The Nintendo DS hand-held gaming device (sort of like Gameboy, but with two-screens) is forging into new territory with their built-in Wi-Fi support.  Wired News gives us an overview of what most of us already know - playing multi-player games is a lot of fun. Hackers are dabbling in the DS's Wi-Fi capabilities and now mainstream developers have products available with more coming soon. Adding wireless will make hand-held LAN parties commonplace. The social aspects of close-proximity gaming are intriguing to consider.

After recent coverage of the Infinium Labs Phantom gaming system, I've been watching for other subscription-based video game products. I didn't expect to see it from a cable TV company though.

Comcast said that for a separate monthly fee of $14.95, subscribers would have unlimited access to more than 60 PC-based games, from mainstream titles to educational software. New titles will be added each month, the company said.

Also, Comcast recently acquired TechTV and will apparantly keep the gaming shows on the air. The games service will mix content from G4techTV.

The new G4techTV remains focused primarily on games, and Comcast said clips and other features from the channel would be available as part of the new games service, which runs on systems developed by Exent Technologies.

This sounds like good news for gamers on Comcast. I just hope they will carry worthwhile games. With all that bandwidth available, I'd hate for it to be focused on fare worthy of the computer store bargain bin.

ExtremeTech, the brand under which I wrote my new book, is blogging E3. I think the unusual perspective from ExtremeTech editors will bring a wide diversity of articles and viewpoints from the show. I especially like the up-front attitude expressed in the following snippet:

It's not always fun or glamorous being at E3. After a couple of days, the feet start to hurt, the throbbing beat from the loud music becomes a throbbing headache and your eyes begin to itch from all the flashing lights and artificial fog. But E3 is about fun, the fun that will be delivered in the coming year or two on game consoles, handheld devices and your PC.

I'm going to the show to meet old friends and new and listen to some 8-bit music. It will also be interesting to see some of the follow-ons to my favorite genres like shooting games, driving games, and my favorite: Shooting-while-driving games. But I feel the same way as the ET folks after a while. You can only stand next to people dressed up like aliens, apes, and stormtroopers for so many days in a row before going batty.