It may not be hard to sync up a pair of Nintendo DS systems for a quick peer-to-peer game, but just try doing that with your tablet or phone — it's often easier to find a foe over the internet than hook up with a friend right under your nose. Qualcomm has been working on an intriguing technology called AllJoyn that intends to solve that problem, though, and at GDC 2012, we saw a few examples of just how easy things could be if the idea takes off.

In case you're unfamiliar, AllJoyn is an open source framework that uses existing wireless technologies like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to sync devices together — not a new wireless protocol itself. The key is this: AllJoyn automatically figures out which other devices nearby are running the same application, and it can quickly sync them together at the press of a button. Applications aren't merely limited to gaming, of course, and we can imagine some amazing things should AllJoyn eventually support the likes of Wi-Fi Direct and NFC, but even now developers can download the SDK, and start building proximity-based peer-to-peer multiplayer into their upcoming games.