Nintendo gameboy advance - Nintendo DS going online soon ??

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Nintendo DS going online soon ??

NEXT BOX

2005-03-04, 5:45 pm

Nintendo DS online... soon #1
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EDGE MAGAZINE 143 - DECEMBER 2004

Voice Chat protocols

Quote:
Many ideas are still to be designed and tested, but the first to come
out of prototyping should be wireless voice chat - and protocols are already
being developed by Nintendo. This could be an important step for the
machine, in light of Japan's typically rabid adoption of wireless. Nintendo
may find the DS has a double life as a communications tool - ironic
considering its positioning as a 'pure' gaming device rather than Sony's
convergance-based vision of the future.

Internet browsing, protocols, interfacing with PCs.
Square Enix and the PlayOnline service

Quote:
Other companies are already developing internet browsing interfaces
and protocols, and Bandai revealed that it already has the DS successfully
interacting with PCs. Square Enix also intimated that it is experimenting
with enabling the DS to interact with its own PlayOnline service (which
supports Final Fantasy XI, among other titles).

Up to 32 players locally?

Quote:
Even without PC connections, the DS's potential could be even greater
than Nintendo is predicting - other developers confirmed they already have
32-machine networks operational, a massive step up from the conservative
eight players Nintendo is currently willing to guaruntee.

E3 2005 earmarked

Quote:
However, these developments won't become available immediately.
Several companies suggested that it wouldn't be until E3 next year that they
could show the kind of advanced and ambitious games which could take full
advantage of the DS's potential.

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IGN.COM - DS CHANNEL

January 24, 2005:

Originally Posted by Craig Harris, IGN DS:
In the meantime, however, there's been rumblings at Nintendo that
indicate that the company will finally unwrap its DS online plans very very
soon. As it goes, Nintendo left the keys to the WiFi car in the hands of the
third-party developers, but the third-party developers didn't want to drive
it without Nintendo making the engine. So, as a result, if we've been
hearing things correctly, Nintendo will finally and very, very soon, reveal
its own "Xbox Live" like service for developers to adopt. And the first game
out of Nintendo to use this service will be one of those massively killer
Nintendo brands that people have been wanting to play online for years...

February 18 2005

Hey Craig, I recall in a couple mailbag's back, that you mentioned Nintendo
having a "surprise" annoucement, and it would be told to the public sooner
rather than later. As a result of course, the DS boards went into a frenzy
trying to figure out just what you were trying to say. Care to clarify?
Right now we haven't heard anything from Nintendo regarding a PDA component
or online of any kind and it would be appreciated if you elborated on what
you exactly you meant. Thanks.

dalexc

Originally Posted by Craig Harris, IGN DS:
Everyone wants to play Nintendo DS multiplayer games online. That's a
given. Game developers aren't going to put time into WiFi until Nintendo
backs the idea for itself. And we're pretty confident that Nintendo's got
something brewing here, and it won't be very long now before Nintendo drops
the big "Nintendo DS is online" bomb on the clamoring public. After all, the
PSP is going to be WiFi online with a handful of titles on Day One, and I
don't think Nintendo's going to tell their millions of DS owners that
"online is just a fad" again. Ain't gonna happen.

2 March 05

Hey guys I just wanted to know have you heard about DS going online? Iv'e
heard some rumours but they can obviously be false. And if it infact may go
online, how will they conect it? I was thinking wireless router, that could
be usefull because i already have one and it sends internet connection to
three computer's so if it is going to go online it would be very easy for
people who already have them. What are your thought's on it?

Nadir

Quote:
The Nintendo DS is 802.11 compliant. If the game supports that
protocol, the system will sniff out a compatible wireless signal, like one
that's emitted by your wireless router, and grab an IP address so it can
connect to the internet. So far no game has this support, but we're
expecting Nintendo's not going to ignoring this function much longer...

Jim Merrick interview, in the latest edge:

The DS - like the PSP - has gone to market before you were ready to
confirm its wi-fi functionality. Why is that?
Two reasons: the local wireless mode we think delivers value for
consumers immediately. Anyone can understand it, you just turn it on and it
just works and that's part of the message we're trying to get across with
DS. To bring wi-fi is a bit of a mismatch. Console games have become popular
because they're so simple - you plug in a game and it just works. No
drivers, no patches, no configuration, no passwords. The internet is the
opposite case - it's fraught with acronyms - and we've got to find a way to
marry those two things in a way which keeps that simple consumer experience
and that's going to take some time. And it's going to take some partnerships
with service providers and hotspots and things.

How much of a burden of making wi-fi workable falls on the shoulders
of external companies you don't control?
There's a significant part which is local in each market where the
service providers are. There's a lot - it's going to depend on the games and
what you need to do. If it's a simple matchmake, then that isn't too bad.
You could use Gamespy, which is a very nice product and works quite well,
and perhaps some DS games will use Gamespy for matchmakes.

Chris King

2005-03-15, 5:46 pm

> I presume they mean when it connects to a wireless access point and you're

quote:

> playing against someone in Australia...

Correct.

I have had my DS for just over 1 month (since early Feb), U.S. Import.
There is an excellent web site that allows on line gaming for consoles (and
computers), including the Sony PSP (which I also have), PC and other
handhelds/consoles.

With the Sony PSP you just enter in to it, the wireless access point IP
address on your home broadband network (if you have one), set up the IP for
the PSP so its part of your network etc, and a few other settings, logon to
the gaming software on the PC, create an area/game area for the cartridge in
question, and you are almost ready to play, once its set up to go, its
relatively painless. This way you can play a game against someone anywhere
in the world who has the same/similar set up. You are obviously restricted
to playing only the games for cartridges you have, the opponent has and that
are set up on the gaming server.

This particular site was going to do the DS as well, however when I found it
had been removed from their site a week later, I asked why.. this was the
answer I got back from the sites/one of the sites developers/programmers
etc.

<quote>
I'm not sure if you were here before or just signed up, but the DS was on
our plate of being tunneled and it was very nearly a real possibility. I'm
not going to explain it here in detail, but Nintendo went with their own
wireless protocol instead of using standard protocol, making tunneling it a
*heck* of a lot tougher than most people expected. Time was scarce, so we
decided to temporarily abandon the project (just in the last week). We will
be releasing research done on it in the next week or more (few personal
issues to attend with). From there, anybody and everybody can see what they
can do about tunneling it. If someone contacts us with the knowledge to
proceed, we will credit their work and ask if they want it placed into our
system. But primarily, we are no longer putting any resources into trying to
get it going.

The PSP was tunneled so quickly because Sony went with standard wireless
protocol.

<end quote>
I can post the full article from the web site or post the link to it, its
possible that this site will tunnel (create the protocol) to allow the DS to
join in, but at present my Sony PSP hooks up "out the box" with no special
work needed to be done by the gaming site.

Chris