Are you in the zone?

Remember that thing called Nintendo Zone? It's an app on your 3DS that connects to thousands of Wi-Fi hotspots in your region — it doesn't work on home connections — and provides exclusive content such as videos to watch. It's there to encourage us to take our portable system on the road and fire it up in restaurants, fast-food spots and coffee shops, among other locations.

It's a nice option, though we'd wager some don't use it or have difficulty finding specific Wi-Fi spots supported by the service. Nintendo UK has gone to fresh effort to expand access to the service by signing up to a deal with O2, one of the largest mobile providers in the region that also has a rapidly expanding Wi-Fi network. Some of these new online areas are live right now, while the full range of O2's 7000 hotspots will enable further access to Nintendo Zone in the coming weeks.

As is always the case, the access and Nintendo Zone are completely free, and all you need to do is open up your 3DS in a spot and have your Wi-Fi settings on; it should automatically install the app — if you haven't used it already — and you're good to go. Typically the offerings will consist of video, with various trailers on the way (though one of the listed movie's already been out for a while):

Upcoming content available to download from Nintendo Video includes free 3D trailers for blockbusters such as Iron Man 3, Monsters University and Epic as well as 3D animations featuring everybody’s favorite pink morphing-maestro Kirby and extreme sports action from Red Bull.

You need to have updated your 3DS to the latest system update for the service to work. So, have you used Nintendo Zone on any of the existing free Wi-Fi spots, and will this O2 deal encourage you to try this more?