I was pretty hyped about the DSiWare store when it was first announced. I mean, it’s hard not to get excited about an iPhone-like app store with Nintendo backing. In theory, it’s awesome. practice, it’s been pretty meh. Flipnote Studio is awesome, as are some of the Art Style games, but it has mainly been a platform for Nintendo to sell demos of existing DS games or redundant applications (guys, the DSi already has a clock).

Well, after today’s round of announcements, I’m pretty excited about the whole concept again. Nintendo has let a list slip of first-party DSiWare releases for the fourth quarter of this year, and some sound pretty awesome. We have:

· Art Academy: Second Semester (Nintendo teaches you art history)
· Art Style:Digidrive (a port of the awesome, if confusing, GBA bit generations title)
· Electroplankton minigames (sadly, this is more of Nintendo chopping up full DS games, not a new Electroplankton)
· Picturebook Games: The Royal Bluff (I have no idea what is going on here, but there is a dog sheep in a suit)
· Pinball Pulse: The Ancients Beckon (Sounds epic, but will it beat Dream Pinball 3D for sheer absurdity?)
· Sparkle Snapshots (which Tiny Cartridge speculates is a localization of Itsudemo Print Club: Kira Deco Premium)

I’m personally interested in the updated Digidrive and Pinball Pulse, but neither of those are as exciting as the third party announcements. First off, Subatomic is bringing a port of the iPhone tower defense game Fieldrunners to DSiWare (as well as to the PSP Go). I haven’t tried it out, but I hear that it is pretty great.

Even cooler - WayForward has announced a three-episode Shantae series. The original Game Boy Color game was one of the best action games released for the system. The few people that actually bought the game have no doubt been clamoring for a sequel since. The first episode, entitled Shantae: Risky’s Revenge, will be out by the end of the year.