Lucky Japanese DS owners are being given the chance to download special DS games, created by students.

Last year, Nintendo held a game development course in Japan, named Game Seminar 2006, where students were invited to apply their creativity and technical skills to DS development. The four winning projects will be made available to the Japanese public for free download, via Nintendo's various DS Station kiosks. Every two weeks, starting last Thursday, a new title will be uploaded.

They include a game in which you draw pictures in time with music to communicate with aliens; a baseball ball-swinging bout of rodent-assisting; a picture-based communication game; and a sound-input centred flower-themed title. To be honest, they sound wonderful. See some olique screens here. The Game Seminar course, and this latest development, are further signs of the DS' invasion of Japanese mass culture, and sound like an inspired idea that only the Japanese tend to see.

Online games rag Eurogamer tempted fate and enquired at Nintendo about the possibility of seeing something similar over here. "No, it won't come to Europe, as it's a Japanese local market initiative," was the - natural - reponse. "Great idea though."