Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Fellow Gamers! A Request!

After purchasing Knights in the Nightmare and Dragon Quest Swords last week, I foolishly forgot to inquire about a "wireless internet adapter" or some doohickey with a similar-sounding name for the Xbox 360 that lets me use a wifi connection to access Xbox LIVE. It's hard to believe I've owned an Xbox 360 for upwards of 3 years now and I STILL haven't been able to get on LIVE! That will change once I get my grimy gaming hands on this adapter thingamajig (hopefully!) Only problem: I don't know where to start looking for a good deal on this particular item (no surprise if I don't even know what the heck this thing is called, hence why I'm also refraining from googling about it, at least for now. St. Jude and St. Anthony, pray for me!) I'll probably cross-post this request on some gaming forums I visit regularly, but as this is my blog is my primary communication with the gaming universe these days, I'd be doing myself no favors if I didn't ask the readers here for some help. So, in brief:

1) Where can I find one of these things?
2) What's it gonna cost me?

In the meantime, my brothers back home are inquiring about HD Component Cables for the Wii; I'm slightly more familiar with this item (in fact, I recall seeing some "third-party" produced cables for this peculiar purpose while shopping at Sam's Club with my dad), but the Nintendo-produced, "first-party" cables were no where to be seen. I've heard that Nintendo currently only sells them online; is this true? I'm not much for third-party gaming supplies, though I certainly won't speak for my brothers; at this point, they'd probably take a functional, third-party device of questionable longevity and quality over nothing at all.

Detailed responses to either or both requests are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

UPDATE: So I went to Gamestop today, bought $99.20 worth of games and completely forgot to ask about either the cables or the adapter. ARGH!!!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't say much about the nintendo question, but as for the Xbox 360 Wireless Network Adapter: I'm not sure if there is a good deal on these things. I do know the first-party product came down in price relatively recently to around 80$ from 100$ (the reason I finally purchased one), and you can probably find some deals on eBay.

I would guess you can find one, or a third-party version, anywhere you'd usually buy such peripherals, but I wouldn't necessarily expect to pay less than 50$. (Unless you get some help from St. Anthony, of course.)

Pat said...

Yeeeah, a first-party wi-fi adapter is Microsoft's way of punishing you for wanting convenience. Those things are not cheap. I take it your computer is connected to the internet by wi-fi (or you're using someone else's) or you could just hook up your 360 by ethernet cord.

The other thing you could do is do a search for how to use a laptop's wi-fi for the 360. My friend Jon (he draws the comics for the Soup) uses his netbook and an ethernet cord. I'm not sure how, exactly. You could email him.

As far as Wii component cables go, Nintendo should be selling them on their online store. That might be the only place you can find them, actually (and I bet you they'll be cheaper there). 480p isn't quite considered high def, but anything beats standard.

Andy Kirchoff said...

My current living situation (which will continue for at least a good 4 more weeks) has my computer hooked up to the internet via a wi-fi connection; when I return to the seminary in the fall, we'll have "the best wi-fi Loyola University can offer" in our dorm, so ideally I'll be able to utilize this "Wireless Network Adapter" thingy even as my living situation changes; that's what makes the purchase so enticing to me. On the other hand, I don't want to burn a chunk of my paycheck on this thing only to use it only sparingly, or worse yet, find out that my circumstances won't allow for it, anyway.

Pat, I've heard of the whole "PC-360 connection" thing, too, but I don't think that's what I'm looking for given my circumstances. Too many wires
where I am right now, anyway!

Is there any way to get the Wii cables besides online? My brothers are so sick of the "glare" and other nonsense that makes HD Wii gaming so much uglier than it should be. Maybe the third-party cables are the way to go, after all...if you guys happen to know if these products are worthwhile, I'd appreciate it. Thanks for your input!

Anonymous said...

the glare does kill andy it does!
i scared of Rwilight princess now (not that the weird imp thing isnt scary enough) it tears your eyes apart. Oh, and Edf 2017 is even worse.

Your bro Martin
(and yes, he still hasnt put me on the blog thingymajg)