Nintendo DS Network

Kamalot writes "It looks like Nintendo is preparing a wireless peer-to-peer network of Nintendo DS ' to allow a new way of playing games online. Each Nintendo DS could includes a repeater hub to extend and share an 802.11 signal. A thread on GameCubicle unveils more, including a service called MarioNette and some disturbing marketing pieces with hidden images and messages." As with everything involving the new handhelds, take this one with a grain of salt.

Comments

Decisions Decisions

[fwitness]

It's hard to decide right now, with all the speculation going on. However, Nintendo has backwards compatibility, low-battery using cartridges innovative dual screen and not to mention a ridicoulsly awesome track record for good first party games.

The price point is even on par with an 'upscale' portable system.

Let's be serious for a minute. What can the PSP offer me that is worth it's (expected) retail price? I really don't want to play my PS2 titles on the go, and the UMD media thing doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy either. Look at Wario Ware Inc. if you want to know why you will buy a DS. It's in the games man. The games. Oh, and the price too. :)

Battery Life

[StevenHenderson]

Gotta wonder if the repeater functionality would affect battery life. If so, are people going to have the option to turn it off and make the network essentially smaller?

I would assume they would have to have a toggle switch for airplanes if nothing else...

Re:DS wins

[jimmytango829]

the p2p lilypad-style network was only speculation and has been denied by those who actually do know "the secret". Nintendo has a great track record of not half-assing stuff. From the get-go, Nintendo has asserted that their product would be "revolutionary" - and they maintain that the revolutionary feature has yet to be revealed. It seems fairly obvious to me that they do not, in fact, intend to "strap a non-trivial piece of hardware" on to their system. On the contrary, it seems that a great deal of thought and planning has gone into this.

C'mon now

[The-Bus]

First off, I seriously doubt this has anything do with playing with the DS "online", that is, it having anything to do with the internet. A much more fasible, realistic, and practical idea is that the DS can detect others within a reasonable range. I would put this range somewhere south of 200m, even if that much. The whole network/online thing is more of a LAN than a WAN... Especially useful in larger cities or where kids congregate (mall, school, parks, etc) as opposed to rural areas. I have no desire, nor hope, to be able to text a friend an hour away using the DS. However, sitting in a cafe and seeing a list of 10 opponents to fight you in ZeldaMarioTroid is a bit more exciting.

Now, if for some insane reason the DS has a 1+ mile range then yeah, that's amazing. But I can guarantee that that is not the case. It's just a way to play online with people within sighting distance. Will come in handy in urban areas, colleges, etc. But Tommy in Montana might have a hard time finding 100 opponents.