Nintendo Zone

Nintendo Zone is the successor of DS Download Stations, the latest revision in the Nintendo Spot series. The predecessor of Nintendo Zone in this series is DS Station, and the first revision in this series is Nintendo Spot. Although Nintendo Zone is the latest revision in the series, most game stores still use DS Station. This series downloads DS demos from an Internet server, rather than from a local DS host. Nintendo Zone locations have additional company-specific content. Companies can use this for information about the store/location, coupons with McDonalds, mini-games, etc.

Client usage

Unlike DS Station, the Nintendo Zone client is rigged to only connect to an AP with a certain Broadcom tag. In other words, the client is rigged to only work with a certain router. When the AP has the correct SSID, WEP key, and Broadcom tag, the client attempts to connect to the AP.(WEP key is generated from the SSID, Nintendo software can automatically connect to these APs without any configuration.) When the DSi is in range of a Nintendo Zone AP, sysmenu will display a message that you're in range of a Nintendo Zone AP. The hidden DSi Nintendo Zone client will then appear in the menu. The client is basically a NetFront browser rigged to only work with certain APs, and with the capability of booting RSA-1024 signed NDS software.

Versions

The v2.0 of the DSi Nintendo Zone client was released with the February 9, 2010 update. The Japanese client was updated to v2.0 on January 8, 2010.. It is unknown what has changed.

Technical information

More technical information is available here.