New Killer Wireless Wi-Fi

Gamers will in the near future be able to get their hands on a new Wi-Fi module and an Ethernet controller from Killer Wireless, both designed to offer OEMs low-latency I/O options that are optimized for gaming.

The Killer Wireless-N 1202

Both the Killer Wireless-N 1202 and the Killer E2200 will be announced on Monday. Killer Wireless, part of the Bigfoot Networks team that Qualcomm Atheros acquired last year, focuses on network innovation that minimize the latency involved in the network connection.

One gaming laptop maker will ship the Wireless-N 1202, and another will be shipping the E2200, executives said. A third laptop partner has as well committed to using the innovation. Bigfoot/Killer innovation has been shipping on Alienware PCs since last year.

The surface

On the surface, Killer is trying to achieve the same goals as cloud gaming companies like Gaikai, OnLive, and others. Nevertheless OnLive, according to Sean McCann, a marketing manager for Killer, is more about the upheaval of traditional game distribution business models than the overall latency that's present, he said.

"With that said, Killer innovation could thoroughly help with that," McCann said. We like to identify latency-sensitive applications and prioritize them."

All of the Killer products ship with the Killer Network Manager, a piece of software that prioritizes certain applications: game data gets top priority, followed by Skype or VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) apps, at the time streaming video like Hulu or Netflix.