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[Shaheed79]

Wifi USB adapters would be the smartest thing for nintendo to include with animal crossing or whatever main game they'll decide to launch their online network, they're quite cheap.

http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=334

49$ MSRP for a dlink wifi usb adapter, and we all know that dlink are quite expensive and their MSRP are usually higher than what you'll find in stores.

Would be a lot less assle for the common folk than having to buy a wifi router, plugging the cables, setting the firewall, etc etc. Who doesnt have an USB port on their PC? Plug it in and vlam, wifi network is ready.

Heh, I own that and YES it hooks up through the USB. Nothing new.

 

[soundwave05]

Heh, I own that and YES it hooks up through the USB. Nothing new.

How big is it? Its basically plug and play, right?

EDIT: Found a better picture ...

Yeah that's very compact and convienant enough to carry around in case you want to play online DS away from your house.

Hopefully Nintendo will charge more like $20-$30 though, since this is more of a means to an end for them and it would probably only work with the DS anyway.

 

[The End]

I'm going to love all of the insecure wireless networks that are going to pop up after this is released.

 

[soundwave05]

I'm going to love all of the insecure wireless networks that are going to pop up after this is released.

I don't think wireless networks have feelings

 

[Juice]

I didn't know devices like this were around. What would the range on something like that be?

That would be pretty convienant for famalies and kids, since getting a WiFi router up would be tough for some younger kids or not-so-tech-savvy parents.

Well, it's 11mbps, which means it's certainly standard consumer-grade B.

I'm far too lazy to look up B's official range, but it's more or less 30-50 feet. Two or three concrete walls are almost enough to entirely block it, though, regardless of range (A,B,G,and pre-N--in addition to speed--also increase in coverage area from a router).

In the case of this dongle, since it'll have to run off the computer's power so it'll probably be pretty damn weak. I'd expect to be able to play a couple of rooms over, but definitely not much further at all without serious latency issues.

 

[soundwave05]

Well, it's 11mbps, which means it's certainly standard consumer-grade B.

I'm far too lazy to look up B's official range, but it's more or less 30-50 feet. Two or three concrete walls are almost enough to entirely block it, though, regardless of range (A,B,G,and pre-N--in addition to speed--also increase in coverage area from a router).

In the case of this dongle, since it'll have to run off the computer's power so it'll probably be pretty damn weak. I'd expect to be able to play a couple of rooms over, but definitely not much further at all without serious latency issues.

I think that image is a photoshop fake since its from last year, but the guys who did it probably were onto the right idea.

Since Nintendo's pretty rententive anal about things like loading times and lag, it'd probably be 54mbps like the D-Link model.

 

[Juice]

I think that image is a photoshop fake since its from last year, but the guys who did it probably were onto the right idea.

Since Nintendo's pretty rententive anal about things like loading times and lag, it'd probably be 54mbps like the D-Link model.

Good point.

Nevertheless, you could just change my first sentence of that post to start out as, "Nintendo's a bunch of cheap-asses, so it'll almost certainly be B" and consider the rest of the dongle theory fine.

My guess is that it'll be just another accessory available for purchase to make some extra butter off of. One thing Nintendo's share holders were concerned with about the DS was that so many of the typical 'add-on' features (mic, wireless,stylus,thumbstrap) came packed-in with the system. They'll be happy if nintendo puts out any sort of big-margin accessory

 

[Particle Physicist]

I give it six months until some Nbot claims Nintendo invented online gaming.

dont worry, xbots already hold that claim.

 

[The End]

I'll give it two weeks for the /. crowd to figure out how to piggy-back on this for free.

 

[imastalker co.]

hasn't that "dongle" picture been fake for about 8 months now?

it just seems like they're bringing back the old news about Nintendo and GameSpy.

i mean hey, it could be happening, but chances are, it's not happening with that dongle thing.

 

[EternalDarko]

uhm, i thought it was known that Nintendo was working with Gamespy for online....they released a statement over a year ago that they were trying to work out good net solutions for their upcoming systems.

 

[Rhindle]

Didn't Buggy Loop just link to a USB WiFi adaptor from D-Link?

The D-Link is a receiver/adapter, not a router. I suppose that, in theory, you could have two adapters peer, and then tunnel through a PC Internet connection. But you would need to be sitting right in front of the PC, which kind of defeats the purpose of the wireless link.

