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I remember in my younger days when gaming was simple and fairly inexpensive. I recall only spending $80 on my nintendo and after a few game purchases I felt i had all I needed.
But nowadays, with online gaming more popular than ever and game systems ranging from $300 to $650, gaming has become quite an investment. By the time you buy your favorite games at $60 a pop, wireless controllers and a wireless adapter, you could be looking at an over all purchase of $1000-$1200. With that said, some have found it difficult to make the jump into online gaming, in particular with Microsoft's Xbox 360. Even though the system has been out for years, the price on the Xbox's wireless adapter has never come down in price, which by the way is a whopping $100. I don't know why Microsoft charges so much for such a simple device, especially considering you can purchase an entire wireless router for only $30! Thats why i've decided to write this article. I will show you an inexpensive alternative to purchasing the Xbox's wireless router and how to set it up. This alternative assumes that you already have a wireless router setup somewhere in your house. The first alternative is for those who have a computer in the room where the Xbox 360 resides. The computer must have internet access, either wired or wireless. It could either be a laptop or a desktop. You must purchase a device designed actually for the Wii. Its called the Wii LAN Adapter . You can pick it up at Newegg.com for about $24. The Wii LAN Adapter is actually designed to plug into the USB port on the back of the Wii and convert it into a network cable(CAT5) and then plug into your Internet router. But what people don't know, is it can also be used to convert a USB port on a computer into a network cable that can be plugged into the back of your Xbox 360. The following is a walk through to explain the setup.
1) Buy Wii LAN Adapter. 2) Plug USB side of adapter into a USB Port on the back of your laptop or desktop with internet connection. 3) Plug a network cable into the adapter and the other side into the Xbox 360. The Wii LAN Adapter comes with a 5 foot network adapter but you may need a longer cable. They are inexpensive to buy. 4) Windows Xp or Vista should tell you that it has found new hardware. Let windows try to download and install a driver for the hardware from the Internet. It will find the proper driver and install it for you. If a window does not pop up to tell you that it has found new hardware, then look down in the system tray in the bottom right hand corner and you should see an new icon. If you put your mouse cursor over it, it should say "Found New Hardware. Click on it and follow the previous instructions. 5) At this point, turn on your Xbox 360. Windows should pickup a new Local Area Connection in Network Connections. Another icon should appear in the system tray. (Two computer screens next to each other with a red X on them.) 6) Right click on the icon and select Open Network Connections. You should see "Local Area Connection. Connected. ASIX AX88772 USB2.0 to Fast Ethernet Adapter." That's the Xbox 360 network connection. 7) If you have wireless Internet, you should also see "Wireless Network Connection. Connected, Fire walled." At this point, you must create a Network Bridge. To do this, hold down shift and click on the Wireless Network Connection and then the Local Area Connection. This should highlight both connections. While they are both highlighted, right click on Wireless Network Connection and click on "Bridge this Connection." This is called IP forwarding. You basically forward the IP of the Xbox 360's network through your computer wireless network. Of course this means that your computer must be turned on for the Xbox to play online. 8) Try and logon to Xbox Live. If if does not work. Use the "Test Connection" option in your Xbox. It should work fine. If ever your computer has Internet but you can't seem to get Xbox Live to log on, try restarting your computer. This could reset the bridge and refresh the connection. Or disable the bridge by right clicking on Local Area Connection removing it from the bridge and then right clicking it again and Add to Bridge. 9) For those who have wired Internet on your computer, instead of wireless. Follow all the same instructions, but instead of highlighting Wireless Network Connection, highlight the main Local Area Connection that provides your computer with Internet. This could mean that you have both "Local Area Connection" and "Local Area Connection 2" in your list. The second alternative is for those who do not have a computer in the room with the Xbox 360. This requires you to purchase a wireless router. You can pick up a cheap one for about $35. Avoid buying an expensive brand that may cost you $80. Setup the wireless router in the room with the Xbox 360. It is possible to create a wireless bridge between two wireless routers. According to which brand wireless router you purchase, the setup could be different. To avoid redundancy, there are many walk throughs on the Internet showing how to setup a wireless router as a wireless bridge. Research it before you purchase the router to make sure that you buy one that is compatible with the wireless router that you already have. For instance, some older Linksys routers may require an upgrade to the routers firmware. Although there are walk throughs on how to do this, it can be dangerous. One false move can turn your router into a 'brick', rendering it unusable.
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