Nintendo's wi-fi dongle available

NINTENDO has revealed its wi-fi to USB connector that allows Nintendo DS owners without the luxury of a wireless router to use their handhelds online.

It seems simple enough, pop it into your USB port and it opens a window to establish a connection between your PC, DS and Internet Connection. With only three option screens to flick through on the DS itself the connection is pretty handy.

Users will be able to play friends online by using 12 digit "Friend Codes" rather than names. All users need to do is send their Friend Codes to one another and add them to their respective lists. Nintendo also supports a system where players are matched by rating so that servers don't become too unbalanced.

Available on release will be Mario Kart DS which for many will justify the £30 asking price alone. Other titles have been announced but so far without European release dates. The most interesting of which so far seems to be Daredemo Asobi Taikai. That's a collection of board games supporting up to eight opponents and game sharing. It's nice to see some support for traditional gaming online from a console.

Two other games listed are an English tutorial for Japanese speakers and a puzzle game called Motto Nou wo Kitaeru Otona no DS Training - Brain Training 2 will see Japanese release by Christmas. More detail on those can be found on Eurogamer. Hopefully the DS will have a successful jump into online play. The asking price isn't too high and the skill based servers should ensure an even game for anyone who wants to play. With wi-fi becoming so cheap, using the DS as a true handheld while playing online will be a huge advantage for the platform. µ