A story we'd been sitting on for some time came bursting out of Nintendo UK this morning, with the company outlining a shatteringly impressive online strategy for the Nintendo DS, Revolution and future Wi-Fi-enabled devices.

Prepare to be impressed. What you're about to read details exactly how an online strategy should be rolled out ? it's cheap to set up, free to use and is pretty much everywhere across the UK.

The network, set up in conjunction with BT Openzone and Cloud, will see gamers able to play DS online from home and on the move, in what has to be seen as the most important advance in online gaming ever witnessed.

You'll also be able to play at home via your existing wireless router. And should you not have a wireless router, you can splash ?30 on a USB dongle that will transmit a wireless signal from your PC to your DS. There will also be the chance to snaffle a dongle for pretty much nothing when it's bundled with various Nintendo online games, including Mario Kart DS due on the 25th of this month.

Then you have to remember that Nintendo's Wi-Fi service for DS will also create a networked environment for your Revolution inside your home. It's all a bit much to take in.

Then bear in mind that it's free. You need to get yourself a DS and a dongle of course, but you'll pay no subscription fee to Nintendo at any point. You'll only pay your standard broadband costs to your provider.

As previously hinted at, the networked environment for DS will be safe and easy to use. A Fisher Price style set-up will precede a secured network over which personal details may not be exchanged. You will have the option to either play against friends or people of varying skill levels. Chat and other community functionality will only be available to those in your friends list and to add a person to this list you'll need their 12 digit personal number ? so it's as safe as it's going to get, certainly not a conduit to kiddie-fiddling as the News of the World (a newspaper seemingly obsessed with underage sex ? go figure) might have you believe.

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