It was going to be but Japanese gamers yelled at S-E so it is going to be turned based like it always has.

I hope not. I don't think it would be anyway since DQ stays to the early format of Jrpgs.

If handhelds weren't made for RPGs then why is the DS and PSP the RPG kings this generation.

Some people just don't think things out before they say them...

Probably because the development costs are high on the console and RPGs can be made in a relatively short amount of time on handhelds.  RPG is a good genre for handhelds since they don't require state of the art graphics like shooters do.

I think that Dragon Quest 9 will outsell 8 for the following reasons.

1: Dragon Quests growing popularity as each generation passes. Dragon quest as a series has sold more each generation from the SNES onwards.

2: Larger popularity overseas then ever before

Dragon quest VII on the ps1 sold 210,000 copies in NA. Dragon quest VIII sold 410,000 copies in america and 600,000 copies in rest of the world.

I expect this trend to continue so that Dragon quest IX will sell at minimum 1.5 million copies outside of Japan.

3: Dragon quest games on the DS have already sold very well.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker Square Enix 1.88m
Dragon Quest IV DS Square Enix 1.26m

Very good numbers no matter how you look at it.

4: The DS's dominance in Japan.

This ones pretty simple really, the DS is selling much faster then the ps2 is, thus it gets the userbase advantage. Even though the demographics diversify as a console sells more its still something in its favour.

5: The first major DQ release on a handheld.

Basically, this is the first time the main series has been released on a handheld and the first time its been released on a nintendo system for a long time. This is a massive change and I'm expecting it to pay dividends simply because it shakes things up.

6: Multiplayer

Depends on how its implemented but it could get some of the monster hunter crowd interested. And even if it doesn't it could lead to great word of mouth that keeps its legs up.

7: Pokemon

This speculation is a bit suspect but the casual pokemon RPG crowd might be interested in another RPG.

8: The DS

The DS has lead to success after success. Dragon quest IX will probably benefit from this aswell.

DQ9 is in 3d not 2d as some have already said.
Will be 4 player multi player full version. So the main story will let 4 players play at once. Not some side mini multi player.
Action orientated.

http://www.leechvideo.com/video/view154087.html

my only concern is size. I'm hoping the main adventure will be just as big as the the earlier ones. The world for Monsters and CC for the DS were sorta small.

It was going to be action oriented but it was changed back to turn based after Japanese gamers yelled at S-E.  Monsters and and CC were spin offs so DQIX will probably be as long as some of the previous games in the series

I said 2d sprites, which I'm correct. I never said it wasn't 3d.

 Exactly my point.

There aren't any sprites so I'm nto sure what you're talking about...