Those of you living on Europe will already be aware of the incompetence that appears to run rampant at NoE. As a result of that I was very pleased a couple days a go when I found a copy of PW3:T&T which so far had eluded me (having played already through PW1, PW2 and AA1). Of course I know the console isn't region locked but I had a couple bad experiences with net shopping so I kind of prefer brick & mortar stores these days.

Anyways the point being I actually bought my DS to play PW. As an old-time fan of the adventure genre, whatever minimal the twitches of the small finger on the almost lifeless genre I am interested on, specially if they come from someone like Capcom and the word of mouth was really good. Same reason I own Zack & Wiki.

I found out that while the actual adventuring part was sort of mechanically repetitive (it basically boils down to inspecting areas of the backgrounds or showing items to the npc's, both to unlock conversational options and then... well, that's it - neither inventory nor environment puzzles, etc) the script was nice and the characters possessed a certain charm. Which made  the whole thing move along nicely up until reaching the trial stage - the meat of the game. Which is of course fun, engaging and actually requires the player to solve puzzles. It's basically an exercise of memory and logic -albeit the later can at times be somewhat warped and/or convoluted- wrapped in a peculiar style of dashing and surreal dialogue. Indeed, the world in which the Phoenix Wright stories happen is a weird albeit eerily coherent one. Later on (second game and forward) they padded the adventuring sections allowing you to interact with the NPC's in the same way you interact with them during the trial section.

The point being, NoE sucks. The Phoenix Wright series is good. And why hasn't it spurred more games alike? Hotel Dusk was sorta decent and that makes half of the DS graphic adventure roster along with the PW series. Guess adventure games do not sell... anymore.

It's really too bad as it's a wonderful genre when done correctly--I'd recommend GameTap to you as they seem to have a surfeit of adventure games to play, but you're in Europe and can't get it there

Actual, Adventure games are revived with the DS. Phoenix Wright is an important handheld franchise for Capcom and it's my favorite modern franchise.

At least from the ones I've played on DS, they are generally lacking when compared to their ancestors on PC by a pretty large margin. Could you list for me five on DS that are B+ or up (in your opinion) that aren't Phoenix Wright-related (which, as an adventure game, is pretty weak but still fun in its own psuedo-genre).

He can't, at least counting only the ones released in the west.

I know, but I was making a point in a roundabout way 

I think DS has enough system sellers as is.

I know, but I was making a point in a roundabout way 

I always actually got incredibly bored with the investigation segments, but the trial parts always made up for it in a huge way!

I think Perfect Prosecutor's investigation parts will be more fun, because Edgeworth actually walks around and you can see the characters in the scene.

I posted this list already in another thread:

Available DS point & click adventures:
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
Hotel Dusk: Room 215
Trace Memory/Another Code
Myst (avoid this; horrible port according to reviewers)
Some Nancy Drew games

Future DS point & click adventures:
Miles Edgeworth: Perfect Prosecutor http://gonintendo.com/?p=39893
Again: Eye of Providence http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/10/hands-on-again.html
Flower, Sun & Rain http://www.adventuregamers.com/gameinfo.php?id=1252
Undercover: Dual Motives http://www.adventuregamers.com/gameinfo.php?id=892
Syberia http://www.eurogamer.pt/gallery.php?game_id=9896&article_id=144019
Last King of Africa http://www.adventuregamers.com/gameinfo.php?id=1246
Secret Files: Tunguska http://www.adventuregamers.com/gallery.php?id=969
Runaway: The Dream of the Blue Turtle http://www.adventuregamers.com/gameinfo.php?id=989
Time Hollow http://www.adventuregamers.com/gameinfo.php?id=1381
Edna & Harvey: The Breakout http://www.adventuregamers.com/gameinfo.php?id=1396
So Blonde http://adventuregamers.com/gameinfo.php?id=1399
The Whispered World http://www.adventuregamers.com/gameinfo.php?id=1397
Ankh: Curse of the Scarab King http://www.adventuregamers.com/gameinfo.php?id=972
A New Beginning (announced, no DS screenshots yet; PC screenshots: http://www.adventuregamers.com/article/id,852 )

(Ankh, Undercover, Secret Files and Runaway are already out in some European countries - I got all 4, three on DS, one on Wii)

A port of the first Broken Sword game is semi-confirmed by Revolution Software's Charles Cecil http://www.videogamer.com/features/article/08-07-2008-459-3.html

The best available p&c adventures on DS so far come from the Japanese developers (Nintendo, Capcom). The reason for this is that the Japanese games are originally developed for DS, the available and future European games are just ports of PC games. Better than nothing, but I would prefer original developments.

Only very few US companies develop p&c adventures nowadays. This is the main reason why this genre is always considered dead by NA gamers: Most of them don't know that many p&c games are available and being developed in Europe.

Actually I think that - outside Myst - p&c adventure games were never really popular in USA (although nearly all the best ones were developed by US companies, like the legendary one in my sig). They were and are way more popular in Europe - at least that's my impression.

The genre was never dead, but European developers only make good adventures, not brilliant ones, and without more US delevopers it will never regain the status it had among gamers until the mid 90s.