Some sites are reporting you'll be able to chat to your opponents in Mario Kart DS, but others have heard nothing of the sort. So what's going on?

When Jim Merrick's juicy new information on the Revolution and Wi-Fi Connection hit the net yesterday, we were pretty pleased by what he had said. However, some sites reported he also mentioned a chatting function in Mario Kart, allowing you to communicate with your opponents. Here's a round-up of the situation.

Quite a few sites have a translated section of the interview which states that "If you don't know the people you are playing with, you won't be able to chat with them, to protect the privacy of the young users. On the other hand, if you play against a friend you'll be able to chat. Every DS has a MAC code, and you'll have to give this code to your friends to be able to play and chat with them."

So what form of chat will be implemented? Chatting just through Pictochat? In-game chat? During races? No-one really seems sure. One site is even going so far to say the service will be voice chat!

On the other hand, DS-x2 is now reporting that "according to the most recent story we heard, either Merrick supplied the wrong information on the chat-function in Mario Kart DS, or the translation performed was erronemous, but Mario Kart DS will not feature any kind of chat-function."

So that's how things stand - for now, no one really knows. It just seems strange if chat was included in the game we haven't heard about it before now - with other big releases of Mario Kart DS information. Our advice is don't get your hopes up. And anyway, it'd only distract you from your driving.

Update: Revo-Europe can now confirm for definate there will be no in-game chat functions on Mario Kart DS - voice, text or otherwise. This clarification has come straight from Nintendo.