Japan Airlines: Keep Your Gaming to Yourself

Japan Airlines and Nintendo have struck a deal to offer complimentary DS lites for first and executive class passengers. The deal is rather straightforward: if you have the scrizzle for first class treatment, you may have the chance to check out the DS lite along with 4 titles, 2 of them belonging to the Brain Training series, along with some DS Golf and Mario Kart action to keep passengers from falling asleep in those plush, executive class recliners.

Notably, the DS lites provided are supposedly “specially manufactured without wireless capabilities.” Now, my first inclination would be that some Nintendo code monkeys simply disabled the firmware drivers for the wireless hardware, although it’s equally possible that corporate dropped in on a DS lite factory, broke some legs, and saw to it that a handful of units were manufactured without any hardware at all. I’m sticking with my theory. Most new mobile phones have a “flight” mode that simply disables any wireless bits of the hardware.

So there we have it – a marketing stunt that very few of us will experience. Amazing, right? Sure.

But there’s something that sticks out to me about this neutered DS. We’ve all gotten into some high-altitude multiplayer action at some point (sort of like a slightly geekier, more awkward mile-high club) or have at least fired up Pictochat to look for a friend. However, it never crossed my mind that we were breaking flight regulations by doing so. The rules always specify mobile phones and such are off-limits, but mobile gaming devices (usually specified as “gameboys”) are always encouraged. So there you have it, a paradox for the ages. What’s the verdict, guys?

JAL DS promotion info (via Digg)