The following was written for Nintendowned.com a few months bac, shortly before the DS wi-fi service was launched. it was never published. I figured I found it in my notebook, and decided that, for prosperity, I might as well stick it up here.


In two weeks, Nintendo will be launching their DS wireless gaming service in Europe. For those of you who've been living under a rock for the past few months, this could well be the biggest event in handheld gaming this year. DS owners all over the world will be able to play each other, and more importantly it's free. Nintendo have arranged for DS compatibility in almost all iwreless hotspots (a quick search on the website reveals the only hotspot within ten miles of my house is the local pub. Nice.) as well as DS demo pods. More interestingly will be the home-access compatibility. For 30 quid you can get a USB dongle for your PC that turns it into a wireless reciever. Or you could just use your home wireless network if you have one. Oh, and you can get a free dongle with mariokart DS, so you don't have an excuse. Are you suggesting you don't like Mariokart? Please stay where you are. The game police will be dispatching a kill-team shortly.

Most of you know all this. I don't get paid to tell you what you already know in this column (wassat? I don't get paid at all? Of all the cheek! I am outraged! I want to complain! I [You're fired-ed]). I'm supposed to be commenting. And making you laugh. And musing on wireless online gameplay for free and how it fits into the bigger picture. Which is exactly what I plan on doing.

Well, it's one in the eye for other games companies for a start. Sure, PSP has the "amazing" use of actually being able to play against other PSP owners in the general vicinity! On games that are designed for home consoles! And has a cack battery life! And sure, your NGage lets you play people on the go blah blah blah. Wut willl they let you show off your "1337 5killz" and "pwn" kids from japan? Well neither will DS. Pretty scarily good with games, those Japanese kids. But DS will let you get "pwned" by Japanese kids! No longer is there the infamous problem facing gamers, particularly in quiet areas: that finding an opponent is near impossible. No more travelling 20 miles to find enough players for that neat tournament option. No more wandering the streets and hanging around game stores looking for folk with DS's. Plug into an entire network of opponents from home. And it's free! Take that XBox Live!