Topic: DSi Wi-Fi Caveats and Issues

[Shecky]

So I learned a few things today - and I want to point them out because I have yet to see a review that talks about this caveat.

For all those of you excited that the DSi finally supports WPA2 encryption and look forward to playing your current Wi-Fi enabled games online over that method.  You can go back to being disappointed.

So I just got done with a little experimenting today on a friends DSi unit.  Looks like in order to get WPA support the unit pidgin holes the settings into slots 4, 5, or 6 instead of the normal 1, 2, or 3 that we've had in the past on the normal DS units.  Getting to the shop and any other DSi online apps worked fine with the WPA settings in 4.  However, booting up Mario Kart showed that we were unable to connect to the net.

I think I know why this is the case, and if I'm right, it'll be unlikely that older games will ever support WPA and that you'll have to wait for newer "DSi" games to get that capability.

Nintendo knows how to make networking a PITA.

[stevey]

This has been known for a while and the reason, like always, is Nintendo's software engineers are clueless when it comes to writing an OS/firmware.

Just like DS titles won’t get WPA support on the DSi, effectively making the DSi’s WPA mode useless if you ever want to use DS titles on-line. The DS WiFi drivers and configuration stack are built in to every game.

[Shecky]

Yeah it really looks like the DS only keeps some slop memory for the settings and the game sucks that info down and does all the legwork.... what I wonder is if the DSi is the same d*** way.  I wonder if anything OS wise is running when you fire up a DS title.  One easy way to check is if the soft reset works when in a DS title (short tap of the power button, not long enough to shut down the unit).

Off topic, I see your big BOYCOTT stuff and had to look it up.... Why such a big deal?  Just yet another software patent - and it's an idea that's kind of been around for a while anyways.