Nintendo DS WiFi Details

drumbandit

drumbandit

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Translated Interview

Major Points
  • 3 ways to choose an opponent: From your buddy list, someone of the same skill level, someone of any skill level
  • Friends can be added to your buddy list locally OR over the internet
  • There are NO universal usernames. You can name your character different things in different games and duplicate names are allowed.
  • To have someone add you to their buddy list, you ask your DS for a password which you give to them. (sounds kinda like Animal Crossing to me)
  • Nintendo-made hotspots are still planned for malls and the like. Even in the US and Europe. No idea how many.
  • Matchmaking is still free. 3rd parties can charge for more complex things (like MMORPGs) but Nintendo won't take a percent of the fee.
  • Read the interview for techincal details on dealing with WEP, etc. It's still planned to be completely transparent to the user.
  • Buddy list management, high score rankings, etc. thru Nintendo.com.


I'm not sure if I like the lack of a universal username. On one hand, it might be hard to keep track of who's who, depending on how the buddy list is done. On the other hand, it's nice that people can change their handles and they'll still be on your list.


Since they share the same network, the Revolution's online system should be nearly identical.
 
[quote name='Grave_Addiction']One remedy for that is to use the same username in every game. Problem solved.[/QUOTE]


Sure, I'll likely do that. But some of my friend's have ADD when it comes to naming characters. There's no stopping them. #-o
 
I have doubts in DS's wifi. First of all, Nintendo says the ds uses IEEE 802.11 (without the a/b/g specification). If the DS wifi is truly 802.11 ONLY, then the transfer would be pretty slow (and I dont think 802.11 alone is enough for infrasturcture play since 802.11 only allows 1 or 2 mbps transfer rate- unlike the 802.11b, which allows 1;2; 5.5; 11 mbps or 802.11g which allows 54-108mbps). What do you guys think?
 
u guys know packets lost is the "normal" thing right? Even playing Counterstrike on dual cable using 802.11g @108mbps gives me jumpy pings on certain servers already (plus occasional 2-4 lost packets) . Imagine playing DS infrastructure games @ only1-2 mbps.
 
It's using 802.11b but throttled down to save power to 1-2mbps only.

Do you have an internet connection faster than 1-2mbps? I've only got 384/128. My highest upgrade from Charter would be to 1.5M/384K.

You don't really need faster than 802.11b for gaming. Even b is faster than almost everyone's broadband. You've got to be on fiber or one hellish fast cable network or at college on ethernet over the campus backbone for faster than 1.5M down.
 
[quote name='drumbandit']I'm not sure if I like the lack of a universal username. On one hand, it might be hard to keep track of who's who, depending on how the buddy list is done. On the other hand, it's nice that people can change their handles and they'll still be on your list.[/quote]
I wonder if they'll still have a universal buddy list, though. Each DS will have a unique ID based off their MAC address, so the network will be able to keep them all seperate. So theoretically, your buddy list would be based off your friend's IDs, but every game would display different names for each ID. Maybe each ID could have an editable description (for their real names), so for Mario Kart it would list Bob as "Mario (Bob)" and for Animal Crossing it would list him as "Tom Nook (Bob)".

I dunno if that made any sense, but it did to me. :p
[quote name='praystation']If the DS wifi is truly 802.11 ONLY, then the transfer would be pretty slow (and I dont think 802.11 alone is enough for infrasturcture play since 802.11 only allows 1 or 2 mbps transfer rate- unlike the 802.11b, which allows 1;2; 5.5; 11 mbps or 802.11g which allows 54-108mbps). What do you guys think?[/quote]
Like GreenMonkey said, 802.11b is faster than almost all internet connections. Also, the guy said that DS games aren't very demanding on bandwidth (in reference to the hotspots at retailers). So I wouldn't worry about speed. It should be very comparable to any other online game at this point, unless you start getting into MMOs or 9+ player games.
 
Even with xbox live you could and did have games that let you have a different user name than your Gamertag. I believe Burnout 3 was one of them.

I actually REALLY like thier idea of letting multiple people have the same name. It amkes it so personalities can shine through more than adding a 15567 to the end of the screen name.

Cant wait.
 
[quote name='drumbandit']Uh, the DS does use 802.11b.[/QUOTE] Where did you get the info that Nintendo is using 802.11b? Nintendo website only shows it as 802.11 (without "b").
 
[quote name='Blind the Thief']Nevermind, I'm stupid, haha.


I want to know WHEN we'll get Wi-Fi games![/QUOTE]

End of the year, I believe, with Mario Kart and Animal Crossing...though I believe those titles are still tentative in relation to their release dates.

I have dial-up, so i'll be using the hot spots. Hope there's one in my mall. v_v;;

I'm so excited, it would suck if I can't use it.
 
[quote name='praystation']Where did you get the info that Nintendo is using 802.11b? Nintendo website only shows it as 802.11 (without "b").[/QUOTE]

Linky

And many more linkies.

That first one also goes into the down throttling GreenMonkey mentioned as well.

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That interview mentions Animal Crossing being pushed back in '06. Is that just for Europe or the US as well??
 
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