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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.
At some point, all the Nintedo DSes in the world will form a neural net the Roombas. They will rise up and kill humanity in association with WiFi enabled Aibos.
Alternatively, look for the first Nintendo DS virus to forcibly re-direct all WiFi-based HTTP requests that use your DS as an AP to the Goatse-man site.
As I've said over here, If this repeater stuff is in any way true, it really could be a killer app for handheld gaming.
The potential hinted at by these new revelations totally trancends your basic "sit around in a group and play wirelessly" functionality. If this (the repeater functionality) is in any way true, then it will make the touch-screen part of the DS look about as groundbreaking as MP3 support on a Sony player, and it makes the PSP's infra-red wireless gaming look like a silly kids' toy.
Seriously, wide-area gaming would be the killer app for handheld consoles. Imagine some sort of asynchronous MMPORG-style game whereby when a fellow player's DS is detected, some form of battle can take place. Some sort of modern take on the old style Campus 'Assassin' games.
Not to mention the facilitation of true munchkin-style ubiquitous networking.
Papyrus? Parchment? Stone tablets? Man, if the battery life on PDAs sucks now, what was it like in 200? :)
do you think it'll be until someone orginizes a DDOS attack with thousands of these?
Just like the pricing turned out to be a rumor, I seriously question the truth behind this. They're saying that, this late in the game, Nintendo intends to strap a non-trivial piece of hardware onto a system that I'm pretty sure works already. Also, the wide-area integrity of a network based entirely on systems that are A. irregularly distributed, B. probably moving around, and C. turned off much of the time doesn't sound like it'd be worth the effort to set it up.
I guess it could work to automatically network to any other DS's within a set range, but over a wide area, what happens when some dipshit turns off his DS and breaks the very tenuous chain of DS's transmitting through the rural area between two urban areas (where there are more people and probably far more DS's floating around)? I admit I'm not as knowledgeable about wireless networks as wired ones, but I don't see this working on a large scale, and on a smaller scale, why even bother with building a hub into every DS?
With all its problems, the N-Gage probably was closer to the spot with a wider area gaming network. The cell phone network is already there, and although it's not 100% reliable (especially if you're moving around between cells), it's got far less random factors involved than a p2p DS network.
Just sounds too cool to be true. At least the hoax about the PSP price was believable. The PSP will be a lot closer to $350 than the DS will be to this p2p distributed network.
1. Early adopters will get spottier connection capabilities than those that wait til tons of people have them? (much larger network based on the repeater concept).
2. What if I am connecting via John D.S. and suddenly he drops off of my range? Will I lose my connection and game? This would um...whats the word? Oh yeah...suck.
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.-- I have fans? Wow.
I would assume they would have to have a toggle switch for airplanes if nothing else...
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.
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.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
"Unsubstantiated rumours and wild-ass guesses for nerds"
Ugh, I hate inaccurate submissions.
These are not "marketing pieces" and Nintendo is not planning a p2p Wireless Network.
The story: there's some guy named Chad who is the lead developer on Warp Pipe (a tunnelling system that lets Gamecube owners play LAN games against each other on the internet). There's this other guy Dean from n-sider.com who knows Chad.
A few days ago, it was posted that Warp Pipe got new offices in Chicago. Combined with this, it was also known the Warp Pipe attended E3. Apparently after E3 Warp Pipe became quiet about their future plans.
Fast forward to a couple of days ago, Chad posted the picture with the kid and the dog. After that, Dean posted a pick of the Marionette (which is photoshopped from an original Ragnarok Online piece of art http://www.prontera.net/cards/marionette_l.jpg. Dean claims he needed a Marionette.
The third picture (with the guy missing eyes) is another photoshop job by Dean. Chad said there would be a logo on the box of some games (DS? Gamecube?) that when you bought them, Warp Pipe would receive money. They both also said that this news will not be broken by Nintendo in their upcoming Oct 7 press conference.