Opera for the Nintendo Wii has been released. “Opera on Wii adds a new dimension and functionality to a video game console system. It is a unique Web experience that everyone can use, and the Intelligent Zoom feature allows consumers to read Web content on the TV from the comfort of their couch.” Ars has a review. Update: 5 2 screenshots of Opera for Wii rendering OSNews.
Good news as Opera is my fav web Browser.
But why won’t my Windows version 9.02 Block the content of that bloody d*gh*use advert??
Apart from the obvious quirky usability, certainly compared to a normal desktop PC, I can only say Opera and the Wii are a perfect combination.
They neglected to mention that the browser is faster and more responsive than the ps3’s browser(hopefully be fixed with an update) – And that’s quite a compliment to Opera, coz I’m not even much of an Opera fan…
That being said, I may keep browsing on the wii instead because it feels oh so much more natural with the remote. If they fix the bugs in the brower and add a few more features(like scrolling with the d-pad), this’ll probably be the best console browser. I think opera managed the limited resolution just fine. I notice no flicker on the screen(I’m on 480i), and the fonts not only very readable but are very easy on the eyes as well. The only website I found any rendering mistakes was on gmail when viewing certain messages(sometimes the message got pushed down further on the page), but standard html version works ideally for the wii.
You also forgot to mention that you can browse in 1080 on the PS3 vs a maximum of 480 on the Wii. I’ll stick with Firefox under Linux on a PS3.
Having played about with Opera on my Wii, I can’t say I was overly impressed. It’s not very intuitive using the zoom, and the interface overall is quite unwieldy.
The potential for flash minigames is a great thing, however I find the lag on the cursor makes a lot of them unplayable. I’ve used the wiimote on an iMac with virtually no lag, and it’s obvious some interpolation is needed, but it’s an issue I wish Nintendo would address system wide. The cursor lag is my only disappointment with the Wii. I imagine the majority of people don’t even notice it, though.
Annoyance one: the browser doesn’t seem made for 16×9 displays, so I got a black bar at the top of my screen.
That’s a bit of a strange comment, especially coming from ars. If it wasn’t designed for widescreens, then obviously any prominent black bars would be vertical…
I use an analogue TV card in my PC to run the Wii through, and with overscan turned off, I can see The display huge 4cm borders at the sides and about 5cm at the top (2cm at the bottom), where most Wii channels have very small ~1cm borders on all sides. I imagine this is something relatively easy to change though. (On a ~22″ display)
Saving your bookmarks as html and hosting them somewhere could eliminate a lot of on screen typing.
It is, of course, only a beta, and given both both Nintendo and Opera’s track records, I’m sure the browser will improve, and make an excellent addition to the Wii.
edit- corrected border sizes.
Edited 2006-12-24 20:44
For all of those wondering, yes, YouTube works fine on it, even with the video in fullscreen mode.
But that dashbar on the bottom is a curse. I hope they add a few more configuration options for us techies who purchased the Wii for it’s potential, not Warioware game library.
Anyone have the problem where it consistently hangs the console after using it for two or three minutes? Not to mention using it is such a pain, having to zoom to read anything, no tabs, basically none of the features I’ve grown accustomed to with other browsers. This will go down in the books as another useless feature as far as I’m concerned. The weather channel doesn’t seem at all accurate either.
Edit: I still love the games though!
Edited 2006-12-25 00:31
I haven’t used it much. But, it crashed once on me. I forget what I was doing just before it crashed. But, it happened when I hit the back button.
Mine tends to crash when going constantly through flash web pages. It especially hates it if you hit the back button(rapidly) through several flash pages. I’ve browsed for a couple hours at once without a single lockup, as I was mostly reading articles and not playing with flash.
I my opinion 95% of the crashes are related to flash. Try browsing a few flash-less sites for a while and see if it lasts longer.
I’ll probably not use it for browsing. It’s not that convenient when I already have a computer turned on all of the time anyway. I do see potential for it, though.
If I could use it to communicate with other Wii users, play Wii games online, to download photos or other content, swap Mii’s, saved game data or things like that, I could see a use for it. But, if they don’t make these available, I won’t have much use for it.
As for the usability, I thought it was pretty good. The navigation was a little cumbersome. Right away, I missed the ability to navigate back several pages by pressing and holding the button until the history showed up.
Edited 2006-12-25 02:01
…until I get get my hands on a Nintendo Wii. They’re impossible to find here in Sweden.
What 5 screenshots. Th link that says it takes you to 5 screenshots takes you to 2 screenshots.
I could post a couple. Do you have a particular site you would like to see?