Game Consoles!

The holidays are here, and with the holidays comes a bunch of fun toys. Chances are your kids or significant other may be obtaining their long coveted Xbox 360, Wii, or Playstation 3. With these devices come some fairly obvious uses (namely playing video games), but a lot of them have lots of nifty features that I see not being used in a lot of households I visit; most notably their abilities to connect wirelessly to your existing internet connection! Here are some of the features you are missing out on by not utilizing your internet connection/home network for your gaming consoles:

Wii:
-News Updates, local or otherwise
-Weather Updates, local or otherwise
-Ability to send mail and pictures to other friend’s Wii
-Online Multiplayer Games, allows you to play people all over the world in some of your games
-Games Marketplace, my personal favorite, allows you to purchase old school games (NES, SNES, etc.) for dirt cheap from Nintendo (from like 4 dollars to 12 dollar purchases).
-View pictures from your PC on your Wii

Xbox 360 (This one requires a special adapter to use Wirelessly- http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=76045):
-Xbox Live, pretty much one of the biggest selling points of this console, has monthly or annual fees that allow online play and game downloads. It has an online profile that stores screenshots and other goodies such as achievements for your games. You also have the capability to chat (via text or through a microphone), with freinds
or other players across the world.
-Netflix, you can download/stream your Netflix movies directly to your Xbox
-Facebook
-Stream Music and Movies from your PC to the Xbox

Playstation 3:
-Playstation Network, very similar to Xbox Live.
-Netflix, again, similar to the Xbox
-Stream Music and Movies from your PC to the Playstation 3

There are a lot more features that I am probably leaving out, but I sadly see these features completely not being utilized at residences I visit for computer work because people simply don’t take the time to get themselves connected. They are fairly easy to set up if you have a wireless router, and offer a lot of things that make your purchase seem a lot more reasonable. If you need help getting these devices set up, or have any questions, feel free to give us a call at our office (281-0009). I will be more then happy to come out and playtest them for you .

Happy Holidays!

Donald Michaels
Redline Services