Wireless Home Networking - Index of

206
Part IV: Using a Wireless Network
your PC doesn’t have a network adapter, you can fit one in the PC Card slot
(of a laptop computer, for example), add one internally (in your desktop PC)
using a PCI card, or connect the adapter to a USB or Ethernet port of a desktop
computer. If you have a Mac that you’re using for gaming, you’ll probably
use one of the Apple AirPort or AirPort Extreme cards (which we discuss in
Chapter 8). There’s nothing special you need to do, hardware-wise, with a
gaming PC.
When it comes to playing online games, you may need to do some tweaking
to your home network’s router — which may be a stand-alone device or
part of your access point. In the upcoming sections “Dealing with Router
Configurations” and “Setting Up a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ),” we discuss
these steps in further detail.
Depending on which games you’re playing, you may not need to do any special
configuring. Some games play just fine without any special router configurations
— particularly if your PC isn’t acting as the server (which means that
other people aren’t connecting to your PC from remote locations on the
Internet).
Getting Your Gaming Console on
Your Wireless Home Network
Although PC gaming can be really cool, we find that many people prefer to
use a dedicated game console device — such as a PlayStation 2 (PS2) or an
Xbox — to do their gaming. And, although hard-core gamers may lean toward
PC platforms for their gaming (often spending thousands of dollars on ultrahigh-end
gaming PCs with the latest video cards, fastest processor and
memory, and the like), we think that for regular gamers, consoles offer some
compelling advantages:
� They’re (relatively) inexpensive. Although they are more expensive
than the previous generation of consoles, today’s current consoles are
cheaper than a PC — the Wii (if you can find one) starts at about $250,
the Xbox 360 starts at $350, and the PS3 starts at about $400. Even if you
dedicate an inexpensive PC for gaming, you’ll probably spend closer to
$800 — and even more if you buy the fancy video cards and other equipment
that gives the PC the same gaming performance as a console.
� They’re simple to set up. Although it’s not all that hard to get games
running on a PC, you’re dealing with a more complicated operating
system on a PC. You have to install games and get them up and running.
On a game console, you simply shove a disc into the drawer and you’re
playing.