Topic: Opera Browser Confirmed for Nintendo DS

[NWR_Karlie]

It'll come on a DS card and you'll be able to browse the Internet in double!

Giving gamers two windows to the Web: The Opera Browser for Nintendo DS™    

February 15, 2006: Opera Software today announced that it will deliver the World Wide Web to Nintendo DS users in Japan. In Opera's agreement with Nintendo, Nintendo DS users will now be able to surf the full Internet from their systems using the Opera browser. The Opera browser for Nintendo DS will be sold as a DS card. Users simply insert the card into the Wi-Fi enabled Nintendo DS, connect to a network, and begin browsing on two screens.    

Earlier this year, Nintendo reported that 13 million Nintendo DS systems were sold to consumers around the world within just 13 months of its debut in November 2004.  Nintendo DS combines unique dual screens, touch screen, voice recognition and wireless and Wi-Fi communications capabilities. According to an independent market research company in Japan, Nintendo DS has become the fastest selling video games machine to top the 6 million sales mark in Japan in just over 14 months since its Japanese debut, breaking the old record held by Nintendo's Game Boy Advance.    

"The incredibly popular Nintendo DS is already Wi-Fi enabled to support real-time gaming, so adding Web browsing capabilities was a natural evolution for this device," says Scott Hedrick, Executive Vice President, Opera Software. "Gaming devices are growing more advanced and a great Web experience is becoming a product differentiator for gaming manufacturers.  Opera is excited to work with Nintendo to deliver a unique dual screen, full Internet experience on Nintendo DS."    

With an on-screen keypad and stylus, users can easily navigate the Web from their Nintendo DS with PDA-like functionality.  Based on the same core as the Opera desktop browser, Opera delivers superior speed and rendering of Web pages on the Nintendo DS.    

“Within just five seconds of turning on the system, the Nintendo DS is already fully operational.  This makes it the ideal device to enable people to swiftly obtain the latest information from the internet, wherever they are," says Masaru Shimomura, Deputy General Manager of Nintendo’s R & D Department.  "Opera exceeded our expectations with its user friendly interface, quick access to all your favorite sites, ease of use and, most importantly, in making the best use of the Nintendo DS system’s unique double screens and touch screen features.  Opera is an important partner for Nintendo in our efforts to further expand the users of the Nintendo DS."    

Nintendo Co., Ltd. held a presentation today in Tokyo, Japan, to announce updates for the Nintendo DS.  Information on the availability of the Opera browser DS card has not yet been announced.  

[KirbySStar]

What I want to know is how many features will it be losing due to storage restrictions.  Will it have bookmarks?  Will it be able to stream music or video?  Will it play flash?  Media isn't crazy important with quick web browsing that this is meant to do but I'm curious.  It obviously has normal browser features for picture files.  I just want to know what it can do.

All in due time I suppose.

[Mario]

I think it'll be a bit limited in terms of things like that, since Nintendo might be worried people will hack it and somehow get emulators running on it or something.

[Artimus]

Yahoo! They're really impressing me. