Today, a Tokyo press conference played host to the announcement of the next installment in Square Enix's flagship Dragon Quest series, Dragon Quest IX: Defender of the Stars, for the Nintendo DS. The title will be developed by Level 5, which was responsible for the highly acclaimed Dragon Quest VIII. With a Wi-Fi component, players will be able to join with others in a similar style to Crystal Chronicles in what series creator Yuji Horii calls more action-oriented battles. Composer Kouichi Sugiyama also made an appearance and declared that he would compose for Dragon Quest until the day of his untimely demise. A grave decision.