But where's the game gone?

Deep in the Agetec game labs, some mad scientist forcibly Frankensteined PictoChat with with a Japanese game show. The result -- a game called LOL -- is remarkably entertaining. LOL is a multiplayer-only game which turns your DS into an electronic space for amusing your friends. Up to four players can play and only one of them needs to have a cartridge. At $19.99 this makes LOL a good party game bargain.

LOL is long on the party aspect and short on actual gaming. The cartridge-owner boots up, the other players download the game, and play begins.

The designated 'host'player uses the touch screen to pose some sort of challenge for the rest of the players. It might be a riddle to solve, a drawing to complete, some kind of humorous question ('Worst first date ever?'), or ... well ... anything, really.

While the host is doodling up the challenge, the rest of the players can pass the time squishing the little LOL characters scurrying across their touch screens. For my playtesters this turned out to be oddly compelling and a minor competition erupted over who had the highest squish count.

With the challenge complete, the host can decide how long the players have to respond -- one minute, three minutes or forever. The challenge appears on the players' DS screens and everyone -- including the host -- gets to doodle up a response. When everyone has responded (or the time has expired) the host shows all of the responses to all of the players.

Each player has three votes which they can distribute among the entries. The player with the most votes wins. A new host is selected, a new challenge is posed, and the game goes on.

But where's the game gone?

Beyond the voting, there's no scoring, no rewards for achievement, none of the usual game trappings. Instead, LOL is built around getting you to be creative and interact with your friends. The simplicity of the interface gives you the freedom to make LOL into whatever you want.

Of course with the game content being generated by the players, LOL is as clean or raunchy, funny or stupid, or entertaining or dull as you and your friends make it. With the right group of people, this has the potential to be the most fun you've ever had with your DS.