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Wii Opera Browser is Free Until Next Year

Posted by Zonk on Tue Sep 26, 2006 03:46 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 25 Comments More /

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  • Web browser? (Score:4, Funny)

    by !ramirez (106823) on Tuesday September 26 2006, @03:51PM (#16204267)
    Wouldn't this be a 'Wiib Browser'?

  • Is a free, huh? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Deadguy2322 (761832) on Tuesday September 26 2006, @03:52PM (#16204281)
    Did Mario write the headline?

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

    by Anubis350 (772791) on Tuesday September 26 2006, @03:55PM (#16204359)
    ...someone will have hacked up a free version to use in place of the pay one...

  • So... (Score:3, Funny)

    by voice_of_all_reason (926702) on Tuesday September 26 2006, @03:59PM (#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:So... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Boglin (517490) on Tuesday September 26 2006, @04:25PM (#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.

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

    by Linux Ate My Dog! (224079) on Tuesday September 26 2006, @05:55PM (#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.

  • Consider (Score:3, Interesting)

    by kahrytan (913147) on Tuesday September 26 2006, @06:17PM (#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, @06:48PM (#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, @03:58PM (#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, @03:58PM (#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:Wiizilla? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Yahweh Doesn't Exist (906833) on Tuesday September 26 2006, @04:44PM (#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.

    • 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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