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Wii Opera Browser is Free Until Next Year

Posted by Zonk on Tue Sep 26, 2006 02:46 PM
from the because-web-browsing-on-my-wii-sounds-fun dept.
Businesses Nintendo Entertainment Games
Wowzer writes "Nintendo is serious about giving casual game console users multi-functionality by offering not just a weather, news, and photo channels, but a free internet browser with the Wii at the November 19th U.S. launch. From the article: 'Opera's full Web browser is available for download from the Wii Shop Channel. Nintendo has stated that they will offer Opera free of charge as a temporary promotion for all [worldwide] Wii users until June 2007.'"
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[+] Final Version of Wii Browser Now Available 112 comments
CVG points out that, as of today, the final version of the Wii Opera browser is available for download. Make sure and do the update sometime in the next month or so; as you might recall from the original announcement, it will only be free until the end of June. "You can finally ditch the trial version of the Opera browser and download the full and final package, which comes with added features, such as 'www.' and '.com' buttons as well as improved functionality like a faster boot-up and better zoom capability. You can download it right now for free, first by updating your system, then grabbing the update from the Wii Software page on the Shop Channel."
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Wii Opera Browser is Free Until Next Year 50 Comments More /

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  • Wiiiiiiiiii!

    I love Opera, but the fact that they were going to want to charge money for it was a little meh, though I was more than happy to pay for it. The fact that it's free until 2007 seals the deal for me.

  • Web browser? (Score:4, Funny)

    by !ramirez (106823) on Tuesday September 26 2006, @02:51PM (#16204267)
    Wouldn't this be a 'Wiib Browser'?

  • Is a free, huh? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Deadguy2322 (761832) on Tuesday September 26 2006, @02:52PM (#16204281)
    Did Mario write the headline?
  • They already announced this for Japan, so I expecit it to happen. I think it's a great thing to do. I have to wonder what the price will be once the "sale" stops. Still, I can see how this may be useful, but I don't think I'd pay for it. People who may have a Wii and no computer though might.
      • These days, you never know. I thought of that, but what about the idea of IPTV. If they have IPTV they may have the 'net connection and no computer. They may live in an apartment that provides that as part of the rent but they don't have a computer. They may GET an internet connection for their Wii and still not have a computer.
      • If they're getting online through the Wii, it means they have an internet connection to begin with, and 99% of people that have an inet connection have a PC. Not many people will pay $30+/month for internet just for the Wii.

        But many of them will pay $20 per month more for broadband instead of dial-up just for gaming. My mother switched from dial-up to DSL literally three days ago.

  • or are they implying everyone will have to buy after July? non-free updates?

    I'm getting the Wii but not interested in browsing anyway. the DS browser seemed like a nice idea and was well implemented except for the appalling performance so I didn't bother.

  • at which point... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anubis350 (772791) on Tuesday September 26 2006, @02:55PM (#16204359)
    ...someone will have hacked up a free version to use in place of the pay one...
  • The headline is a bad grammar.

  • So... (Score:3, Funny)

    by voice_of_all_reason (926702) on Tuesday September 26 2006, @02:59PM (#16204473)
    If someone's already bought it for their PC, they can just let Opera and Nintendo know and they'll get a copy sent straight to their Wii, right? I mean, surely a respectable company with IP will have no problem making you absolutely happy with your purchase once you've paid them money, right?

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by TrickFred (231420)
      Analogy time:

      Buying a PC game doesn't always entitle you to a copy of the Mac version of the game as well.

      Buying a PS2 game doesn't entitle you to a copy of the GameCube version of the game as well.

      Why should this be any different?

      Suck it up, or just use Opera on your PC. *shrug*

      (FYI - No intention of buying it myself, I have a PC for that kind of thing)

    • Re:So... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Boglin (517490) on Tuesday September 26 2006, @03:25PM (#16204925) Homepage Journal
      Actually, they're doing one better. If you've purchased Opera for the Wii, you can transfer it over to your PC. In fact, they're so generous that you can even keep the copy on your Wii while still running the one on your desktop. Compare that with those stingy bastards at Firefox. I spent ten times as much on Firefox as I did on Opera, yet they STILL feel that I don't deserve a copy for my Wii. Greedy, money grubbing assholes.
  • *chuckles* :)
  • I'm guessing the answer is no, but, will the Wii be able to download software from places *other* than the Wii Shop Channel (without creative network management)? The Wii could graduate from "casual gamer" market if it allowed homebrew games and -- here's the relevance -- apps such as, say, FF for Wii (and screw this commercial browser nonsense).

    • The Wii could graduate from "casual gamer" market if it allowed homebrew games and -- here's the relevance -- apps such as, say, FF for Wii (and screw this commercial browser nonsense).

      FF for Wii [wikipedia.org] is planned.

      The problem with a blanket endorsement of homebrew methods is that commercial developers will likely try to pass their games off as homebrew without giving Nintendo a cut. This would kill the attach rate.

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by jZnat (793348) *
          Sorry, but the abbreviation for Firefox is "Fx" according to the Firefox developers; thanks for playing.
    • I have to wonder why they didn't just port Firefox themselves. It would be much easier, and firefox is much more popular than Opera anyway.

