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Part IV: Using a Wireless Network
In this chapter, we talk about some of the hardware requirements for getting
a gaming PC or game console online. In the case of gaming consoles, you may
need to pick up some extra gear. However, Nintendo’s and Sony’s current consoles
have Wi-Fi built in — in fact, Nintendo’s Wii is so wireless friendly that
you have to pay extra for a wired network connection, as opposed to the tradition
of wireless being the option! We also talk about some steps you need
to take to configure your router (or the router in your access point, if they’re
the same box in your wireless local area network) to get your online gaming
up and running.
Our focus here is on wireless networking connections. Keep in mind that
gaming consoles have also become unwired in terms of the connections
that their controllers use. All three of the current consoles (the Wii, the
PlayStation 3, and the Xbox 360) use wireless technologies such as Bluetooth
(see Chapter 3 for more on Bluetooth) to connect their controllers to the
console. The Xbox 360 can even work with wireless headsets, so you can
wirelessly yell “I’m ripping your head off right now” to the gamer on the far
end of the connection (you Seth Rogen fans out there know what we’re talking
about here!).
We’re approaching this chapter with the assumption that your wireless
gaming network will be connected to the Internet using an always-on, broadband
connection, such as DSL, fiber-optic, or a cable modem, using a home
router (either the one built into your access point or a separate one). We
have two reasons for this assumption: First, we think that online gaming
works much, much better on a broadband connection; second, because with
some console systems (particularly the Xbox), you’re required to have a
broadband connection to use online gaming. And, even if the console (like
the PS2) doesn’t require broadband, many of the games do.
PC Gaming Hardware Requirements
We should preface this section of the book by saying that this book isn’t entitled
Gaming PCs For Dummies. Thus, we don’t spend any time talking about
PC gaming hardware requirements in any kind of detail. Our gamer pals will
probably be aghast at our brief coverage here, but we really just want to give
you a taste of what you may want to think about if you decide to outfit a PC
for online gaming. In fact, if you’re buying a PC for this purpose, check out
the class of computers called gaming PCs, optimized for this application.
Throughout this chapter, we use the term gaming PC generically to mean
any PC in your home that you’re using for gaming — not just special-purpose
gaming PCs.
Your best resource, we think, is to check out an online gaming Web site that
has a team of experts who review and torture-test all the latest hardware for
a living. We like CNET’s www.gamespot.com and www.gamespy.com.