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Xbox Wireless Adapter Details, Live Bundle Confirmed

Posted by simoniker on from the speedy-gonzales-costs-moolah dept.

Thanks to Reuters for their story confirming the official Xbox Wireless Adapter, now locked in for an October 5th release for $139. Details of this 802.11b/g device were inadvertently leaked by the FCC a couple of weeks back, and TeamXbox has a first look at the adapter, but this announcement also reveals the new Xbox Live bundle deal, as Microsoft "...will offer a $40 rebate to people who buy both the adapter and the $69 Xbox Live Starter Kit, which offers a one-year subscription to the company's online gaming service, a headset for voice communications and a copy of the game 'MechAssault.'"

22 comments

  1. Too pricey by ff_cid · · Score: 1

    The Linksys stuff is cheaper than that, and great quality too.

    1. Re:Too pricey by jkc120 · · Score: 1

      Agreed, the Linksys WET11 is only $100, and has worked great to bridge my xbox to my WLAN.

      On the other hand, it's 802.11b only and this xbox adapter does 802.11g, which is nice. But if you currently have b equipment, there's no point in spending $50 more Microsoft's seal of approval.

      --
      "I drank what?" -Socrates
    2. Re:Too pricey by decairn · · Score: 1

      I have XBox running with Linksys wireless routers and bridge. It had some firmware issues, the latest versions in February broke XBox connectivity, earlier ones worked fine so that's what I left it running with. It just works.
      The MS stuff is way way too pricey. Also, why use the g protocol? How many XBox users need more than the 10Mb/s b protocol with their cable/dsl setup? Using a b only chip-set would be a way to reduce the retail cost I would assume and the consumer would not lose anything by it.

  2. I thought /.'ers hated Microsoft stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But why is this article an advertisement for their overpriced XBox accessories?

  3. Entering a 256bit WEP key via the joypad by Chuck+Chunder · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Is going to be a real pain in the ass.
    Still, if it comes at a reasonable price then it would fit in well with my home network.

    --
    Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
  4. Wow, quite the deal by M3wThr33 · · Score: 1

    Let me get this straight.
    With an XBox you get Jet Set Radio Future and Sega GT. Now you (also?) get Clone Wars and Tetris Worlds. Buy an XBL pack(Which is almost a prerequiste to make an XBox worth it) and you get Mech Assualt free?

    That's... 5 games free with an XBox. Anybody notice a problem here? Honestly, and aside from Mech Assault, those titles aren't stellar enough to make me want to buy one.

    1. Re:Wow, quite the deal by bigman2003 · · Score: 1

      The JSRF and Sega GT bundle (should be) long gone. Haven't seen the Clone Wars/Tetris Worlds, but I just bought the Live Starter Kit, and it came with Tetris Worlds. So I *think* they are just replacing Tetris Worlds with Mechassualt- much better deal.

      I on the other hand have made every bad decision possible.

      I *just* bought the Live Starter Kit - with Tetris Worlds. $50

      Then, I bought Mechassault for $40.

      Now I need a damn wireless game adapter- running the cable through the house is not too popular. $80 (Linksys)

      Total of $170

      The new pack they have would have included all three- minus Tetris, which would have been fine. I guess I should have waited a week.

      --
      No reason to lie.
    2. Re:Wow, quite the deal by Babbster · · Score: 1
      1) No, you don't get Jet Set Radio Future and Sega GT with an Xbox unless you buy an old package (which, of course, would mean you don't get Clone Wars and Tetris Worlds). Thus, you would get three full games by buying the current holiday package and Xbox Live.

      2) Xbox Live is nothing near a prerequisite to make an Xbox "worth it." There are good games available for the Xbox that are just fine for offline play (whether YOU like them or not is another issue entirely).

      3) I'm a pretty bright guy and I don't see the problem. It looks like Microsoft is trying to entice people to buy an Xbox and Xbox Live. Where's the problem? As in #2 above, Clone Wars, Tetris Worlds and Mechassault are hardly the be-all, end-all of Xbox games (if they were, I certainly wouldn't own one). In fact, all of the mentioned games are budget-type titles that few people would bother to buy at full price. There are very (very) few people who would consider those three games worth a $250 investment. Thus, they would probably buy other games and make some money back on the hardware for Microsoft. Not to mention the fact that every person who buys an Xbox to play games in this generation is that much more likely to buy the next console when it comes out.