      • Re:Wiizilla? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Yahweh Doesn't Exist (906833) on Tuesday September 26 2006, @03:44PM (#16205315)
        >I have to wonder why they didn't just port Firefox themselves. It would be much easier

        no it wouldn't. Opera have shedloads of experience making browers for low-spec devices with restricted interfaces. Firefox has none at all. Nintendo might as well have started entirely from scratch.
          • Opera's low-spec experience means they make efficient browsers, not PC-bloatware that use lots of resources just because they can. always a bonus for non-upgradable platforms.

            no keyboard = restricted interface.

      • No. Nintendo will probably never support homebrew (or open-source software) for the Wii. Besides, this would require documentation of the Wii API, which is probably very closely guarded; who knows if it will even support downloads of anything?

        How closely guarded can the Wii API possibly be, if they port Opera to it? We know web browsers, and people have been poking around Opera's binaries since day one. I'm no programmer so I may be off base here, but wouldn't having something so basic as a port of a popu

        • The Opera Team developed Opera for the Wii. Just like Retro Studios is developing Metroid Prime 3. Just like Nintendo is developing Zelda. They all are using the official SDKs which they paid $$$ for.

        • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

          by grumbel (592662)

          Too late. Nintendo's offering developer kits to the public for a price. This is old news. Sounds pretty accepting of homebrew to me.

          The price is $2000 if I remember correctly, cheaper then Sonys official devkit, but still a though price considering that you can get inofficial homebrew and development up and running on Gamecube, NintendoDS and GBA for around $100. Beside, you can't just buy the devkits, you have to be an experienced game developer or have to have a large publisher to back you up to even ma

  • Opera Broswer for you, is a Free, Sayeth Mario

  • Um, Uh, Kid-Friendly (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Linux Ate My Dog! (224079) on Tuesday September 26 2006, @04:55PM (#16206631) Homepage Journal
    So Nintendo is going to bundle The Best Tool Humanity Has Ever made To Access Porn on a family games console, for free? Pretty big risk there, dudes. One day mom comes home and finds out the older kids have set the page to scat pron to gross the children out. Unlesss they lock it down, this will be a PR disaster in the US the first time a wailing mom is on the news saying how she trusted Nintendo to create a kid-safe experience, and then it wasn't.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by NevarMore (248971)
      Yes! Video game consoles are there to teach our kids about violence not sex, damn liberals trying to make poor Jack Thompson sue for different things at once.
    • This is a good point for the following reason: people trust Nintendo with their children.

      A PC is a complex thing that most adults don't entirely understand. It has spreadsheets, word processing documents, web browsers, viruses, crashes, identity theft, etc. Now no Slashdotter is pants wetting afraid of these things, but a lot of parents are and so they want to monitor their children closely when they use a computer. There is an expectation that computers are dangerous.

      A Wii is supposed to be a fun thing.

  • Consider (Score:3, Interesting)

    by kahrytan (913147) on Tuesday September 26 2006, @05:17PM (#16207021) Homepage
    Has anyone thought to consider that things like this keep Opera in business? And ultimately keeps Microsoft and Mozilla competitive?

    And How would someone browse the internet with the Wii? Sounds like Nintendo plans to release a Wii Keyboard. If not, they screw themselves over with potential additional profit.

    • Re:Consider (Score:5, Informative)

      by Ilgaz (86384) on Tuesday September 26 2006, @05:48PM (#16207475) Homepage
      Opera is in business for devices for ages. They are the standard company for browsing on devices.

      Their "Opera Mini" which is shockingly only 96kb in most advanced version (MIDP 2.0) is some hit on mobile nobody could have imagined. I really hope one day they offer those download numbers at least the ones from mini.opera.com .

      When we speak about devices, phones,consoles,PDAs: Opera is the king. Just look at this page:
      http://www.opera.com/products/devices/gallery/ [opera.com]

      I mean they don't need any kind of favour to stay in business.

      It is Microsoft which is a joke on mobile browsing and thank God, they couldn't even take off on that area.

      I wouldn't be surprised if Sony PS3 Opera ships too.

    • Re:What's next, a free version Firefox? (Score:4, Informative)

      by AuMatar (183847) on Tuesday September 26 2006, @02:58PM (#16204433)
      Always been free? Its been free for a year, maybe 2. It was a for pay product for many many years.

    • Re:What's next, a free version Firefox? (Score:5, Informative)

      by poot_rootbeer (188613) on Tuesday September 26 2006, @02:58PM (#16204439)
      Nintendo is temporarily offering me a free copy of a program that has always been free before. What a bargain!!

      Opera has not "always been free". Prior to Version 5, it was pay software only. From 2000 to 2005, a "free" version was available, but was ad-sponsored. It's only been in the past year or so that a free-and-clear version of the browser has been available on the desktop.
         

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Kelson (129150) *
        On the plus side, it's nice to see someone making the opposite of the classic mistake, taking current information and assuming it was true in the past, rather than taking outdated information and assuming it still applies to the present.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Freak (16973)
      What are you talking about? Opera hasn't always been free. Don't you remember when Apple came out with Safari, Opera threatened to take their ball and go home over it? (Since they were charging, and they accused Apple of the same noncompetitive practices everyone else yelled at Microsoft about.) If you check the /. archives, you can see the story from last September [slashdot.org] announcing that Opera was going free. Before that, they charged $40.

      And they STILL charge for 'embedded' web browsers. (Ones for cell pho

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Kelson (129150) *
      Opera is already free. Why should people have to pay extra?

      Because... it's a different program for a different architecture that runs on a different kind of device in a different market?

      The PC and console versions of the same game are generally separate purchases, and not necessarily the same price. Here one of the prices is $0. That doesn't necessarily mean the other price will be $0 as well.

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