Wii browser trial launches

By Tom Bramwell Published 22 December, 2006

We have a play around.

The Nintendo Wii version of the Opera web browser is now available to download from the Wii Shop. Grab it and it opens up an "Internet Channel" link on your Wii homepage.

Nintendo says the trial version's functionality is limited in this release, but early impressions are fairly impressive - not only can you load up and read your average text-based site, but heavily Flash and video-based sites like YouTube work fine too.

It's also possible to do things like check your Gmail, although I wasn't able to convince the Wii to remember my username and password for it, even when I checked the little box that told it to.

Operation of the browser in general is very simple, with a start page that allows you to input web addresses and view a simple control diagram, and a favourites page that lets you save simple one-button shortcuts to pages you've visited.

Scrolling is handled by directing the pointer at blue arrows at top and bottom, and then holding B. The further to the top or bottom of the screen you direct the pointer, the faster you scroll.

It's also possible to zoom in and out using the plus and minus buttons, which is handy for reading text on a composite video connection, I can tell you.

Anyway, if you fancy a go, it's free now from the Wii Shop. Just visit the Wii Software page. The browser will occupy 278 blocks of the Wii flash-drive.

Nintendo has previously said that the full version of the browser will be released in March 2007, and will be available for free until June, after which you'll be expected to pay 500 Wii points to download it.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (47) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #1 5 years ago

    Played around with it this morning, is a very simple web browser but is easy enough to use, hopefully they will add some form of tabbed browsing to the final addition, as it did seem only 1 page could be opened at a time.

    But for free you couldnt ask for much more really, it does the job :)

  • Der_tolle_Emil #2 5 years ago

    Sounds good. How does eg.net look when using the Wii?

    I have opera for the DS too and I am quite impressed by it's capabilities to display sites on the small screen. It is quite slow though. I hope the Wii version works a lot faster?

  • JetSetWilly #3 5 years ago

    The Wii version is impressively quick to load pages. Sadly, on my tv at least, it's filmed in Blur-O-Vision.

  • Darren #4 5 years ago

    I woke up this morning to my Wii's disc slot flashing away and knew it was for the browser update. I downloaded and was surprised at how readable it was on my 21" CRT TV with RGB SCART without having to zoom in. Web pages load as quickly as they do on my PC too which was nice. Only tried a few pages mind you but it works well. However, it's unlikely that anyone using this won't have a PC since it requires broadband (why have broadband if you don't have a PC?) so it's all a bit pointless and gimmicky really. I want to play games on my Wii not browse the internet. Could be useful for... oooooooh... two or three people though...

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #5 5 years ago

    Sites are only readable on the composite cable when you zoom in, but it still fits a fair bit on the screen, not tried with component cables yet, but im sure that will be readable zoomed in or out.

    Note there are only 2 levels of zoom at present, hopefully that will also be made adjustable, in a later release.

  • Fuser #6 5 years ago

    Well I'm impressed theyve done it - would be useful to me - I hate waiting 5 smegging minutes for my PC to boot up and load just to check my email: but the Xbox 360 really needs a browser. Why doesnt it have one? Anyone know?

  • AcidSnake #7 5 years ago

    Well, but think about getting stuck in a game...You really don't know what else to do...
    Instead of going away, heading to your pc, booting it up and navigating to find the page you could do it all without leaving the couch...

    Although in all fairness if you use the wi-fi connection your pc would be already booted up and you could leave the game paused...

    Still I see it as the preferred internet connection for many non-tech savvy relatives...
    I think it's a psychological safety factor for them that they can access the internet from the TV...

  • Toothball #8 5 years ago

    There's kind of a third level of zoom, although it's more of a single column mode. So far, it seems at least as good as the Dreamcast browser.

  • TC #9 5 years ago

    I'm using the browser to type this in now - apart from text being a little too small everthing else works great. I didn't expect my personalised google homepage to work so well. Typing takes a while though...

  • Eraysor #10 5 years ago

    Haha! i posted this message from my wii! The browser is excellent.

  • MoGamer2006 #11 5 years ago

    It's not "pointless and gimmicky" at all - my PC is upstairs in my spare bedroom and switched off when not in use, so there's a slight faff to browsing the internet...

    Agreed, I can't see myself using it for long 'net sessions, but if I just fancy quickly checking some info on the web (like finding tips for the game I'm playing on GameFAQs.com) then this sounds great... looking forward to trying it out when I get home.

  • SBfistfun #12 5 years ago

    Surely this is gonna make it awakward to surf the net, now both hands will be shaking up and down?

  • mazzl #13 5 years ago

    no realmedia and windows media plugin dough, so watching all kinds of internet video with this won't realy work.
    still nice for a quick mailcheck :)

  • dbeamish #14 5 years ago

    so.. can you download it to a memory card and run it from that, or not?

  • trevd72 #15 5 years ago

    excellent for porn, although there is no video support. i giggled when i typed "po" and porn appeared in that line at the top that has the guessed words.

    wii porn shocker and no way of telling if the kids have done the same.

  • TheGrandChappo #16 5 years ago

    Well done Ninty!! Now MS get off your arse and give us a browser :op

    /shakes fist

    /accidently punches self in face!

    /remembers not to be so vigorous!

  • knocker #17 5 years ago

    A bit more information here http://ww w.opera.com/pressreleases/en/20... I would be interested in setting up a webserver at home and see how it coped with different media formats. But I cannot be arsed.

    Apparently google maps works ... which is nice.

  • Nomgle #18 5 years ago

    @ Folks who can't be bothered to wait for their PCs to boot : Erm, if you just put your PCs to sleep instead of shutting them down, you'll find you can power them up almost instantly ! Hibernate and Suspend are your friends :)

  • MoGamer2006 #19 5 years ago

    ...But not to the environment they're not.

    I always shut my PC down and unplug it too - the PC still sucks a bit of power even when 'off'.

  • Hog-lumps #20 5 years ago

    mogamer2006 is a techno-hippie? :)

  • trevd72 #21 5 years ago

    @Nomgle - energy whore

  • Raya #22 5 years ago

    Seems rather cool. Flash video was a suprise. I don't think other fomats will get supported. There's just too many. More and more sites are using Flash anyway.
    It remembered my Ebay loggin so I don't know what happened to the reviewer...

    Flash games also work very well if they are mouse only games. Try Bush Shootout at miniclip ;-)

    I did notice that sometimes flash played back slowly but re-opening the browser fixed that though.

    5 mins to boot up a pc! - my Mac pro boots Os X in about the same time it takes the Wii to start ;-)

  • dbeamish #23 5 years ago

    heres some flash games for you to play on your Wii.
    [link url=http://www .albinoblacksheep.com/games/wii/
    ]http://www .albinoblacksheep.com/games/wii/
    [/link]

    Now someone tell me if you can dlaod the browser to a flash SD card thing and have it run off that or if it needs to be in memory..

    D
    Edited by 1 at 22/12/06 @ 11:41

  • Slim #24 5 years ago

    It's not pointless at all! It's a diddy little wifi browsing device for your TV that can be turned on with the remote! That absolutely rules, I can watch Youtube on me tv. I can check me mail quickly. I can read my rss feeds on the sofa. I can play lil webgames without having to pay for em. It's ace.

    Need some sort of flash based streamer now so I can play me music through the thing...

    Oh: wiicade.com - sites like this are going to rule!
    Edited by 1 at 22/12/06 @ 11:45

  • Santino #25 5 years ago

    http://www.wiicade.com for some games. noticed on youtube that the zoom function determines where the pointer is and how far it zooms, for example when clicking on text compared to the flash video.

  • trevd72 #26 5 years ago

    yes

  • The12thMonkey #27 5 years ago

    You tube on the TV! Rock on. Having a dabble with that now :)

  • trevd72 #28 5 years ago

    sorry did you mean full opera on a PC or this demo. this demo does not have tabs that I can see.

  • trevd72 #29 5 years ago

    is there a site that does movie trailers in flash?

  • Themaktima #30 5 years ago

    Actually, this tool allows me to play chess games on my favourite chess server. Awesome!
    But does anybody know how to get rid of the "navigation bar" at the bottom of the screen when browsing?

