Wii Opera browser slips to April

By Robert Purchese Published 22 March, 2007

Nintendo makes final changes.

Nintendo and Opera have announced that the final version of the Wii Internet Channel will now be available in April, a little later than the previous release date in March.

It's been delayed to allow last minute tweaks to the Opera browser to ensure a better surfing experience.

Scrolling and zooming are said to have been improved, as are start-up times and accessibility to favourites. It will also now feature buttons to quickly punch-in common Internet wordy-things, like "www" or "com" or "Hollyoaks", decreasing the amount of time you'll need to spend waving your arms about.

A test version has been available on the console since December, and the full banana will be free to download until June. If you happen to fall asleep for two months and miss this promotion, well, you'll have to fork out 500 Wii points for the browsing privileges.

Surfing the web is just one of the options available from the console's Menu Channels. There's also the Internet Channel, Disc Channel, Photo Channel, Mii Channel and Wii Shop Channel, as well as the Forecast Channel, which lets you see just how dismal the UK's weather is compared to other bits of the world. And then laugh.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (34) Latest comment 5 years ago

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

  • botherer #1 5 years ago

    Pron on the Wii!

    Someone tell the mothers!

  • Chewy #2 5 years ago

    Now just need to find a Wii to buy at the RRP before June!

  • northernlights #3 5 years ago

    I couldnt care less, I have a PC for surfing the web. Just bring out a friends channel and microphone and get online gaming up and running. Weather Channel and Vote channels - Crap

  • jaxon58 #4 5 years ago

    I hope they've a 'happy medium' between the Zoomed Out and Zoomed In states. I find Zoomed Out to far out, and Zoomed In to close.

    Maybe I should just stand nearer or further away from my telly ;)

  • chupachups #5 5 years ago

    "I hope they've a 'happy medium' between the Zoomed Out and Zoomed In states. I find Zoomed Out to far out, and Zoomed In to close. "

    Opera on smartphones has a percentage zoom feature so you can zoom in or out as much as you like, presumably this wouldn't be too hard to implement on Opera for the Wii.

  • Moz #6 5 years ago

    500 points from June!!!!!!

    Are they really expecting people to pay for a web browser, especially one with a maximum res of 640x480!!!!

    The Wii really isn't the "bargin" it was ment to be.

    Just look at the controllers £30 for the wimote + £15 for a nunchuk +£10 for rechargeable batteries (and no play and charge option)

    So £55 for a controller

    X360 £35 controller + £10 play and charge = £45 a controller

    PS3 £35 controller which has play and charge included!!

    So once you've bough 3 extra controller sets you've pay an extra £60 compaired to PS3

    You also have 3rd party and wired options for X360 and PS3 that save you even more money!

    More shockingly, you can have X360 core system plus 3 wireLESS controllers

    for the same price as a Wii with 3 extra controller sets AND FAR LESS PROCESSING POWER AND HARDLY WORTH WHILE ONLINE FEATURES

  • Dr Strangelove #7 5 years ago

    Full screen mode please!

  • lambtron #8 5 years ago

    "You also have 3rd party and wired options for X360 and PS3 that save you even more money!"

    3rd party pads are the spawn of satan! They are invariably shit.

  • chupachups #9 5 years ago

    "The Wii really isn't the "bargin" it was ment to be. "

    I don't think anyone bought a Wii to browse the web. It's an optional extra, if you don't want it don't buy it.

  • Moz #10 5 years ago

    "3rd party pads are the spawn of satan! They are invariably shit. "

    MadCat have always seemed as good as official pads, but yes most 3rd party are horrid

  • Moonprince #11 5 years ago

    lol moz get a life you sad cnt

  • JackyB #12 5 years ago

    all we need now is a tiger woods review. what happened to "early next week"? we are now officially near the end of the week! lol

  • Moz #13 5 years ago

    Just pointing out that the Wii is a total rip-off, slightly off topic maybe but charging for internet browseing just seemed to ad to the Ninty rip-off.

    As for sad slightly maybe, more board at work, can be fun to see what responces you get from fan-boys desperatly defending their chosen system.

  • Darren #14 5 years ago

    I've only used the Wii's Opera browser once which was the first time I downloaded it. The Wii's low resolution makes it pretty much unusable even when you use component video on an HDTV and it's crying out for 720p support so that webpages are at least readable. In my opinion I should add.

    I'd imagine the PS3's browser will be far more practical but even then I don't think it'll ever replace my trustworthy PC.

  • Beano #15 5 years ago

    "Full screen mode please! "

    AMEN!!

    What's up with the bordes in the beta ???

  • Nova5lag #16 5 years ago

    I only use my psp browser when I cant be arsed to walk upstairs to the comp.

    I wont use the wii browser... because my missus moans enough when Im playing games and I dread to think what she would say if I was sitting in the front room surfin for prawn... oooops.

  • varsas #17 5 years ago

    @Moz: You forgot to add the cost of multiple memory cards or a hard disk for your 360 price comparison. ;)

  • afray #18 5 years ago

    Nova5lag: +1

    I loved the Wii browser, but got given a PSP and that's much more friendly for surfing and reading on the web. The text input is almost as fast as well. Plus you can do it on the bog! :)

  • Eraser #19 5 years ago

    To be honest, I use the Wii's browser a lot more than I expected. To quickly find a bit of info, it's excellent. My computer takes like 2, 3 minutes to boot up to a workable state. The Wii does it in like 30 seconds and uses about a 10th of the electricity my PC does.

  • Moz #20 5 years ago

    @varsas - Fair point, will have to see how much the 512mb memcard for 360 comes out at.

