More USB Dongle Impressions

[Now Drinking| Apple Juice]

With only six days left until Ninty fans can go online, journalists are taking the USB dongle for a test drive. For the most part, it sounds like very simple way to create a Wifi connection.

Ill just summarize what we know so far. First of all, if you already have a Wifi router at your house, job or other local hangout, you probably wont need the USB dongle. However, if you want to easily bypass WPA keys and the like, you may want to pick one up. The dongle will allow you to simply jump online without having to deal with security of a network. So, if you have a very secure network at your house that you don’t want to alter, the dongle is a nice way to accomplish that.

Now, if you are a Mac owner, there is some good news and some bad news. The good news is that if you have an open network using Apple’s Airport Extreme or Express, you can connect just as easily as anyone else. However, if you find yourself trying to connect to a secure network, say at Starbucks, well, you’re out of luck. As of right now, the dongle will not work with Mac’s or Powerbook’s, so you basically have no way to connect to a protected connection. Better start bother the network admins. Or, just swallow your pride and go drink some McDonalds coffee.

Hopefully, by the launch of Metroid Prime Hunters Nintendo will have updated the software drivers to allow this thing to work with Mac’s. There are rumors that the dongle will be bundled in with Hunters, so maybe by that time all the kinks will be ironed out. If not, there’s always homebrew…

Ign USB Dongle Hands-On

NintendoWifi FAQ

Submitter: Nintendofreak