::A Geek in Korea::

So the Nintendo DS WIFI dongle I ordered from Play-asia arrived. This means that all those games I had spent hours on playing single player now double their content by as I become multi-player fodder for the online gaming masses. I’ve already set up the dongle, and used the dongle to play online games. Dongle is a great word and needs to be incorporated in my daily writing more often. The setup and connection to the WIFI service was a breeze. The games are lag free and fun to play.

I was able to get online. I registered my name at Nintendowifi then started a game of Tetris DS right away. I was actually able to set up the WIFI service easier than I was able to find the "instand drop" button for Tetris DS. (It’s +up.) I won my first game of Tetris online, then promptly lost every single game after in a matter of seconds.

I don’t know how the ranking and matching system works, but the first game I played was against someone with 11 wins, and the second was against someone with 111 wins. That’s a substantial difference in experience, and I was showing a need for some practice. I was a little underwhelmed by the options to play online. Either one player with no items, four players with items, or push mode. What’s up with the limited choices? I hope actual WIFI games with friends will allow for some more variations. Of course, I’d need to be told someone’s friend code, as there is no actual way to gleen this information from the game itself. Why didn’t they add a "add to friends list" option for people you meet in random WIFI games?

My initial experience with Metroid Prime: Hunters was more encouraging. I was able to hold my own in a match with four other players and came in a solid second after leading the match for a solid minute or two. I actually went from last to first, held on, then lost at the very end. This sort of excitement, and I don’t even have to log off the service when I go to the bathroom? That’s simply going to be disasterous if I ever have anything I need to do around the house, at work, or ever. You can also do Voice chat with your friends via the game. I have only "rivals" at the moment, so I haven’t been able to test this out.

Anyway, I’ve rooted through all my WIFI enabled games to pull out the friends codes I need to get some competitive play started with the people I know. If you happen to have a Nintendo DS and access to a WIFI enabled hotspot or play online, challenge me to one of the following games some time:

Animal Crossing DS: 4381-5518-3433

Tetris DS: 4503-8494-3825

Metroid Prime: Hunters: 1074-4269-0675

Mario Kart DS: 1503-9237-4437