Monty's Gaming and Wireless Outlook - Issue 179

If I trip over another wheelie suitcase I will not be accountable for my actions. Is it just me or are there others out there who are itching to murder those who drag along their annoying little cases on their way to transportation termini? Would it really be wrong to punch the owner and jump up and down on the case for 20 beautiful seconds?

And they're getting smaller by the day, it won't be long before people are pulling along their iPods and their mobiles. But, hang on a minute, maybe violence isn't the way. Much better is to stand by a flight of stairs and watch the wheelie-owners come to a halt, push the button's handle and then struggle to drag the case down the steps. Ha-ha-ha, that'll teach them.

I even saw a 'traveller' wheeling their rucksack the other day. Man, you have to carry your own luggage in life, especially in your 'Gap Year'. Some of us had Gap Decades and the only things we wheeled were our arms as we went insane in the Sinai Desert, but that's another story. Ah-hum, calm, calm - easy now. Right.

So, next week will see an invasion of wheelie bags as Barcelona opens itself to the hordes of mobile people converging on this year's 3GSM World. And nobody knows what to expect. For years, the show has taken place in Cannes where one would go off-Croisette, pitch up in the Majestic or Martinez hotel, run a tab and meet everybody one needed to meet.

But where to go in Barcelona? Where is networking heaven? Is it the Hotel Des Artistes? Is it at the harbour or Las Ramblas? Is it at the Nokia, MEF, Infospace or Sony Ericsson parties? Either way, it looks as if mobile entertainment will move from the marginalia of the Conference Centre to somewhere nearer centre stage. Finally.

There are those who don't read enough books who will suggest this year's show will be the Tipping Point for such content, but the real Tipping Point will be when I fall over another effing wheelie bag and that bag finds itself rammed inside the nearest wheelie-bin.