IGN's Hands-on w/Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Adapter

IGN recently posted their hands-on with the new Nintendo Wi-Fi USB adapter. This adapter allows those without wireless routers to grant their DS online access. Craig had mostly positive things to say about the adapter, and a few minor "quirks." Mostly noted, obviously, is that the adapter does not work on Macs. No surprise there, though.

Here's the full article straight from IGN. For those of you who are too lazy to open another window/tab, or for those who don't want to leave the website, and/or for those who detest going to IGN, here's the article:

(Note: Due to image restrictions, this article is split up into multiple posts)

Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Adapter Hands-on
Just how easy is it to connect the DS to the internet?
by Craig Harris

November 7, 2005 - In just about a week's time, Nintendo's Wi-Fi Connection service will go online. This service, intended as a free, seamless, and invisible link to the internet, will be supported by two games: Nintendo's own Mario Kart DS and Activision's Tony Hawk's American Sk8land.

Of course, to access this online network, you need to have a local wireless connection to the internet. If you have a broadband connection, all it takes is a purchase of a wireless 802.11b-compatible router, as the Nintendo DS system is compatible with most of them on the market. These can be obtained for as little as 50 bucks all the way up to a couple hundred, depending on brand and speed.

But you might not ready to take the plunge on a wireless router, which requires a bit of tweaking and a bit of technical know-how to get working properly. And many cable and DSL ISP companies don't offer technical support on user-installed routers since they frown on the fact that their one connection is being shared by many connections. That's where Nintendo's Wi-Fi USB Connector comes into play.

This simple thumb drive-sized device plugs into any USB port of your PC, and it doesn't matter if it's 1.1 or 2.0-compatible. What it does is allow for your Nintendo DS to piggyback onto the broadband connection that your PC is currently using, with a minimal of configuration. The box comes packaged with a short USB extender cable for computers that have their USB ports on the backside of their system, which makes it easier to install and remove the device when you want to switch the Connector from one PC to another.

Currently the wireless adapter will only be available for purchase from the Nintendo.com website, but when Metroid Prime Hunters is ready to go Nintendo will reportedly back that launch up by releasing the USB adapter to retail.

So, just how easy is this to get to work? I gave the device a spin on the same PC I use to write nearly every bit of text on the IGN DS channel.

Through the wonders of Windows XP, the device is recognized instantly when plugged into the PC's USB port. But just because it's recognized doesn't mean it'll work right out of the box; you'll need the configuration software for that to happen. Since ours is a prerelease version, the box didn't have the software included -- but the installation was available on Nintendo's site for download. The installation was a snap, though it took a bit longer than 10 minutes or so for everything to configure internally. And the system needed a fresh reboot after everything was set.

Hands-on continued:

But once that happened:

Note that my system tray now has a Wi-Fi Connection logo. Double clicking on that icon will bring up the memory-resident program. So now, you just need to set your Nintendo DS to connect to the Wi-Fi Connector. All Wi-Fi capable games will have the same interface.

Hands-on continued:

Once you set your DS to connect via USB, you still need to approve the connection so that every Joe and his girlfriend won't leech off your bandwidth. The system tray will inform you when a DS system has tried to connect to your PC.

The man icon will turn blue to show that the permission has been granted to that Nintendo DS system. When the system goes online, that window will show that they're connected to the internet.

The connection within our office has a ton of firewall security, but the Nintendo DS adapter managed to punch right through to the Nintendo service with no problems. The distance between PC and DS is obviously limited, but I managed to keep a strong connection within almost 35 feet away…complete with cubicle furniture blocking the way. Any further dropped the connection from three bars to two, with only slight lag. A few steps further knocked the connection to a single bar, and that's when the lag really kicked in.

The Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector is also made for those who want to connect to wireless links that the Nintendo DS can't access right out of the box. Say you've stepped into a Starbucks -- to connect to their wireless network, you need to launch a IE-compatible browser which automatically sends you to their logon page for credit card or user information. This browser can't be pulled up on the DS, so the DS can't connect. But if you connect with a laptop, and then use the USB Connector to link your DS to the laptop, you'll be able to piggyback onto that laptop's bandwidth and access the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Pretty handy. You just need to make sure that each computer you want to use the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Adapter on has the software installed and ready to go.

The one downside: since you're using the connection of that PC, it's not a good idea to, say, download huge movie files or play World of Warcraft at the same time as playing Mario Kart -- the more bandwidth the DS game has to jam through, the more likely lag will happen.

Oh, yeah, and it doesn't work on Macs. Powerbooks are SOL.

But it's a fantastic way to link your system to the internet if you're not willing to go the extra step and get a wireless router for your cable or DSL broadband connection.

[theONE]

u took my news....

[ShadowMarth]

Yeah... and gamespot did one, and actually 1up was the first to get one up and running.

[Mr.Cool]

awsome, thats for posting it here, I am one of those lazy ones:) The Wi-Fi adapter seems like it's jsut liek I tohught it would be.

Originally Posted by ShadowMarth03

Yeah... and gamespot did one, and actually 1up was the first to get one up and running.

Already knew that. However, I trust IGN's hands-on experience to be more... well, hands-on.

(If you catch my drift...)