Wii gets wired ethernet kit

Console companies make money on accessories. 'Nuff said.

epobirs: "The cost of a 10/100 port, especially when WiFi is already being implemented on the system, is measured in nickels and dimes. The lack of this is a major inconvenience for many of us and completely unnecessary."

Absoluely. Hell, all they really need for Internet connectivity is 10, not 10/100. They promote the hell out of "advanced" wireless connectivity, DS compatibility, etc., saving a few pennies on manufacturing their system, and get more bucks for an adapter. And... people will definately pay. Nintendo is not stupid.

I'd like to know how much the adapter costs, though. I found it funny that a PC Ethernet card cost $20 at the same time that a tiny, proprietary adapter for the Gamecube cost $40.

There are a lot of things about the Wii that say "cheap," but this is by far the worst, especially with Virtual Console being promoted as such an important feature, and "we the community." WTF?

Concerned, your claim reminds me of a argument I had a few years ago with a guy in a newsgroup who insisted that widescreen presentation, be it via letterboxing or physical display format, was of no value and a ripoff scam. After much discussion, including the configuration of the human visual apparatus, he finally admitted he was part of the .5 percent of the population that suffered from a condition that narrowed his field of vision. He was genuinely incapable of processing a display that filled the normal human's field of vision but expected his tiny minority perspective to be the deciding opinion for engineers of consumer electronics.

Your self-correction above is confusing. Do you really mean to say you prefer a display of 800x600 or less? Are you mad? Have you noticed that quite large monitors with excellent resolutions are terribly inexpensive now? My first 17" CRT cost almost $1,000. Now they're going for well under $100. For under $200 the 19" 1280x1024 display I'm using at this moment is a thing of surpassing beauty compared to what we endured in past eras. (It also serves very well for Xbox 360 content in 720p via VGA cable if your in quarters too small to allow a large TV.)

Put two good quality displays showing NTSC and 1080i side by side and most humans can tell the difference in a big way. NTSC was good for its day but that day was the era when Eisenhower was President. We can do far better now. The sole issue is getting the displays down to the price range that reaches the numbers needed for ubiquity. It's come quite a long ways already and things are accelerating. It wasn't that long ago that entry level for a decent HD display was $3,000. Now, it's under $1,000. All of the manufacturers are anxious to reach the point where all but the cheapest TV purchases will see HD as accessible.

Heck, burnt Meatloaf, $20 for a NIC is expensive. Fry's currently sells a 10/100/1000 PCI card for $7.99.

These things practically come out of cereal boxes. I've got a couple dozen cards left over from doing SOHO DSL installations. It's been years since new PCs shipped without an RJ45 out the back but the ISPs always include a NIC in the kit just in case. It's been years since I encountered a situation where it was worth the trouble to install one instead of pulling the hard drive and transferring the data to a new machine that cost half of its predecessor while being five times faster.

goodgood. for some reason the wireless internet i have at home doesnt work with my DS or the nintendo dongle. good ol fashioned multi metre ethernet should solve all my woes

Also cocks.

I think one of the earier posters had it right. Nintendo is a business, and they are in this to make money. We al know that an ethernet port should have been standard, but Nintendo omitted it to make money. Yes, wireless is very popular, but most people would still hook it up via cable if they had their router near their game system. My only issue with this is the blindness to the business tactics that Nintendo uses. if either MS or Sony had done this, they would have been hanged. Hell, Nintendo's main man comes out and says the Wii is a pumped up Gamecube (brought up to Xbox spec) with a new controller, cost twice as much as a Gamecube, its main launch title is really a Gamecube game, and Nintendo fans don't blink an eye. Why should they care that Nintendo is charging for a ethernet port then? Nintendo can do no wrong in some eyes I guess.

PS2 Network adapter was your first online console experience?? ? ? I guess you missed out on X-Band. That thing was awesome.

Why do you people all have your internet cables away from your entertainment centers? Don't you have all your consoles, computers, display devices, and surround sound systems all hooked together? What gives?

The fact of the matter is that more people have WiFi connections (either of their own or that they steal) than they do wired ethernet connections running to the entertainment center. I honestly would never bother running 50 ft of cable from my router to my TV. It's a PITA. This is the same story for most people who simply don't have pre-wired ethernet. WiFi provides plenty of bandwidth for gaming and is more convenient than expensive, so it's a good compromise.

There's been a lot posted, but so much of it is fanboy I may have skipped a post. If you already said this, sorry.

