Civilization headed to the DS?

Uncanny as it may sound, Sid Meier’s actually hinting at a CIV game for the DS. Well, he says he wants to do one, at the very least. Now, once again, Don’t get your hopes too high. Here’s the exact conversation between him and Gamespot:

GS: Age of Empires was successfully ported to the DS, but so far the only portables that Civilization series has touched are mobile phones and the ill-fated N-Gage. Could we see a DS Civilization some time in the future?

SM: Our goal is to deliver Civilization on any game platform that makes sense. If we can deliver a fun experience to the players on the DS, then we’ll do it. We’re still in the exploratory mode on all of this, but will definitely let you know our plans as soon as they’re set. I believe the N-Gage version was a licensing deal that Atari made using the Civ II version Firaxis wasn’t part of the development process, so it was ill-fated from the beginning.

“Any platform that makes sense” naturally includes the DS, so I assume we will be seeing a CIV game for it some time down the road. Just don’t expect to see a Civilization: Divine Society or anything hitting retailers any time soon. 

Yes, that’s a lame name. Think up a better one, and I’ll replace it with yours.