Mailbag-AOL Cable Wi-Fi work for DS?

Xbox & PS2 don't work with it. Do you or anyone know if the DS signal work with AOL Cable wireless network. To prevent confusion, AOL DSL does work the other 2 system. I'll buy Mario Kart if the answer is yes. Please answer!

Jason

Honestly, I'm not familiar with this technology, or even clear on what the Cable internet connection has to do with the wireless home network.

Nonetheless, if Xbox and PS2 do not work with this AOL wireless network the DS will have no better luck. However, you could almost certainly purchase a Nintendo USB WiFi Connector and use that with your PC to connect to Nintendo WFC, as long as you have a Windows computer.

Mario Kart DS Question for you all:

Wifi is limited to 4-player racing, this we know. With the advent of

potential tunneling/wifi hacking of the DS, is there any real chance of

expanding the wifi play to incorporate all of the same features in LAN mode?

Thanks, looking forward to racing you guys online.

Greg

The online community has talked in circles about tunneling the Nintendo DS multiplayer signal for online play. Frankly I don't care, because even if someone has figured out how to tunnel Nintendo DS games locally, the games will not play well. When I tinkered with GameCube tunneling I was unimpressed with the choppy gaming experience. The Mario Kart team implemented multiplayer twice on the DS: once for local and once for Nintendo WiFi. Even then, Nintendo decided it couldn't get all of its offline features to function adequately within a reasonable amount of extra work. The bottom line: gamers cannot expect local multiplayer designed for minimal lag to work well (if at all) online.

Hey bag!

I have been recently looking into buying a new router. I've read a few

reviews and was thinking of the WRT54GC from Linksys which has been given

many positive reviews. Then I read the router compatibility list for the

Nintendo WiFi connection and this router has a rating of 2 stars. Do you

know if there is any information as to what the issues are and where I could

find them? I would like to get this router but obviously I wont be doing so

if it doesnt support to WiFi service, and I would like to avoid the WRT54G

considering that it's been known to have many issues.

Thanks in advance,

Paul

I, too, purchased the WRT54GC because of its good online reviews. Well GUESS WHAT, it sucks! Nintendo gave it 2/5 stars for a reason: sometimes the DS will not connect, and often the router will cut out, disconnecting you from Nintendo WFC. I've seen similar behavior with my laptop and PC, which both connect wirelessly to the router. I suspect purchasing (or making a homebrew) external antenna will solve my problems, but I'm afraid to invest more money in the damn thing.

Frankly, WiFi technology itself could be the Achilles Heel of Nintendo's strategy: I've yet to read of an excellent router within the home network price range. A shame the online network's name itself precludes the addition of an Ethernet port to the Revolution.

Heya, TYP. Here's a (possibly) interesting question for you: Can a DS access the Wifi Connection service through an Ad-Hoc network? (For those of you less technologically informed, an ad-hoc network is when two or more devices access each other wirelessly without a router, e.g. LAN'd DSes. It's basically the route Nintendo is taking with the USB dongle.) I was wondering if you can do this with any wireless card, not just Nintendo's.

-Stu

Ah, a challenge! I spent an hour or so trying to get this to work—I'm afraid the answer is no. Using Windows XP's Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) feature I was able to share my laptop's wired internet connection with my desktop using a wireless peer-to-peer (aka ad-hoc) network.

However, I could not get the Nintendo DS to interact with my laptop through the same setup. And yes, I disconnected my desktop from the network before attempting to connect the DS. The Nintendo DS software will see the ad-hoc network, but it cannot obtain an IP address. I guess Windows uses some (possibly standardized) peer-to-peer handshake, and Nintendo DS isn't part of the cool club. This is why Nintendo consistently uses "Access Point" in its terminology, and not simply a "wireless network."

I think that MKDS is looking great and I am very excited for the game. The only thing I was disappointed about was how limited the online play was. I mean this doesn't mean im not gonna enjoy the online play they have included, but I am worried about the future of mobile online gaming.

I initially was very excited about the possibilities of playing games online with a portable but after seeing the limited offerings of DS and PSP in that department it makes me wonder if there will ever be a fulfilling online experience with either system!

I would like your thoughts and input as to whether or not we will see portable online gaming fleshed out a bit more. Is it bandwidth/lag/gameplay issues? If thats the case then won't playing online with the Revolution have the same issues, maybe even moreso? I know there are way more things that factor in so hopefully you can put some perspective on the whole thing because i would hate to see the DS's online capabilities be wasted on a few token games.

Best Regards,

Rob

Interesting question….Are you aware of the WiFi features in Tony Hawk's American Sk8land? Although you can only play with one other person at a time, Vicarious Visions has created an impressive assortment of online community features such as statistics tracking, downloadable recordings of high-score runs, sharing of customized content, and new in-game missions. You can download one new mission at a time for offline play, and your stats for that mission will be uploaded when you reconnect.

As I understand it, Nintendo DS has fairly weak WiFi hardware, and usually connects at 1-2 megabits per second for local multiplayer (assumedly to conserve battery life). The same probably holds for 802.11b connections. This may be contributing to the "unfulfilling" online experience, but since most American broadband connections have an upload rate under 1 mbps anyway, I have my doubts. I think the real culprits are the smaller budgets associated with handheld games and Nintendo's relative unfamiliarity with online multiplayer. We may eventually see larger-scale online games on the DS, especially if the early WiFi games are well received, but Sony doesn't seem all that interested with the PSP.

I don't think online lag is any more of an inherent problem on the DS or PSP than it is with Xbox or PS2, but even if they are, none of these issues should affect the Revolution. Since the Revolution doesn't need to worry about battery life, it will use an 11 mbps network connection (or 54 mbps, I'm not sure), which is more than enough for current home internet bandwidths. Many actually use wireless hardware bridges right now to use Xbox Live without running wires. So if Revolution games have online difficulties, blame the programmers, not the "slower" wireless connection.

Hi bag, how are you doing,

I just had an interesting idea and wanted your input into it. What if

two different players on two different WIFI connection games can

interact with each other in roles local to their game. For instance, if

a nintendog pounces on a remote control Mariocart in the Nintendogs game

than in the alternate Nintendoverse, MarioKart stalls in the Mariokart

game. Where ever the Mariokart goes on the track in the Mariokart game

the remote control MarioKart cart goes in the same place at the park in

Nintendogs. It is sort of like that wifi connection commercial but in a

game instead of real life...

This is just an example.

If you can understand anything I said, then you are scholar...anyway do

you like the idea?

Your Planet Patron,

Your Friend from an alternate Nintendoverse

Well, if Mega Man Battle Network 5 can connect to Boktai 2, I suppose anything is possible. I'm not seeing how this could enhance the Nintendo WFC experience, though. We're more likely to see a Revolution Nintendogs that can transfer a Mario Kart-esque mini-game to the DS.

That's it, folks! I'm flattered that you care about what I have to say, but I cannot handle a regular mailbag. Don't think you can muscle me into a daily routine, because I just don't have the time or energy.