 

[Pellham]

why does the DS need a wifi adapter when it already has wifi built into it?

 

[Buggy Loop]

why does the DS need a wifi adapter when it already has wifi built into it?

/bonks pellham

And what is it going to be communicating to? magic airwaves?
It needs a wifi receiver, either an hotspot, a wifi router or a wifi dongle. The DS's wifi then communicates with it and thats how you have wifi online.

 

[kablooey]

Wow, this is really quite cool. My question about this is, how does Nintendo plan to make a profit off of an online service that's free? I thought the whole reason they've delayed making their games online is because it wasn't lucrative enough from a business standpoint.

Or maybe just the fact that Nintendo provides free online is enough of a draw by itself to draw in more consumers away from Sony/MS's services?

 

[Pellham]

It needs a wifi receiver, either an hotspot, a wifi router or a wifi dongle. The DS's wifi then communicates with it and thats how you have wifi online.

Well first of, this whole wifi dongle thing is unconfirmed. Second, so you are telling me that it is actually a wireless router? :lol Do they make USB wireless receivers? Cause I sure haven't heard of them. Most wireless usb adapters are meant to act as connectors that connect to wireless routers.

The picture that Soundwave posted of the D-Link USB adapter is just that, a wireless adapter, that needs a router to connect to. It'll help your PC go wireless, provided it has something to connect to!

Also, think about it. What would you connect this dongle to? a PC? What, so it will steal the PC's internet connection and send it to the DS? Would it work at my office? Any computer with an internet connection? How will it work? Ad-hoc?

edit: I should read the thread. I see that people already pointed out the possibility of such a device, but nobody has posted proof that it actually exists or that people sell it.

WiFi dongles only cost like $20

If someone actually managed to invent a so-called WiFi dongle, I'd like to think they'd sell for way more than $20, given that they give you a free internet connection leech in a compact size.

Like all other D-Link wireless adapters, the DWL-G122 Wireless USB Adapter can be used in peer-to-peer mode (ad-hoc) to directly connect to other 802.11b/g wirelessly enabled computers for direct file sharing, or in client mode (infrastructure) to connect with wireless access points or routers.

Wanna know something? The DS can do the exact same thing!

 

[radioheadrule83]

Well first of, this whole wifi dongle thing is unconfirmed. Second, so you are telling me that it is actually a wireless router? :lol Do they make USB wireless receivers? Cause I sure haven't heard of them. Most wireless usb adapters are meant to act as connectors that connect to wireless routers.

The picture that Soundwave posted of the D-Link USB adapter is just that, a wireless adapter, that needs a router to connect to. It'll help your PC go wireless, provided it has something to connect to!

Also, think about it. What would you connect this dongle to? a PC? What, so it will steal the PC's internet connection and send it to the DS? Would it work at my office? Any computer with an internet connection? How will it work? Ad-hoc?

Let's look at one: Linksys Instant Wireless USB Adapter - WUSB11

"The Plug-and-Play Wireless USB Network Adapter connects directly to any USB-ready PC-just plug it in and you're ready to share data, printers, or high speed Internet access over your existing wireless network. For desktop installation, you don't even have to open your PC's case. And user-friendly software makes it simple to set up."

Using either Nintendo software, or doing it yourself, you'd enable Internet Connection Sharing on your LAN/ethernet high speed internet connection, and the DS would be giving it's own local IP and be ready to go. I'm sure if hardware / software was made for this purpose, it'd be easy.

 

[Pellham]

he Plug-and-Play Wireless USB Network Adapter connects directly to any USB-ready PC-just plug it in and you're ready to share data, printers, or high speed Internet access over your existing wireless network.

Nothing in Linksys's description (I did a web search) of that device indicates that it acts solely to provide an ad-hoc internet connection to wireless devices. It's nothing more than a wireless adapter that requires a wireless router to connect to.

Using either Nintendo software, or doing it yourself, you'd enable Internet Connection Sharing on your LAN/ethernet high speed internet connection, and the DS would be giving it's own local IP and be ready to go. I'm sure if hardware / software was made for this purpose, it'd be easy.

Right, it's all built into the DS. No need for a dongle.

 

[SpoonyBard]

ad-hoc = does not require a router.