PopCap's hyper-addictive casual blockbuster Peggle is coming to Nintendo DS with new features tailored for the platform, the company announced on Thursday during the Casual Connect conference in Seattle.

"It's not just a matter of taking Peggle from PC and slapping it onto the DS," Greg Canessa, PopCap VP of videogame platforms told Edge-Online in a phone interview. "It's not a port, but an adaptation."

PopCap expects to release the DS game to North American retail in Winter this year for $29.95, shortly followed by a European release. A Japanese release is expected in a later timeframe.

The original Peggle debuted in March 2007 on PC, where it has seen 25 million downloads to date, according to PopCap reps.

The development partner for Peggle DS is Q Entertainment, the puzzle game gurus behind Lumines and Meteos.

Canessa had previous ties with Q Entertainment when he was group manager for Xbox Live Arcade, a service that saw the release of Lumines Live.

"Q Entertainment is sort of the PopCap of Japan. ... It's a marriage made in heaven," Canessa says.

Q Entertainment is designing the game to take advantage of the DS' stylus input. The game will also have more levels than the PC version, including "signature" Q Entertainment-designed stages.

Canessa said PopCap isn't doing the title in-house because the company is currently focused on new franchises and evolving existing franchises on PC.

"PopCap doesn't have experience developing DS product as a first party, so we really wanted to work through a development partner that has some experience, and has that innovative, creative mentality. They're going to do a great job with it."