Buffalo Wi-Fi Gamer Simplifies Online, Wireless Gaming
- July 27th, 2007
- 3 Comments
Back in the day, I used to write about a lot of Buffalo gadgets that tended to be Japan-only. The Wi-Fi Gamer, however, will appear on our shores sometime in August. It’s a gaming-centric router-like device that tries to address a problem gamers no doubt have encountered: connecting to a Wi-Fi access point with a game console can be a royal pain in the behind. (I hope that last sentence didn’t trigger any filtering software.) So Wi-Fi Gamer simplifies the whole process, putting an end to entering WEPs and WPAs on your system once and for all.
There’s a button on top of the Gamer. Push that then head to your system of choice and select AOSS—for AirStation OneTouch Secure System—in the setup menu. Your system will connect to the Internet, no fuss, no muss. The Gamer remembers all your security settings and the like, so you don’t have to repeatedly enter them every time you wanna play online. (Buffalo worked with both Nintendo and Sony in Japan to get the Wii, DS, PS3 and PSP to work seamlessly, by default, with the Gamer.)
The Buffalo Wi-Fi Gamer can be thought of as a dedicated Wi-Fi network for your video game systems: you don’t have to connect directly to your Wi-Fi network, but rather the Gamer’s in-between one. 1UP points out that parents could use this to their advantage: if you want to limit your kids’ online gaming time, just shut off the Gamer. The parent can still surf the Internet using the Wi-Fi connection proper, but Junior is locked out.
Buffalo’s shooting for a $50 price tag for its release. Hey, Josh liked it when he saw it demoed. If it’s good enough to impress him (he’s cynical like nobody’s business), odds are us normal folk will like it, too.
Buffalo Wi-Fi Gamer [1UP Gear Blog]
Javier Guzman (Who am I?)
1 year ago
Hey u knoow this seems kinda cool! But theres one problem, i already have a buffalo Wi-Fi usb adaptor for my ds and wii. So now i have to go and buy a new adaptor to work with all of my systems and i wasted $40. They should have thought of this before de de de. Oh well im still guna buy it.
Scorpio (Who am I?)
1 year ago
Hmm, this seems to leave the xbox/360 out in the cold.
(1) what is this “AOSS” thing? there’s no such thing in the Xbox 360 setup
(2) I don’t WANT it to be separate from my main network, that would stop me from using my 360 as a Media Center Extender.
“The Gamer remembers all your security settings and the like, so you don’t have to repeatedly enter them every time you wanna play online.”
Huh? who ever has to do this? I only have experience of the Xbox and 360 but it remembers all the security settings and connects to Xbox Live automatically every time I turn it on.
nice try, Buffalo, but no thanks!
Bandit (Who am I?)
1 year ago
The Wi-Fi connector is made by Buffalo but it’s actually a Nintendo product and was designed for Nintendo’s specs.
The Xbox360 doesn’t have wireless at all so you’re still on your own to get those connected. My neighbor has a Buffalo router and he uses the pushbutton AOSS thing with his notebook and his DS. He seems to like it. I frankly like to be in control so I have all of my stuff set manually, however, I also have two wireless APs (one for guest, one for me). I assume I could use on these as my guest APs in addition to a gaming AP.