Nintendo randomly reveals WiFi Network Adapter

by Chris Greenhough { Sep 8th 2008 at 9:00AM }

Our faces lit up this morning after seeing this image on Famitsu's site. Surely, this was it: Nintendo's long-awaited solution to the storage woes of every Wii-owning geek and otaku on the planet. Alas, no. After scrambling for a machine translation of the accompanying kanji, our hopes were emphatically mangled. This is no HDD unit, but a portable air conditioner the "Nintendo WiFi Network Adapter." Once again, life had thrown us a cruel curveball. Happy Monday morning, us.

Anyway, if you struggle to get your Wii or DS online (and we know from experience that it can be fiddly), then this dinky wireless LAN router is for you. It can be used with the Wii, the DS, your PC, and other devices, and will be available on Nintendo's Japanese homepage from September 18th, priced at ¥5,800 (US$53). There's no news yet on a launch outside Japan, though as the Nintendo WiFi USB Connector was discontinued late last year, a western release would be a safe bet.

Hit the break for three more images, one of which depicts the adapter's three modes: "Router," "Bridge" (for connecting to your Wii or DS via another router), and "Auto" (which automatically switches your network). As for our ongoing storage issues, we're still waiting, Shiggy/Reggie/Satoru ...

Tags: internet, multiplayer, nintendo-wifi-network-adapter, online, router, wifi

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

ssuk @ Sep 8th 2008 9:31AM

Well, Nintendo goes off on a tangent saying they don't want bulky peripherals... What the hell is this? Stop screwing around, Nintendo. Give us that HDD already!

Rowan @ Sep 8th 2008 9:49AM

This is awesome, one more way Nintendo are "Thinking Different"..... wait...

samfish @ Sep 8th 2008 9:49AM

Oh Nintendo...

I am playing The Price Is Right 'fail' sound SO HARD right now.

Rocketboy @ Sep 8th 2008 3:28PM

I'm thinking more of a Whammy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIJYfvN9954

Tony @ Sep 8th 2008 9:58AM

OMG... you have got to be kidding! It would have probably been LESS trouble for them to solve a REAL problem... like storage. What a waste. Nintendo fails....

Randy @ Sep 8th 2008 10:18AM

I'm still hoping that Nintendo enables SDHC and Mass Storage support so we can use Cards over 2GB (up to 32GB). I still think this is the the most economical for owners and the most elegant (no External HW to buy and having it hang it off of the Wii)

CalcProgrammer1 @ Sep 8th 2008 10:25AM

Uh...why does Nintendo think we need a custom built router just for the Wii? For just a bit more, I can go buy a Linksys with Wireless-N and a ton of features and DD-WRT and MIMO and possibly Gigabit Ethernet if I find it on sale. Instead Nintendo wants us to buy their little tiny, probably only B/G router that only has ONE LAN PORT? I can find a used B/G Linksys, Netgear, etc at a GARAGE SALE for like $5, in fact, I have an old Netgear in my desk drawer right now that can do exactly what this thing does. If they don't want to make hard drives, just write a USB Mass Storage Device driver for the Wii Menu and let us save stuff!

Player1 @ Sep 8th 2008 10:42AM

Wow. Was it not enough that they are releasing the add-on to make the wiimote work like it was already supposed to? Now they are releasing a wireless adapter for a device with built in wireless. Are they going to release an add-on drive for dual-layer dvds next?

bukizzle715 @ Sep 8th 2008 10:46AM

D'oh. I saw the picture before the headline, and got excited for about .3 seconds. Nintendo needs to hurry the hell up with their"plans." If they follow their own history of releasing consoles every5 years,then we should see Wii 2.0 in 2011? The Wii is already almost to 40% of its lifespan, and they haven't even released their voicechat yet. And no HDD? And whatever happened to Pay to Play, which is supposed to augment their online service? I wish I could go back in time to the release of the NES and stay there forever, when things were simpler and Nintendo weren't a bunch of pansies. We need Yamauchi back.

Greg2k @ Sep 8th 2008 10:48AM

This router is probably a good idea considering those of us using WPA on our existing Wi-Fi routers can't play DS online unless we get a separate AP or have a router that does both WEP and WPA, since Nintendo was retarded enough to not make a firmware update in order to support WPA on the DS.

And one LAN port is all it needs; contrary to popular belief you don't need one port per client. Both Wii and DS could share the same Ethernet cable coming out from this router.

But yeah, storage is a bigger problem than this and should be issued ASAP.

Timerider @ Sep 8th 2008 10:51AM

I have a wireless router that my Wii connects to but my DS can't even find it. I might need this.

guttertalk @ Sep 8th 2008 10:52AM

Worse, you have Reggie and Kaplan basically setting the stage for no extended storage:

"If your refrigerator’s full, you’ve got to pull something out and put something else back in. That’s just the normal issue of space. I mean, really, are you using every single thing on there?"

Nevermind the condescending attitude, but Kaplan might want to rethink his analogy because when it comes to the Wii's storage, we're talking about a dorm refrigerator.

I have an idea: if users say they need something, they need it, so don't stand there and tell them they don't.

Sonic_13 @ Sep 8th 2008 10:17PM

If you are referring to Perrin Kaplan, then you should know that she is a woman (not a man) and she hasn't worked for Nintendo since last December (before the storage problem was made a major issue...)

Timerider @ Sep 8th 2008 10:52AM

I have a wireless router that my Wii connects to but my DS can't find. I might need this.

Timerider @ Sep 8th 2008 10:53AM

Please fix the comment system guys.

jfrdricks63 @ Sep 8th 2008 11:50AM

just a thought, but perhaps Nintendo is contemplating an online storage solution for our storage woes on the wii. cloud computing IS the rage these days after all.

guttertalk @ Sep 8th 2008 12:10PM

Yeah, I thought of that, but it's a horrible idea for 2 reasons:

Nintendo online services are slow. The time it takes to download VC and Wiiware is way too long.

This still doesn't address the copy problem. The games need to be stored in a place that they can be played from without requiring a copy. Otherwise, why not just use the SD card.

Sonic_13 @ Sep 8th 2008 10:13PM

@guttertalk

Interesting. My downloads are always quick and I never have lag in any game (including Super Smash Bros.)

Wah-hah-ha! @ Sep 8th 2008 12:21PM

Kinda weird and a little pointless.

Its like they give us things that we never ask for, but mostly ignore what we blatantly tell them we want.

zchry @ Sep 8th 2008 8:15PM

If this were a nice follow-up to the USB thing, I'd be elated (we use WPA2-TKIP around these parts, so no DSing for me).

But instead, it's a regular old router. I guess the Bridge function is nice, but I wouldn't throw down $53 for it. Maybe $20.

Usually I'm not so picky about peripherals (I gobbled up Wii Fit, after all) and pricing. But this disappoints me.

Jeremy @ Sep 8th 2008 9:46PM

This has got to be one of Nintendo's dumbest moves yet. It's like they really want to screw with our heads by giving us this crap way out of left field. Most people that has a Wii and wants it online already have it online. Also at best this may be a wireless G router which the one I use I picked up for $5.

Sonic_13 @ Sep 8th 2008 10:12PM

Hey guys, instead of just utterly bashing it, why not stop for a second and realize that there are people out there who actually need this kind of thing and are grateful for it.