  • Sid-Nice #31 5 years ago

    Well I'm browsing and posting using the Wii at the moment. The good thing for me is if the kids are doing homework on the PC I can still visit eurogamer. :)

  • Slim #32 5 years ago

    Anyone found a pay poker client that works?

  • erp #33 5 years ago

    "available for free until June, after which you'll be expected to pay 500 Wii points to download it."

    interestingly the opera website actually says the following on this matter:

    "Users who download Opera before June 30, 2007, can continue to use the browser at no cost for the lifetime of the Wii system."

    yay!

    incidentally, i couldn't get eg.tv to work. it got stuck on "buffering", though i suspect it might've just been busy...
    Edited by 1 at 22/12/06 @ 13:57

  • haywire #34 5 years ago

    I really like it. It's a nice simple browser. You'd want to use a computer for extended sessions but if someone else is on the computer or you want to quickly check something on the net it does the job really nicely.

    I doubt they'll add tabs. It's not really for that kind of browsing experience and it'd take up screen room.

    The price is right for the moment anyway. :)
    Edited by 1 at 22/12/06 @ 14:21

  • secombe #35 5 years ago

    Really really impressed, can't see how they could have made it much better actually. It's amazingly quick (Youtube is great on the telly!) and easy to use. With RGB I haven't had to zoom much yet, but to be honest that is so simple and quick to do it doesn't matter.

    Sadly LineRider doesn't work, shame!

  • goodshape #36 5 years ago

    @Fuser "Xbox 360 really needs a browser. Why doesnt it have one? Anyone know?"

    Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn't know how to make web browsers.

    (zing! etc.)

  • Agent_Llama #37 5 years ago

    THIS is why the lack of DVD support for Wii is silly. If Wii can play games, browse the web, get news and weather etc, then playing CDs and DVDs would give it an advantage on the opposition, as you could use your Wii for all your main computery requirements. Just my thoughts.
    Edited by 1 at 22/12/06 @ 18:47

  • Razorus #38 5 years ago

    Youtube didn't work for me! How come? I clicked on a video and it said I need a new Macromedia Flash upgrade thing but it can't do it! I really want to watch Bleach on my TV! Someone help!

  • smelly #39 5 years ago

    Im impressed that they even let me browse pron on my nintendo console. Hardcore Pron on a nintenod.. who'd have thought?

    >THIS is why the lack of DVD support for Wii is silly.

    Nah. Supporting dvd would be silly as that'd mean giving money to sony.. and everyone has dvd players anyhows.

  • Beano #40 5 years ago

    The browser is pretty ok (for a free beta/trial) but is there a way to hide or minimize the toolbar?
    It takes about 20% of the screen - waste of screen space !!

    Also - what's about the black borders all around the page area?

  • JavaJawaUK #41 5 years ago

    Good for all the Wii owners out there. Now we just need the other consoles to follow suit . . .

  • Beano #42 5 years ago

    Both the PS3 and PSP has a web browser :)

  • gelf #43 5 years ago

    Whats it like for text input? Compared to say the method used on the PSP which makes its browser a waste of time for me.

  • Nillsens #44 5 years ago

    Also posting from my Wii :)

  • dcangel #45 5 years ago

    Browser is made of awesome. I desperately need a component cable though, it's readable but awfully blurry.

    "Whats it like for text input?"

    Same as the Wii's other apps that use text input - you can choose between either the default on-screen keyboard, or a mobile phone style keypad, both of which use the remote pointer. There's also limited predictive text.

  • AOFanboi #46 5 years ago

    <em>...But not to the environment they're not.</em>

    I think he meant the "hibernating" choice in the turning off dialog; doesn't that same the current Windows state to disk then shut down, and when you turn it back on it continues from there?

  • gelf #47 5 years ago

    "Same as the Wii's other apps that use text input - you can choose between either the default on-screen keyboard, or a mobile phone style keypad, both of which use the remote pointer. There's also limited predictive text."

    Well that does sound better then the PSP then. I seriously hate the mobile style one on that. I'd lost the will to live by the time I'd inputted my Wireless settings