    Though an extra £50 is well worht the graphical improvements, not as noticable on smaller tvs but on a large hd tv some Wii games look painfully bad. If only ninty could have squeezed in a little more memory and a slightly better processer so it could at least do 720p, hell if they allowed it, it probably could manage it as it, the orginal Xbox had a few 720p games for it. As the graphics the Wii puts out now at a higher res would look really nice, not as good as 360 or PS3, but it would be a hudge improvement on what it currently does.

  • Batfink #21 5 years ago

    USB keyboard support pretty please!

  • mostly_harmless #22 5 years ago

    @Moz I love the way you arrive at your figure of £55 for a 'controller'; you should work in pollitics, marketing, or the press. Assuming you don't get too dizzy from all the spinning.

    The fact that most multiplayer games so far don't utilise the nunchuck (thereby negating the need to buy a second one; the first remember is free), and the fact that you don't really need rechargeable batteries to use the remote (you can get a pack of 10 AA's from Ikea for 1.99..., which is a lot cheaper than the on-going cost of petrol that my 'rip off' car keeps consuming), shouldn't detract from a first rate bit of interpretation presented as fact.

    You can argue till you're blue in the face that 'extra controllers cost £55'; they simply don't cost me that much. I have an extra controller for the Wii; it cost me £30 (with Wii play included) and does everything I need it to. Those other things exist and have their uses, but I don't need them at the moment; if I ever need a second nunchuck then its only another £15 and I've spread the payment, only buying what I need when I need it. Would I prefer it if all of the above was cheaper? Of course; I'd prefer it if the toasted sandwhich I just ate had cost £1.50 instead of £2.50. Do I feel I'm being ripped off though? No.

    Of course, 500 wii points for the browser (to get back on topic) does seem a bit off, especially when they're offering it for free initially... but the point is that it's optional. Would you prefer that they include it in the console out of the box, and use it to justify whacking an extra fiver on the RRP for the so called 'added value'? If you don't want to browse the web with the Wii (which is not what most people will have bought it for) then you can choose not to, and save the couple of extra pounds it would have cost. Compare this to the practice of including unwanted non-gaming functionality in the box and then charging extra for it (I'm sure I don't have to explain who or what I'm referring to here). I much prefer the transparency, flexibility, and freedom of choice of the Wii model.

  • Moz #23 5 years ago

    @mostly_harmless - Touché!

    Yes you spotted my slight spin! And yes the fact that you can spread the cost easier is a bonus, if slightly faulse economy.

    As for the browser, I just don't like the thought of paying for a browser, when I can get firefox or more importantly Opera free on my PC. You can even get Opera for your mobile for free. So why do we have to pay for the Wii version?! (well be We I meen thoughs people who get their system after June, which the way things are going someone people who wont one at the moment will still be waiting at that time)

  • Dougs #24 5 years ago

    Any chance of Java support? Would be good to play some poker when the missus is hogging the PC...!

  • wizbob #25 5 years ago

    Opera is not free. There is an ad-subsidised version but the full application costs money

  • MattyD #26 5 years ago

    What are the odds on one of the 'common internet words' being 'porn'? :D

  • oerhoert #27 5 years ago

    Opera for PC went free several years ago, so yes, it is indeed free. Without ads.

    How people even manage to get worked up about a price of 500 Wii points is beyond me. I'll download it for free when it becomes available, but even if I had to pay for it, what is 500 points really? The price of a high street hot dog?

  • Moz #28 5 years ago

    @oerhört

    Is the principle of the matter!

    If there was a decent online service on the Wii, then you could argue that paying for the browser helps subsadise the network. I just don't see any value in a browser for the Wii.

    But hay I guess all the companies get more money out of us then we realise.
    Expensive VC content from Nintendo
    Yearly subscription and micro transactions on XBLive
    The PS3 just costs alot more to start with plus micro transactions.

    If anything the PS3 is the most up front system in terms of priceing (at the moment) cos if you add the £150 you'll spend in Live subs over the next 5 years the PS3 doesn't seem as expensive.

    But again it's all a choice thing I guess, if you want it all and have the money to PS3 could turn out to be the cheapest option in the long run. But if you don't then in buying a PS3 your paying for stuff you don't need. Wii and Xbox at least give you that choice.

  • smelly #29 5 years ago

    How did a topic about the wii browser end up into a discussion on how expensive the pad is to buy?

    Just because some fanboy posts how much "cheaper" the 360 is (while getting his maths wrong)?

  • smelly #30 5 years ago

    Besides the browser will be FREE!!! All you have to do is download the beta now, and get it for free when it comes out properly.

    Not that i think it's necessary, i cant see the point in browsing on my games machine.

  • richardiox #31 5 years ago

    Moz also fails to mention that whilst the Wii controllers are more expensive, unlike the 360 pads they function as a remote pointer, have accelerometers and gyros in both the Mote and Nunchuck and also have a built-in speaker.

    So yep, your right - a Wiimote and Nunchuck combo is £15 more than a 360 pad...so what they're totally different products offering totally different tech? You cant compare apples to oranges.

    Also, the Wii browser is free until June. The news and weather channels are free. How much does the browser on the 360 cost?.....

  • Oddly #32 5 years ago

    "500 points from June!!!!!! "

    Yes, a whole £3.75 in real money. You are officially tighter than a gnat's chuff.

  • AOFanboi #33 5 years ago

    Ah, I remember paying NOK 200 (around £15) for a diskette containing Opera 2.12 for Windows at a trade show back in the day. From a couple of young men at a small booth for the young company Opera Software, recently spawned from the research division of Telenor (Norway's telecoms giant). Those were the days. (The Opera install stayed diskette-sized for quite a few years.)
    Edited by 1 at 22/03/07 @ 22:25

  • thefilthandthefury #34 5 years ago

    Can't wait for this. I use the current browser all the time and think it's absolutely brilliant.