It's not a secret that I do a fair amount of traveling. As such, my gamerscore isn't as high as I'd like it to be. I don't have as many trophies as I probably should.

And while I've always been a huge PC gamer (closing in on 200 hours logged and 130 out of 175 achivements in Team Fortress... and those hours are dwarfed by what I've spent historically on WoW and EverQuest) I've quit all MMOs a slew of other games I used to play when I had more time at home (also pre-daughter era).

But when I travel, that doesn't mean I don't game. For several years, my trusty DS fat, PSP1000 and my blue Japanese PSP2000 have served me well on many a flight and in many a hotel room.

So I was pleased to come home and find that the DSi I'd preordered on Amazon months ago arrived. Matte black thank you very much. Speaking of which, what is with that blue color Nintendo chose?

I plugged in Henry Hatsworth and yep, it plays DS games (though on a much nicer screen than my fat used to). Messed around with the camera and albums for about 10 minutes and wondered to myself, why doesn't my normal digital camera have a nice calendar association and album management feature like this? While I'm wondering, why isn't my digital camera touch screen enabled?

Got it working with my wireless network but why is WPA not part of the standard setup? I had to go through the advanced procedures... what's so advanced about WPA when most routers in the last three or four years have supported it and nearly all security experts deem WEP as insufficient protection? Anyway, onward.

I performed a system update. Went to the DSi store... picked up Opera. Checked out how Capcom-Unity.com looks on it (not good due to the flash nav bar in case you were wondering). Then drew some penises in Pictochat because... you know, what else are you going to use it for?

Yep. It's a cool piece of kit that will serve me well for the next several years of travel. Seeing as I'll be on a plane for about 12 hours and in a hotel for a full week, starting a week from Saturday, I'm looking forward to some extended play time with my new toy.

But that's not all.

Office mates with more svelte hardware (especially those in our Osaka offices who carry around the most mini-laptops you've ever seen; they look like Fischer-Price toys) make fun of me because I've been lugging a Dell XPS 1710 around for nearly three years. The thing weighs about 12 pounds without the 165 watt power supply (which is like another 2-3 pounds by itself) but it was a solid dual core/Geforce 7900 system that could play most games rather well. But no more.

I've upgraded... to something that weighs only about 10 pounds... but the 225 Watt power supply (which I'm sure will suck a Boeing 777 dry on a trans-oceanic flight) weighs about 4 pounds.

And this is why, my laptop bag has wheels.

In any event, my portable gaming capabilities have improved, and that makes me happy. May your portable gaming needs be as satsified as mine.