New Wii browser coming in April

Final version of Opera-powered Web-surfing utility pushed back a few weeks to add more features.

Wii owners will have to wait a little longer for the release of the full Web browser for their consoles, as the final version of the utility has been pushed back to April.

The new version of the Opera Software browser is set to feature a number of changes, including improved zoning and scrolling, a better zoomed font, quicker start-up times, faster access to favorites, the ability to erase the toolbar, and preset buttons for common Web phrases like "www" and ".com."

Nintendo says the browser has been pushed back from this month to April, "to ensure that the browser incorporates all of these enhancements." It will be available to download for free until the end of June, after which it will cost 500 Wii points. A free beta version of the Wii Web browser has been available since late December.

171 Comments

  • SGTNAPALM

    Posted Apr 6, 2007 3:40 pm PT

    the only things i want are:

    faster video stream time (it takes forever)
    and the ability to surf gamespot. oh, and java.

  • deadmeat3171

    Posted Apr 4, 2007 6:38 am PT

    but when in April as it is april

  • slothboyadvance

    Posted Apr 3, 2007 11:08 pm PT

    Merl57, it's free if you buy it before June. Just as long as you buy it before June, you're fine.

  • japanesegoth

    Posted Apr 2, 2007 6:12 am PT

    "What about those videos that you can't watch? It says like, plug-in or something. Can you watch those in the new version?"

    i don't really know anything about this, but they'd probably do updates when necessary perhaps.

    "2. Will anything on the Wii ever be TSR (terminated but still resident, yes I grew up in the 90s) meaning that something like a messenger could run while a game was being played. Multi tasking while in some thing like the VC would be nice."

    can you even run a messenger now on it? probably gonna be a no.

  • deadmeat59

    Posted Mar 26, 2007 7:31 am PT

    good this could help me get off my pc cus all i do is go 2 web sites and chat

  • skaluv

    Posted Mar 26, 2007 7:13 am PT

    Two questions:

    1. Will the programs that are normally plugins (flash) become modular. Meaning I won't have to upgrade the browser every time Adobe (rip macromedia) creates a non backward compatible flash update?

    2. Will anything on the Wii ever be TSR (terminated but still resident, yes I grew up in the 90s) meaning that something like a messenger could run while a game was being played. Multi tasking while in some thing like the VC would be nice.

  • VirtualBoyZ

    Posted Mar 25, 2007 7:04 pm PT

    excellent. free=good!

  • Wiifanboy_4life

    Posted Mar 25, 2007 7:03 pm PT

    What about those videos that you can't watch? It says like, plug-in or something. Can you watch those in the new version?

  • Merl57

    Posted Mar 25, 2007 5:49 pm PT

    screw it im keeping free version

  • SpaceMoose

    Posted Mar 25, 2007 3:22 pm PT

    This is a much better idea than having something silly and pointless like a hard drive built into the system.

  • SpaceMoose

    Posted Mar 25, 2007 3:21 pm PT

    Browse It Loud

  • guitarist4292

    Posted Mar 25, 2007 2:05 pm PT

    exzplosion_man, its free until june. one time payment. as long as you get it before then, it doesnt matter

  • Explosion_Man

    Posted Mar 25, 2007 1:27 pm PT

    WHY!? Did I get super ghouls and ghosts!?!?! (good game) NOO only 400 POINTS LEFT! All I need is 100 WHY??? ARGGGHHHH?!?!?!?! Still gonna get it though.

  • MasterAsh42

    Posted Mar 25, 2007 12:52 pm PT

    Hmm. . .I don't see anything in that feature list indicating pop-up heavy sites will stop giving the browser fits. Oy.

    Still, though, I find the base functionality workable. Of course, I'm sure I'm a bit biased since the Wii browses and streams far faster than my old, bargain-basement PC. (I'll get a new one eventually. . .when a media format becomes cheap and standard.)

