Based in the UK and seeking fellow Dragon Quest IX players? Nintendo is teaming up with HMV to have you covered...

Two of the main features of Dragon Quest IX are its four co-op mode and its map-sharing Canvassing Mode. Unfortunately for those of us living outside Japan, where the series enjoys a user-base in the millions, it's quite difficult to stumble across fellow players to interact with. Luckily, Nintendo are teaming up with Gamerbase in HMV to offer a number of events around Britain.

Apologies for the tardiness of this reporting are needed, as the first event was today in Edinburgh. Although die-hard Scots could always make the journey to Glasgow tomorrow instead. If you want to reap benefits of these rare events, just take a DS and your copy of Dragon Quest IX to the Gamerbase in your city's HMV store.

Edinburgh - Monday, 25th October
Glasgow - Tuesday, 26th October
Manchester - Wednesday, 27th October
London - Thursday, 28th October
Reading - Friday, 29th October

As well as being able to exchange maps and characters with other players, you'll also be able to get access to a special boss, Estark. Slime giveaways will also feature if you take along three of your friends.

Planning on heading to an event near you? Let us know below...