I think Nintendo want's people to use WiFi. That's the only way to connect to the DS. So if you have buy Wifi for the Wii, you'll have more a reason to get a DS, and vice versa. Charging for a landline connection encourages people to go wireless, which may make it easer to pitch in another Nintendo product or two.

Geez, why is everyone making a big deal about this?

How many people have a wired ethernet network running through their house? Um, not many.

How many people have video game systems in their living room. A lot (especially if the wage earners play games). All the manufacturers want their consoles in your living room.

The majority of people who do not have wifi routers also only have one PC. If you only have one PC you don't have a router at all. For those people without a router, you have two choices with a console that includes only ethernet:

1. Run a long ass cable from your living room to your cable modem. Unplug your computer everytime you want to play on-line.

2. Buy a router (do they even make non-wifi routers?) and run a long ass cable to the router when you want to play.

For convenience sake you wouln't want to unplug the computer everytime you want to go on-line, especially with the WiiConect system, which is always on-line. Also, how many wives, moms, etc. want a long ugly ethernet cable running through their house?

I would much rather have wifi built in than only ethernet. From Nintendo's point of view they give hte consumer the choice of buying the ethernet adapter, using their existing wifi router, or upgrading to a new wifi router/DS wi-fi dongle.

There are many reasons why ethernet may not have been included... cost and size are probably the two main factors. Either way, I think Nintendo made the right choice.


Also, for those of you saying that CAT5 is better than wi-fi. Technically you are correct... but the bottleneck is the internet connection. Who has internet connections over 10mb? The vast majority of consumers are on Cable or DSL 6mb or less. We are not setting up a LAN, we are connecting to the internet.

Rambling over.

After their incredibly bone-headed decision to leave a headphone jack off the GBA SP and require an adapter to use one, nothing they do surprises me anymore.

"After their incredibly bone-headed decision to leave a headphone jack off the GBA SP and require an adapter to use one, nothing they do surprises me anymore."

LOL, that pretty much sums it up for me!

#58

Dave,

Having only one PC is no excuse for not having a router these days. Being behind a router is the single most effective security measure you can take, yet it requires very little setup and uses no resources on your PC. Being connected directly to the internet is extremely bad practice for the typical consumer. Crossing the streams bad. A direct connection to the outside world is just begging for port scans and exploitation of any unpatched vulnerabilities.

Nor is it overkill to have a wired connection to a broadband feed of just a few megabits per second. Many wireless users don't realize how much of their bandwidth is being lost to wireless. Neither Windows or MacOS provide frequent enough data to convey the rate of dropouts but it can be readily seen using many apps that offer more detailed data. The connection can appear to be good because web pages come up at a decent speed but for gaming the stats can be atrocious with a high portion of the packets needing to be resent.

For gaming especially, getting the full use of the bandwidth is critical. Only a small slice is needed but it needs to have maximum reliability per packet. WiFi is awful in that regard. It beats having no connection but given the chance, you want a wired connection for online gaming systems.

Most houses don't have Cat 5 all over with a data port in every room but they don't need it. HPNA and Homeplug Powerline both offer very good performance over the wires that already exist in the home of anyone looking to do online gaming.

Also, neither cost nor size were reasons to not have a standard ethernet port on the Wii. As I mentioned earlier, in a system already design to support wireless ethernet the requirements to have a wired port are very minor. This was solely an aesthetic decision by Nintendo that placed more importance on appearances than practical realities for the users.

Sup guys!

I don't know about most of you but I don't have my TV next to my computer and there is no way in hell I will link the Wii and the router with a cable!!! Mainly because its going to be very expensive and also because its ugly and unpracticle!

Why would you guys want a 100mpbs connection for the Wii if your ISP offers speeds between 3-10mpbs and even there you never actually go faster then 200-600k/sec download and 100k/upload. Therefore having the craziest connection between the router and Wii wouldn't matter at all.

As for those of you who have signal problems and disconnection issues I suggest you change router. I can go to my neighbor's house and use my laptop with a 50%+ signal and still transfer files incredibly fast.

Lastly, how would installing be a problem. The controller uses bluetooth which is "VERY" easy to connect and the wireless connection will essentialy ask you to set the router to DCHP and then the Wii will ask for the network key.

HOW IS THAT COMPLICATED?!?!?!

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Nintendo4Ever

Well, I won't be needin it, Im wireless baby!