Nintendo unveils USB Wi-Fi adapter for DS

While no Australian release has been confirmed as yet, Nintendo has announced that the USB Wi-Fi adapter will be available in the US on 14 November, the same day Mario Kart DS is released. For those who don't have a wireless Internet connection, the adapter can plug in to a computer's USB port to create a Wi-Fi connection with the DS. The price is still unknown for Australia, but Nintendo Europe will be selling the adapter for 30 pounds (AU$70).

Using its internal wireless functionality, the DS will be able connect to any wireless hot spot that is Nintendo Wi-Fi-enabled without a Wi-Fi adapter. It will use friends lists, and it will work for international competition. Further details are expected to come shortly.

Online play for the DS will be free for first-party Nintendo games, such as Animal Crossing: Wild World and Metroid Prime Hunters. It will be up to third-party publishers to decide whether to charge for online play in their games.

Of other interest to DS owners is the ever-expanding list of games in development for the handheld. Though Nintendo showed several games that were previously announced, it did announce some new ones that could surprise some fans.

Mario Basketball 3 on 3 is currently in the works for the handheld. Little details have been released, but screenshots show that the game will play in the light atmosphere familiar to Mario sports games.

Other familiar characters get their turns on the DS as well. Tingle, the mapmaking elf-wannabe from the Legend of Zelda series, will apparently get his own role-playing game. Bomberman comes back for more explosions in Bomberman Story, Phoenix Wright is returning for more litigation in Gyakuten Saiban 4, and Nobunaga comes back for more ambition in Nobunaga's Ambition DS.