      I've gone long, but I'll sum up: I don't "notice a problem" because there isn't one. Microsoft is continuing to be pretty aggressive in giving people reasons to buy the Xbox. I'd call that smart.

    3. Re:Wow, quite the deal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      The lesson here is to always wait until next week to buy Xbox products.

  5. Hmm, Wireless Adapter Or 3 Games... by Dr.+Wu · · Score: 1

    Well, since I'm already Live-enabled and it's working alright without the Wireless adapter, I'm better of sticking to my current method of getting onto Xbox Live. Which is turning on Internet Sharing on my 12" Powerbook (which is already tied into my Wireless network), and running the ethernet cable from that to the Xbox.

    Sure, it's effectively turning my 12" Pbook into a $2,000 WAP, but since I'm usually iChatting with my Friends to setup games and times, it's a bit more functional.

    Something's just not right when you're spending almost as much for an accessory, as you did for the original system. Didn't they learn anything from Steel Battalion?

    Consider this, for the same price I can get the GTA 2-Pack, Crimson Skies, and Simpsons Hit and Run.

    Better still, I can just pick up a GameCube.

    Dr. Wu
    [ Yes, There's Gas In The Car ]

    1. Re:Hmm, Wireless Adapter Or 3 Games... by Babbster · · Score: 2, Informative
      Didn't they learn anything from Steel Battalion?

      Actually, they did. They learned that there are people out there (myself included) who are willing to pay $200 for a good game and a good controller to provide an extremely immersive gaming experience. After all, Steel Battalion SOLD OUT. There are still people out there who would like to have the game and can't buy one from a normal retailer (the game is available on eBay and goes for well over $200). Capcom never expected to sell as many copies of Steel Battalion as, say, GTA3 or Halo. But the game apparently sold well enough that the sequel is coming stateside (with Xbox Live play) next year.

      Now, I don't know how many people will buy the wireless adaptor but the truth is that the price point is competitive with other 802.11g wireless bridges. At Outpost, for example, the Linksys g-compatible model is selling for $159.99.

    2. Re:Hmm, Wireless Adapter Or 3 Games... by rhuntley12 · · Score: 1

      Yes, they did learn. Do you know Steel Battalion sold out, and FAST? Do you know to get it now you will pay more then $200? And there is going to be a sequel on Xbox live this year? I hope it comes with the controller, I plan on getting it. Mech game where you can actually fall when you turn too fast? A big ass controller? I'm in.

    3. Re:Hmm, Wireless Adapter Or 3 Games... by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 1

      " At Outpost, for example, the Linksys g-compatible model is selling for $159.99."

      I'd pay that for a generic one that will work with future consoles, like a USB wireless adapter for example. $160 for a wireless adapter for a single console is ridiculous. I guess if consumer demand is high enough... afterall, cat5 is not able to get everywhere, such as neighboring apartments.

    4. Re:Hmm, Wireless Adapter Or 3 Games... by Babbster · · Score: 1

      Considering I haven't read anywhere that the Xbox adapter will be incompatible wtih other things, I think you might be jumping the gun assuming that it's not. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that it's a fairly standard ethernet-to-wireless bridge that happens to have Xbox styling and Xbox-specific instructions. Doing anything else would be a needless over-design and would have no benefit since other wireless bridges are perfectly compatible with Xbox Live.

    5. Re:Hmm, Wireless Adapter Or 3 Games... by Anonvmous+Coward · · Score: 1

      "Considering I haven't read anywhere that the Xbox adapter will be incompatible wtih other things, I think you might be jumping the gun assuming that it's not."

      I never meant to imply that the X-BOX adapter was like that. I just meant in general. I don't own an X-BOX, I have a GameCube. The reason I brought this up is because today I was thinking of getting a network adapter for it, but it's $40 and it only works on the GC, unlikely to work on the next console. Maybe if they included it in game?

