Owners of a Nintendo DS portable gaming system in the U.S. will soon be able to use the device for wireless game downloads and voice chats.

Nintendo announced these new features at the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences' DICE conference in Las Vegas on Thursday.

The new donwload service has been available in Japan for some time and will be coming in the States in a few weeks.

According to the company, users will be able to use the Nintendo DS' Wi-Fi feature to download game demos and other downloadable content at thousands of participating retail locations around the United States.

The first downloadable games will include demos of Tetris DS, Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day, Mario Kart DS, Meteos, True Swing Golf and Pokemon Trozei. Nintendo promised that the game selection would change quarterly.

The company will also enable a voice chat feature on the Nintendo DS. The new Metroid Prime Hunters game for Nintendo DS will allows gamers to chat via Wi-Fi with other gamers before and after matches.

Nintendo gave DICE attendees a first look at an upcoming DS to be sold in Japan next month. The Nintendo DS Lite is about two-thirds the size of the original Nintendo DS and more than 20 percent lighter.