In fact, you can hook up the two computers directly using one cord if you wanted to deathmatch in the same room or you can just plug your computers anywhere in the house as long as a phone jack is nearby. For the security conscious there is built-in firewall technology to keep things secure. The other important feature of this kit, which will become even more important as these kits hit the market in numbers, are the included games. I'm not too excited about these games and suspect that the market leader will emerge when someone comes out with a Quake bundle. I doubt golf will be the reason behind a home network purchase.
Installation is rather simple.
The network cards are tiny little PCI cards with two phone jacks. One jack gets connected to the telephone wall jack and the other receives the telephone cord or connects to your modem's line input. In other words, the network card stands between the device, phone or modem, and the wall jack. Once the software is configured you can share files between the computers, use printers from any room in the house and even add Internet access to a computer that doesn't have a modem. The 60 page manual is complete in terms of hooking up the system but doesn't spend any time discussing gaming over the network.