Nintendo DS To Allow Free VoIP Calls

sm4kxd writes "Gamespot is reporting that the Nintendo DS will use "built-in wireless 802.11b networking capabilities to offer voice-over-IP chat--in effect, allowing gamers to use the DS to make free phone calls at wireless network hotspots." There's also mention of a headset, so you won't look ridiculous while doing so." The article doesn't have much more information, but the "in effect" seems important; this may only allow unit-to-unit conversations, not VoIP calls to the regular telephone network.

Comments

This is good

[zoloto]

and not subject to regulatory agencies. very nice, and useful as well! just think about being able to communicate with a useful tool (and toy) and you're gaming or in range of someone elses public network!

not that I'll be buying one yet, however - this idea is very cool.

Killer app?

[sploo22]

I've always thought that wireless connectivity would be the killer app for handheld game consoles. Platforms like the GBA have always had a lot of restrictions - like needing specially-designed link cables, headphones, etc. Now that Nintendo is coming under pressure from products like the N-Gage, it seems that they're finally going to unleash their secret weapon.

I'm just hoping that the DS will have all the appropriate goodies to go with this capability, like wireless multiplayer games, Jabber, maybe even a web browser and media player.

Gateways are only a matter of time

[jd]

When VoIP first appeared for actual telephony, rather than just machine-to-machine calls, the telecom companies were absolutely livid. They even pushed for ISPs to be charged as "long distance carriers", even if no VoIP took place, because it could.

(This would have meant that you would have paid long-distance rates to dial into dial-up ISPs - possibly more as Mom-and-Pop ISPs just wouldn't have the clout to arrange the kind of deals that most long-distance providers work out with the local telephone companies.)

What really got to the telecos was not the idea of computer-to-computer chat, which had been around for some time, but the gateways linking the Internet to the regular telephone exchanges. A lot of people were buying such exchanges, hooking them up, and basically allowing any Internet user (for a fee the guy with the exchange could set) to dial ANYONE in the local calling area of that gateway.

I'm going to predict that Nintendo geeks'll have similar gateways rigged up (with the cries and screams of telecos & Nintendo ringing in their ears) within a year. It's just a case of breaking the protocol and writing a simple translator for one of the myriad of modular gateways that now exist.

With British Telecom switching to a pure IP-based telephone network (they're abandoning the dedicated switched-circuit approach completely), and where Nintendo's encumbering licenses are largely considered invalid (there are independent software developers for Nintendo in the UK, and Nintendo has failed in efforts to stop them), I am going to predict that the UK will have the greatest interest in such a gateway and will likely see some of the earliest attempts at one.

The US, with its DMCA and other assorted copyright extensions, is simply not friendly to that kind of R&D. The risks are high and the benefits are low.

India and China have a good tech industry, fewer problems with copyright, etc, but don't really have enough high-speed infrastructure to make VoIP realistic, right now.

What will my Nintendo DS phone number be?

[jmcmunn]

So can people call me through VoIP as well, if I am at home using my DS or at a hotspot somewhere looking like a dork playing games? Will I be able to have it ring me while in the middle of a lonely single player game of pacman, when one of my buddies wants to get his ass kicked in mario party or whatever multiplayer game?

Let's hope that Nintendo does the "phone thing" better than N-Gage did the "game thing". I wonder if those two markets of portable electronics are ready to merge just yet. Maybe we're close...

Re:That's not likely to come from Nintendo

[BW_Nuprin]

Nintendo's press footage at E3 showed the DS being used for many other purposes besides games. People taking notes, people chatting with each other via some kind of whiteboard program, etc. While I still doubt the DS will be able to make VoIP calls for free and all that that entails, I tend to think that the "only about games" attitude is merely Gamecube centric.