Nintendo DS (not DSi) not supporting WPA

[japlytic]

As some of you may be aware, the Nintendo DS only supports WEP security for wireless connections.
The Nintendo DS has been released after WPA came out.
I still wonder why the DS did not support WPA when it was released...

One other thing: The DSi supports WPA and WPA2, but only with DSi games.

[stj]

Re: Nintendo DS (not DSi) not supporting WPA

most ds games are point2point not internet designed anyway.

however, someone may hack it, there are custom firmwares about.

[ratdude747]

Re: Nintendo DS (not DSi) not supporting WPA

the only games i can think of that would be internet based might be mariokart... thats all i know of... its not like i own one...

[Rulycat]

Re: Nintendo DS (not DSi) not supporting WPA

It only supports 802.11b which didn't support WPA.

[retiredcaps]

Re: Nintendo DS (not DSi) not supporting WPA

You must mean it is specific to this system? My Cisco 350 PCI 802.11b card supports WPA with Windows XP.

It only supports 802.11b which didn't support WPA.

[Rulycat]

Re: Nintendo DS (not DSi) not supporting WPA

I've never seen any consumer equipment supporting WPA on 802.11b equipment.

[japlytic]

Re: Nintendo DS (not DSi) not supporting WPA

I've never seen any consumer equipment supporting WPA on 802.11b equipment.

This is true for B-only access points and older B-only clients.

[Funkimunk]

Re: Nintendo DS (not DSi) not supporting WPA

When the DS was designed WEP was viewed as being acceptable so Nintendo designed the hardware to support only this mode of WiFI Security.

The Ds + Ds Lite have only 4MB of RAM , a 67 MHz ARM9 and 33 MHz ARM7; this is enough capability to process the Simple RC4 Encryption of the WEP standard.

This Spec does not have enough working area or processing power to allow use of WPA (and play games as intended) which is RC4 + TKIP based nor does it allow use of the AES based WPA2.

An oversight on the part of Nintendo that has annoyed me personally for years, the newer DS designs (DSi + XL) have 16MB of RAM, a 133 MHz ARM9 and 33 MHz ARM7 in part to facilitate use of better encryption (as all DS games must be made to run identically as on the lowest common denominator HW there would be no other legitimate reason to up the specs - the camera can operate on the older HW).

On a Happy note: WEP is now planned to be removed from the WiFI Spec

[stevo1210]

Re: Nintendo DS (not DSi) not supporting WPA

You must mean it is specific to this system? My Cisco 350 PCI 802.11b card supports WPA with Windows XP.

I have the PCMCIA version of that card and it doesn't support WPA... I even had to go through the trouble of having an extra wireless router with WEP to support that card.

[dilashyaa]

Re: Nintendo DS (not DSi) not supporting WPA

What Is A Nintendo Event? THis might sound stupid to some people but wth is a nintendo event? What i mean is like, is it a thing to put on your game, a wireless thingy, or i dunno a applcation to put in ur game like a AR?

[Elysarian]

Re: Nintendo DS (not DSi) not supporting WPA

What Is A Nintendo Event? THis might sound stupid to some people but wth is a nintendo event? What i mean is like, is it a thing to put on your game, a wireless thingy, or i dunno a applcation to put in ur game like a AR?

I've been to a couple of "Nintendo Events" - they were for the Pokemon games...

I went with the wife so she could catch some super-rare (i.e. only available at events - e.g Mew) Pokemon - early ones used the wired connection but later ones utilised the wireless capabilities of the DS/DSi/DS Lite (IIRC more recent ones are "virtual events" over the internet via WiFi).

As far as I'm aware the Pokemon and Animal Crossing (Don't ask!) games are the only ones to make a lot of use of the internet aspect of the DS - there are probably others though.

[jscott5150]

Re: Nintendo DS (not DSi) not supporting WPA

Thanks