"Ericka" wrote in message
...
Kat wrote:
"toypup" wrote in message
...
I am thinking of eventually getting my 7 yo son a Nintendo DS. I am
concerned about the feature allowing him to hook up with people through
a WiFi connection. I don't mind him playing with his friend, who lives
a drive away, but I don't want him playing with random people and I
don't want anyone contacting him. Is there a parental control feature
on the Nintendo DS? Is there a safety feature built in?

I'm just talking to a friend who seems to know a fair bit about this
DS...
For the connection... He's telling me that you need a wireless
connection. Like a wireless router to connect... With that, he tells me
it's for playing games with someone that isn't within the range of the
DS. Not sure how far the range is, but I believe it's not like miles
away or something... fairly close range.

Once you're connected by WiFi, it's traveling over
the internet, so distance is not an issue. You can play games
with people anywhere in the world. IIRC, these
interactions are mediated by the specific game in use,
and different games allow different types of interaction.
You do have to get the other player's code and put it in
your friends list (and vice versa) in order to do this.
There are websites where people share their friend codes
if they want to play games with other people. There is
a web browser available for the DS, but of course you'd
have to buy that, and if you don't buy it, he won't have
access to it. Most of the games that support WiFi gameplay
don't allow much interaction.


So most games that allow WiFi play only allow the players to play that game
and not chat at the same time? When I read about DS, it said something
about being able to play people around the world, so that was the part that
concerned me. If he can play others without a running conversation with
them, that is fine with me.

Is Pictochat something that is built into the DS? I know my son knew how to
use that at his friend's house. If I buy it, I would like him to use that
feature to communicate with his friend but not anyone else.