As you'll know, playing your DS in public (unless of course you've shelled out for an import Lite) can be a shade embarrassing. It's not the prettiest of machines and you have to play most games with a little stick. And then you have the additional shame of barking voice commands at it, or blowing lightly into its microphone, none of which is ideal for the urbane style-conscious media agency employee.

Datel seemingly has the answer so the latter of these problems, showing a headset for the DS which enables users to pretend the have a mobile telephone, rather than a demanding digital dog in need of Frisbee practice.

Indeed, Datel promises, “...a whole new perspective on DS games with talk or voice control features, especially online. Featuring a comfortable, over-the-ear design and snazzy hi-tech look, Communicator Headset works with both the original Nintendo DS and the new DS Lite, and is fully WiFi-compatible.”

And we have to agree that for Metroid Prime: Hunters, it is better to organise pwning n00bz via headset than the slightly awkward way we currently shout at the front of out DS consoles, a problem that has led many a McDonald's employee to squint suspiciously at us in past and the probable reason we have been denied any more than two tubs of barbecue sauce with our order of small fries.

SPOnG suspects that Datel is prepared to take a hit on its headset for the time being, with demand unlikely to be explosive until the announcement of voice over IP calling, expected to be a major revelation at this May's E3.