DS (US) Wi-Fi Plans Revealed

[Kadabra]

http://ds.ign.com/articles/656/656195p1.html

Connect your DS to the internet this November. Full details right here.
by Craig Harris

October 5, 2005 - To coincide with the details coming from Japan, Nintendo of America has revealed the US plans for the service that will link Nintendo DS games wirelessly all over the world. Already revealed as the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, this internet service will go online starting November 14th in the US, with the first Nintendo-published games, Mario Kart DS, Animal Crossing: Wild World, and Metroid Prime Hunters supporting the network. The first third-party game will be Activision's Tony Hawk's American Sk8land.

The service will be free to Nintendo DS owners, requiring no additional charge to play supported games over the internet. Households with Wi-Fi networks can access the service with only a minimal of setup procedures. For households with standard broadband internet access and no wireless router, Nintendo will sell separately the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector that will enable the Nintendo DS systems to connect to the internet.

Nintendo of America will also set up thousands of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection hotspots all over the US, and the company will soon reveal the details on where and how players can link up via these hotspots. Nintendo will also use the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service for its next generation Revolution console when it ships sometime in 2006.

Mario Kart DS and Tony Hawk's American Sk8land will ship on November 14th to kick off the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection in the US. Mario Kart DS will support four player over the internet; racers can pick opponents from their roster of friends, match up randomly against strangers of comparable skill levels or simply choose to race against anyone in the world. American Sk8land will feature head-to-head play, enabling players to create custom art for boards and tags as well as track high scores and stats.

Animal Crossing: Wild World will launch on December 5th. Players can travel to other players' towns or invite up to three other players to visit their own towns, simply by opening the town gate. The four players then can interact and play together simultaneously in one town. Players must know one another and register to their respective friend rosters before they can connect.

Metroid Prime Hunters, the long-in-development first person shooter for the DS, will ship in the first quarter of 2006. The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service will enable players to link up with like-skilled opponents all over the world.

Nintendo has taken the online video gaming model and rewritten the definition of community," said Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of sales & marketing. "With easy setup and no added service fees, players far and wide will log in and play with one another as easily as if they were sitting in the same room."

That's pretty cool. New attack vectors for cracking its wireless communication protocol by and for homebrew developers... Among other things, of course, but to each their own. :-D

 

[Rayne]

Oh I'm definatly going to pick up a DS now. This is what I was waiting for
all along! (+ A bonus price drop heh heh ^_^)

 

[GrnMarvl14]

Fantastic, I was worried that I'd have to have a wireless network at my house to get the DS's Wi-Fi abilities to work. Being able to just buy an add-on is perfect, what with my penchant for buying at least one non-essential product for each of my Nintendo systems.

 

[GrnMarvl14]

New info revealed regarding Wi-Fi spots. Apparently 6000 McDonalds in America will be getting them. And the Wi-Fi connector that's being sold for those of us without Wi-Fi connections in our homes? A Nintendo.com exclusive.

Story

 

[Dogasu]

Question: The dorm I'm living in doesn't allow wireless Internet (for a variety of reasons). Would buying and installing the Wi-Fi connector essentially create a wireless connection in my room that would get me in trouble with the housing people here?

 

[Rayne]

Well the DS wireless port is different from that of a Wireless network card I would assume. It should only allow for the DS to connect to your computer, not other computers to your computer. Now if other people in the area happen to have a DS handy, they may be able to tap onto your wireless hub, but only through their DS. Now if you secure it, thats up to you, but you won't have to worry about people hacking through your Wi-Fi connector to get to the internet with their computer.

 

[Doctor Oak]

Question: The dorm I'm living in doesn't allow wireless Internet (for a variety of reasons). Would buying and installing the Wi-Fi connector essentially create a wireless connection in my room that would get me in trouble with the housing people here?

Would you get in trouble for using a Wavebird?

'Cause it's basically the same thing. The Nintendo Dongle is just for the DS (and probably Revolution too) so doesn't actually create a network - just a wireless way to get your DS and Computer to talk to eachother.

More or less just like a Wavebird in that sense.

 

[Dogasu]

Oh. Well, in that case, I won't get in any trouble with the housing people here. Thanks for all the info.

 

[Kadabra]

Actually, it is still using the 802.11b standard, so on the physical layer, the hotspot that you're going to set up will be identical to that of a regular Wi-Fi router, for example. The upper-layer information is encrypted, however, so they won't be able to make sense of the DS traffic with packet capturing tools or whatever.

Will you get in trouble? Probably yes. It depends on their reasoning for banning Wi-Fi. For example Wi-Fi can disrupt other devices, hence the ban on using them in hospitals.

 

[GrnMarvl14]

NintendoWiFi.com is now alive and working. Shows the areas where (I assume) the service will be available. Even comes in four different languages.

EDIT: Nintendo.com has the router in stock (in case you want to play at home and don't have a wireless modem), but sadly it's not in stock yet, and there's no price listed. Oddly enough, I can't seem to find it by just searching through the Online Store's site, I have to be linked to it from the Wi-Fi site. Odd.

 

[Rayne]

Nintendo.com has the router in stock (in case you want to play at home and don't have a wireless modem), but sadly it's not in stock yet, and there's no price listed. Oddly enough, I can't seem to find it by just searching through the Online Store's site, I have to be linked to it from the Wi-Fi site. Odd.

I belive its at around $34.99 US. The Vice President of Nintendo made that comment at a press confrence less than a week ago.

It's a rather interesting article over at IGN on the future of Nintendo and where they plan to go.