11th May 2004, 4:50 PM
The only viable online solution for portable gaming, thinking about it, really is wi-fi. I mean, they'd have to aling with some phone company and add phone features, or just make about a billion add-ons for the many ports so you end up holding a phone while playing. Besides that, the whole setup would be expensive for both us and Nintendo, and really, in the end it wouldn't really work. Think about how badly a similar setup worked over in Japan with their version of Pokémon Crystal, and the N-Gage. No, Wire Fire really is the best solution. Nintendo doesn't have to do much, due to the very adaptable nature of wire fire the system itself will tell the wire fire network to find the opponents without the wi-fi actually having to have anything programmed in. Of course, you DO need to be near certain parts of the wi-fi in order to jack in. One's best bet is to hang out near a large business building and piggy back on their systems. Due to how it works, it's not hacking in any sense and in fact the entire reason they set it up like that is so people can jack in (though namely not for this purpose :D). Point is, you still gotta get yourself to these places, until wi-fi gateways are set up all across towns. This whole concept of an "open" service like this that anyone is able to use, and that's it's actual STRENGTH, is nice, and it's free! Well, some gateways have passwords involved, and that's another limiter. Ya gotta find the ones you are allowed to get into. Anyway, it's still the best solution and as wi-fi spreads around the country gaining momentum, it'll surely be the online solution of choice. The entire concept of having to get a specially designed server to matchmake in games is negated with the thing, and ya HAVE to love that no matter WHO you are!
Online on the console, that's still the one place they are behind on. We'll see... I will say that if the wi-fi method is spread to the rest of the internet, Nintendo's cost concerns will go out the window there too.
Online on the console, that's still the one place they are behind on. We'll see... I will say that if the wi-fi method is spread to the rest of the internet, Nintendo's cost concerns will go out the window there too.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)