  • Strategy-knight

    Posted Mar 25, 2007 12:17 pm PT

    Sounds good

  • bgres077

    Posted Mar 25, 2007 7:59 am PT

    I hope I don't have to re-type in all of my favorites.

  • maxmax1234

    Posted Mar 25, 2007 3:04 am PT

    another reason to buy a wii

  • reaverx13

    Posted Mar 24, 2007 9:29 pm PT

    cool more reasons to get a Wii

  • The_Dude1212

    Posted Mar 24, 2007 5:56 pm PT

    If they can make it compatible with flash movies and web-messenger, I'm happy. If not, I still got myself YouTube...and LoZ:TP...and WarioWare...and SSX Blur...and Mii Channel...and all the Virtual Console games...

  • SEr_803

    Posted Mar 24, 2007 3:59 pm PT

    sounds like it will be a good upgrade

  • point_blank123

    Posted Mar 24, 2007 12:19 pm PT

    This seems promising !!!

  • Spyrius15

    Posted Mar 24, 2007 10:37 am PT

    A follow-up to theKSMM's comment on Wi-fi: there is an application called wirelessmon, which I found on PCWorld.com, that might help. It needs a computer that works on wireless, but it will show alot of relevant information, including information on the usage of wireless router channels. Use the channel that has the least traffic. I have mine on 11 (I'm pretty sure), which I believe Nintendo recommends on their Wi-fi site.

  • sailingmanuel

    Posted Mar 24, 2007 8:35 am PT

    I like the enhancements..Keep them coming.

  • theKSMM

    Posted Mar 24, 2007 8:15 am PT

    I have to agree with eXor512. The Opera browser isn't bad. No, it's not Firefox or Internet Explorer, but it's not that thing that's on the PlayStation 3 either. The PS3 browser is pretty bad; it didn't move from the PSP to the PS3 gracefully at all. Then again, I don't think the Xrossbar menu interface looks nearly as good on the big screen as it does on the portable, but I may be in the minority on that opinion.

    For those of you getting slow speeds on your Wi-Fi, try changing the channel that your access point uses. That worked pretty well for me and helped me get usable speeds again.

  • ChucklesMginty

    Posted Mar 24, 2007 6:14 am PT

    I'm hoping that theres gonna be someway to use the arrow keys so I can play more online games on Wii.

  • PantsOfFury

    Posted Mar 24, 2007 2:19 am PT

    MarioMainic- I have no clue what an Opera web browser has to do with being American... I'm assuming that you're talking about them charging for it and you automatically think of money->Capitalism. Being alright with people making money doesn't make you American. It does show that you know you shouldn't expect anything for free in this world, so I guess that's semi-smart if that is in fact the point you were trying to make.

  • MarioMainic

    Posted Mar 23, 2007 7:52 pm PT

    Ok im fine with that calll me all american

  • hammer_of_thor_

    Posted Mar 23, 2007 7:21 pm PT

    Not worried about the push back, I'm fine with what's there even. The improved zoning and scrolling should be nice, but when I really want to go on the net, I go on my computer, it's just nice from time to time to go on the web from my couch.

  • JAREDJR

    Posted Mar 23, 2007 5:19 pm PT

    As long as it's improved then I'm happy. The trial was really crummy.

  • nestea_king

    Posted Mar 23, 2007 2:41 pm PT

    I don't care, as long as they fix many of the bugs and glitches. I just want a browser for the Wii that won't reset at random times. Also one with better video support would be much better. nintendofreak92, the Wii is capable of going on youtube because youtube uses .flv videos. The Wii cannot watch videos that are any other extension though, like .wmv, .avi, etc...

  • toyzer

    Posted Mar 23, 2007 2:27 pm PT

    This application is good, even better that it's free. But they should release a stream from PC to Wii program so I can view all my DivXs in the living room. Now that would be a great program.

