Opera puts the Web in Wii. The powerful desktop web browser, known as Opera, has become the browser of choice for the Nintendo Wii.
The Press release found here states:
For those that are not familiar with opera (www.opera.com), it is a web browser that claims to be the "Fastest browser on earth." From my experiences the browser was my #1 choice before Mozilla/Netscape created a stable FireFox browser. Opera is fast, customizable, complete in many languages, much lighter weight then FireFox (memory wise), and has recently targetted mobile phones and mobile platforms for its browser integration. The only reason I stopped being a consistent user was due to some websites not working well with Opera (a select few, but an annoyance I could not deal with).
The next obvious step would be to push itself into the next-geneartion console market.
What does that really mean for users? A full web browsing experience would mean you would probably be capable of more browsing on the Internet compared to Wii's competing companies (Sony, nobody really knows, and Microsoft allows you to browse only their stuff via console interface).
It will be interesting to see just how tightly integrated Opera becomes in the console. Will it simply drive the web browser itself, or will it be the "console" interface to the Wii networking experience? At this point it seems to just be a tool for gamers to use when searching the Net.
CodeMonkey
The Press release found here states:
Oslo, Norway and Los Angeles, Calif., May 10, 2006
Opera Software, a world leader in Web browser technology, today announced that Nintendo's much anticipated new generation game console, Wii, will use the Opera browser.
Users of the Wii console will browse the Internet using their consoles. Navigating via the innovative new Wii Remote controller, users can visit Web sites in between gaming sessions.
"Nintendo is clearly visionary in leading the gaming industry into the new era in gaming, and a wonderful partner for Opera," says Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. "We are thrilled to expand our partnership with Nintendo, and work with them to deliver the best gaming experience on the Wii console and the Nintendo DS™."
"For our Wii console launch in 2006, we required a browser that was fast and secure with support for the latest standards including AJAX. Opera proved perfect for our purposes and is an exceptional addition to both the Nintendo DS and the Wii console," said Genyo Takeda, senior managing director and general manager, Integrated Research & Development Division, Nintendo Co., Ltd.
Opera and Nintendo announced their partnership to deliver the full Opera browser for the Nintendo DS on February 15, 2006. The Nintendo DS browser is scheduled for release in Japan this summer. Nintendo has not yet announced its global launch plans for this product.
For those that are not familiar with opera (www.opera.com), it is a web browser that claims to be the "Fastest browser on earth." From my experiences the browser was my #1 choice before Mozilla/Netscape created a stable FireFox browser. Opera is fast, customizable, complete in many languages, much lighter weight then FireFox (memory wise), and has recently targetted mobile phones and mobile platforms for its browser integration. The only reason I stopped being a consistent user was due to some websites not working well with Opera (a select few, but an annoyance I could not deal with).
The next obvious step would be to push itself into the next-geneartion console market.
What does that really mean for users? A full web browsing experience would mean you would probably be capable of more browsing on the Internet compared to Wii's competing companies (Sony, nobody really knows, and Microsoft allows you to browse only their stuff via console interface).
It will be interesting to see just how tightly integrated Opera becomes in the console. Will it simply drive the web browser itself, or will it be the "console" interface to the Wii networking experience? At this point it seems to just be a tool for gamers to use when searching the Net.
CodeMonkey
