Iwata: Wi-Fi Access for all – BT Deal Looms

And with so many white collor scrotes getting their collars felt these days, you even get chance to bum a public schoolboy.

Yay, truly this is the land of equal opportunity.

Whilst alot of progress has been made, the basic princibles are that the more range you want, the more power you need.
There are however other promising technologies in development, notably xMax.
WiMax applications have yet to be released, and many predict it's at least 3-5 years before it has widespread usage, i.e. PDAs and mobile phones.


So you're saying the DS online service is crap because we'll have something better in ten years?



I don't quite know what you mean so I'll try to ignore this


I have no intention of taking out so many subscribtions that all my money goes into paying them.
Thats the main reason why Nintendo has been so cautious with online sofar.

If I've got a wireless Internet connection at home, at work, and any other place I frequently visit, why should I pay for the odd occaison when I might be somewhere else?



This is more speculation. Most free WiFi options don't work on any business model (how can they?), so they'll be no reason for slapping prices on them.


I still don't get why this is racist. You wanted the example with the dales.


So what exactly were you hoping from WiMax?
You don't seriously think BT is going to give you the Maximum 75Mbps do you? And what were you hoping price-wise?

The whole point I want to make is that instead of shunning existing technologies because they have a few disadvantages, we should look at the picture as a whole.
Why has WiFi been so successful?
Because it's cheap to make, simple, and in many cases, free. And it is easily implemented into your existing home Internet system.

I'm not saying WiMax won't be successfull, but WiFi works, why shun it?

No one would (or really could) argue with that. And I tend to agree that the 2006 claims for handheld WiMax devices is optimistic, but I think the five year one to which you refer will prove to be pessimistic.


No, I'm not saying that. You are willfully misinterpretting me. I'm saying that it will have very serious limitations in terms of coverage, and that if BT is involved it won't be truly or permanently free.


You stated that WiMax's real intended purpose was to enable people who couldn't get DSL to get broadband. This is to some extent redundant now that BT has made such big steps, and given undertakings in terms of DSL penetration.


OK. SO which have you NOT got? DSL, A mobile phone, or Sky?


I'm not suggesting that you should. But I'm suggesting that the very many people who do not live such ordered and regular lives might wish to.

As a kid, the most tedious thing was the journey to the many castles, hills, battlefield and other "places of interet" I was dragged to. If I'd been able to play network games on the way, I might have been marginally more tolerant of the culture I had to endure on arrival. I assume that things have not changed that much.


They don't work on any business model becaus ehtey don't "work" in any real sense. They are a cottage industry of enthusiasts, dealing with a light load. When everyone carries a WiFi capable portable device, and wants to route all their voice traffic over IP, and have video... that cottage industry will be brought to its knees. It will need to find commercial ways of sustaining itself. There is no free lunch.


The Dales are a fact of life. The idea that Yorkshire is full of industrial decay is a southern-centric myth.


I think WiMax will give an opportunity for the same kind of democratisation WiFi enables, but on a slightly more manageable scale. So not ever building with its own access point, but every community. The market will determine the pricde, but it is bound tro fall. But because no one has paid £20billion in licences, and because there can be more competition I expect it to quickly become more competitively priced than UMTS.


I am not proposing that we "shun" WiFi... it is and will remain a phenomenally important technology. But it is not the long term solution to portable access beyond the metropolitan areas.


I would contest that it has not - that is not interms of offering open, wide are roaming access. It has been phenomenally successful in offering local, single cell wireless, and it is this purpose to which it is best suited.

The basis for Wi-Fi on the DS is squarely on Japan. That's what comes first. If it works Japan perfectly, it doesnt matter if it works at 50% efficiency elsewhere. Japan is where Nintendo wants and needs to be number 1 in the handheld market.
Personally one could say that wi-fi will cater to the majority of gamers (eventually) since most gamers (according to metropolitan size) will buy a DS unit. This is the most accessible "free" route on current technology.

You know the war is over when the DS and the Gameboy Micro both outsell the PSP individually, even when the PSP has released its special white edition. The wireless is just the nail in the coffin for the PSP, it will linger for a year or two more so developers can tie up and finish off their current declared projects with the system.

Innovation is the new awesome, free wifi is part of that innovation. Its going to be interesting to see how the Revolution fares against the conventional systems. If its anything like the PSP vs the DS, Nintendo is going to regain a lot of ground. Against everybody's earliest expectations.

Okay folks mind out of the gutter for a while.

While the BT deal would be great for DS owners, what does it mean for those of us who have a NTL, Telewest connections?

If I have to wait after BT I'll be a little pisssed but there's plenty to play on DS in the mean time anyways. Online Mario Kart would be cool for xmas, though.