      Okay, I'm rambling. The point is I didn't mean to imply that the XBOX adapter was proprietary. Hopefully not many people interpreted it that way.

    6. Re:Hmm, Wireless Adapter Or 3 Games... by PainKilleR-CE · · Score: 1

      Personally, I'm just going to hook up a 4-port wireless router to my entertainment system and then go wireless from the living room to the computer room. Then all I need is at most 4 feet of ethernet cable from any of my consoles to the wireless router, and if I need more than 4 devices I can add a small switch. The other side can have another wireless router or a simple wireless adapter, just depends on what's cheaper (yeah, I don't have a wireless network yet, because I don't own a laptop and the computer is in the same room as the cable modem).

      --
      -PainKilleR-[CE]
  6. Original First Look @ Xbox Wireless Adapter MN-740 by Geartest.com · · Score: 2


    That's interesting that simoniker mentions TeamXbox as having the first look since (bragging rights alert) we had our

    on August 28, a full 3 days BEFORE the good fans at TX. The drawings in the TX post are straight out of the product manual, which we didn't think were important to publish, but I will say that the TX crew did a nice job of coloring in the screenshots. The originals were black and white. Sorry guys, but you were scooped!

    In fact, Microsoft's lawyers visited our feature and thoroughly examined it, after which we got a message from our friendly Microsoft PR agency expressing some concerns (as noted on the home page).

    I know that it must be a little troublesome for Microsoft that they weren't able to introduce the product to the world as they would have liked but that's always a risk, especially when regulatory approval requires that the product becomes part of the public record.

  7. Design by rmull · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Man, MS really could stand to take a page from apple when it comes to designing their hardware gadtes. Or from anyone else, really - why would I want to string up a little antenna with an ethernet cord and its own power source? I'd much rather plug something into the side of my console or even the back. How hard would it have been to put a couple of usb ports on the back of the xbox for the purpose of integrating little gadgets like this?

    --
    See you, space cowboy...
  8. Oh, god no! by Inoshiro · · Score: 3, Informative

    Not 32 characters!

    For shame, that 32-byte key will be the end of inumerable Xbox controllers!

    Seriously, though, you seem to have forgotten that a bit is 1/8th of a byte, which would be 1 character you type in via the keyboard.

    I'd be more worried that your keyspace will be restricted since Xbox Live!'s little keyboard will only let you enter a-zA-Z0-9 and some punctuation (instead of a full range of nul to char 255).

    --
    --
    Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
    1. Re:Oh, god no! by PainKilleR-CE · · Score: 1

      I'd be more worried that your keyspace will be restricted since Xbox Live!'s little keyboard will only let you enter a-zA-Z0-9 and some punctuation (instead of a full range of nul to char 255).

      http://www.xbox.com/en-US/pso2/keyboardadapter.h tm

      Solution: use a real keyboard.

      You can also buy them from sites like Lik-Sang, as well as USB adapters for the XBox controllers. Just because the connector's a little odd and the interface is a little different doesn't mean the XBox is much different from any other Windows PC.

      --
      -PainKilleR-[CE]
  9. Team Xbox - Caught in a lie by Geartest.com · · Score: 3, Funny


    After I just got through complimenting TX in my previous post for their colorization skills on the original black and white screenshots, I thoroughly read the TX post. I was stunned that they made this claim:

    On a recent trip to a top-secret facility, we discovered an upcoming (and an unannounced) wireless networking product from Microsoft.

    Unfortunately that is a lie. If it's supposed to be a joke, it's not a very funny one. The photos and drawings that TX has on their site were based exclusively on the FCC submissions. The technical information came straight from the same filings. <SARCASM> I guess Geartest.com's staff were at the same top-secret facility </SARCASM>. At the time we published the photos on August 28, we were the first ones to do so and it was a scoop. TX uploaded its wireless adapter post on August 31.

    This is exactly the problem with so-called "game press." Team Xbox has intentionally misled its readers about the source of the material for its wireless adapter post.

    When Team Xbox and its ilk lie to their readers, it is not only unethical but it makes it much more difficult for readers to trust anyone who writes about games.