IGN insists that the Nintendo DS is going online

by Ben Zackheim { Feb 19th 2005 at 11:50AM }

Nintendo DS

Kamalot, a regular Joystiq reader and commenter, has been touting the Nintendo DS' online possibilities for awhile now. Now Kamalot sends word of an interesting email response from an IGN staffer. The email states, pretty confidently, that an announcement is forthcoming about the online feature. While it makes sense to all of us (the DS has wifi after all) it's the first we've heard of a mainstream outlet getting wind of (and hinting heavily at) an actual announcement.

Time will tell…Hopefully sooner rather than later.

The actual comment is at the bottom of the linked page.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Wobble @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

If true, all I can say is it is about time. The DS has had all of the necessary pieces for Nintnedo to do this, so it was a bit of a mystery (to me at least) why they where going so slowly.

Online Mario Kart, might just be enough to get me to buy a DS.

Jon W @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

I just don't know. The WiFi in the DS is not entirely 802.11 compatible. They use all kinds of short preamble and karlnet style frame packing. If you look at what the various tunneler's are having to do to get any kind of tunnelling working, it casts serious doubt that the DS could just magically become wholly 802.11 friendly so that it could go online with any off-the-shelf consumer hardware. I could imagine a Nintendo branded compatible WiFi access point that would alleviate these problems tho...

Alex Hill @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

DS online has so many possibilities. I hope I'll be able to frag some buddies online in the Metroid game ^_^ Personally I think that if Nintendo is going to announce DS Online soon, it's going to days before the US PSP launch, ensuring that DS will continue to outsell it.

Wobble @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

The idea of a Nintendo access point is an interesting one. Is DS WiFi that different fromt he standard spec where it would need such a thing? I thought only the short range wireless was out of spec.

I agree with #3, Nintnedo will spring the announcement as close to the PSP launch as possible. We will have to see if it has any effect.

steve @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

why would they wait until the release of the psp or just before?

Do they want everyone to pre-order a psp? i highly doubt it. So it would make sense for them to do it as soon as possible not a few days before.

Mario @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

hey is it true that the ds is coming online april 11 because thats what this webpage says look!

http://jadrule.tk/

Michael @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

Hey, I think at E3 in May, A representitive from nintendo will tell the people who are near hotspots and have Ds's to turn on a game and badaboom-badabing! We will have online gaming!!

Joe @ Dec 18th 2005 8:46PM

I'm a proud owner of a DS. And I heard that the DS will be going online hopefully before the summer. But may not till 2006... let's hope not. But James Bond: Golden Eye is coming to the DS and can play 8 people with 1 pack!!! So when that goes online, man, the PSP might go down...LOL, yeah right! But still, see ya.
-Joe