."

When asked if working with Q Entertainment meant a larger push into the Japanese market, Canessa responded, "We'd like to be bigger in Japan, but right now we're very focused on the North American market. We are looking to expand into Asia and have a new office in Shanghai," he said before adding, "Peggle DS is not just a port, by the way, it's being adapted to the system to make sure it really belongs to that platform. I know [Q Entertainment] from my time at Microsoft; we think it's a match made in heaven."

"[Peggle] was our first big title, and we chose it because we wanted to invest in one of our larger franchises," he continued. "The franchise also has a very strong following amongst enthusiast consumers and casual gamers alike. By choosing Q to do this, which is a very cool company with its own unique style, we think this will help it be successful. Doing Peggle on the DS will also allow us to add extra ideas, including Q designed levels for the game, and we have other new and exclusive features that we'll announce later."

PopCap's DS announcements do not begin and end with Peggle; the company is also working on two 'seek-and-solve' puzzle adventure games. The titles are Amazing Adventures: The Forgotten Ruins and Mystery P.I. – Portrait of a Thief, which are based upon 'hidden object' titles on their site.

"These games are a natural fit for the DS because the system has a very broad appeal, and the input affords itself very well to the game, since the mouse controls can be approximated with a stylus," noted Canessa. "Hidden object experiences are also good for 'pick up and play' gaming as well. Click out your DS and they're great jump in and jump out of experiences."

"[These announcements are] really reflective of how much we've grown," he added. "We're one of the few companies that put their money where their mouth is when it comes to multiplatform releases; few companies have pulled it off. EA is one of the few that's pulled it off with consoles, handhelds an online. We do that too, along with slot machines and TV boxes."

We queried if this move would set up eventual expansion onto other platforms like the PSP. Canessa answered, "We're always looking at other platforms. We're on Xbox Live Arcade and we've shipped PS2 titles. Wherever it makes sense to put our titles, we'll look into that."