  • meesey01

    Posted Mar 23, 2007 1:32 pm PT

    nintendofreak92: "I hope you can view videos on it like on youtube because on the trial version you can't,"

    I can view any youtube video on my trial version! You might have something wrong with yours because youtube works fine....Of course just about any other format of video doesn't work, but youtube does!

  • porphyrous

    Posted Mar 23, 2007 1:30 pm PT

    Ironic, considering Opera started life as a pay web browser back in 1996. While Opera's market share has always been small, they own very important pieces of web history, among them:

    * The first web browser not based on original source code from the NCSA Mosaic browser from 1993 (IE, Netscape, and Firefox *still* contain Mosaic source code)
    * The first tabbed web browser (though it originally started out with each web page in its own window-within-the-browser-window)
    * The first web browser to implement 100 percent of the HTML and CSS web development standards released in 1997

    It seemed natural for Opera to end up on the Wii, since it is not beholden to any large corporations with a vested interested in trying to take over the Web and has already appeared on several other non-conventional platforms, such as mobile devices.

    Frankly, demanding that it be free is doing Opera a disservice, considering how long they've been an independent developer committed to published web standards, a distinction Microsoft mocks, Netscape is powerless to accomplish, and Mozilla seemingly cannot bring itself to do. If you're that cheap, be sure to download it before July, because at 500 Wii points, it's a bargain.

    .

  • onlineps2player

    Posted Mar 23, 2007 12:05 pm PT

    I think it must be free...

  • jonzilla_basic

    Posted Mar 23, 2007 11:48 am PT

    no biggie.

  • NND1

    Posted Mar 23, 2007 11:13 am PT

    Kool

  • Built

    Posted Mar 23, 2007 10:24 am PT

    great!.. now more people can waste their life on youtube/myspace/facebook, etc... instead of using da main purpose of da console... people, consoles are meant for wasting our lives by playin games, lol...

  • nekrotaunter

    Posted Mar 23, 2007 10:09 am PT

    i have the trial version, so i'm not all that upset.

  • kishometeora

    Posted Mar 23, 2007 6:25 am PT

    I wanna see updateble flash plugins and a wmv plugin so i can watch on the spot on my wii.

    Failing that gamespot you should put on the spot in a format that'll play on it.

  • Dust24311

    Posted Mar 23, 2007 5:31 am PT

    Thank God. The current browser is a broken piece of junk. It turns my 6MB/s cable connection into something that seems like a 14k connection from 1997!

  • Mam00th

    Posted Mar 23, 2007 4:16 am PT

    You can already go on youtube with it

  • zsc4

    Posted Mar 23, 2007 3:54 am PT

    This should be good, they really need this.

  • xche78x

    Posted Mar 23, 2007 2:52 am PT

    just include full support for the latest flash so wii can watch youtube videos.

  • ElectrolightSH

    Posted Mar 22, 2007 9:40 pm PT

    Who cares about Opera, they need to put Firefox on the Wii, PS3, and if Microsoft wants to add a browser on the 360.

  • gatsbythepig

    Posted Mar 22, 2007 9:24 pm PT

    let's see what's new with it

  • lonelogan87

    Posted Mar 22, 2007 9:22 pm PT

    before the wii actually came out i read something about the beta browser saying that the final version will be just like using the internet on a computer...without a keyboard

  • bgres077

    Posted Mar 22, 2007 8:39 pm PT

    Great news, I'd rather have a good browser a few weeks later than a rushed version later this week.

  • motang

    Posted Mar 22, 2007 7:49 pm PT

    Sweet all good and welcomed additions. Way to go Nintendo and Opera.

  • DarkSan00

    Posted Mar 22, 2007 7:37 pm PT

    please, please, please, please! TABBED BROWSING!

  • Metroid_Slasher

    Posted Mar 22, 2007 6:30 pm PT

    you can view movies on youtube, but sadly you can't view movies that use a plug-in. hope the final version will allow you to download plugin like java

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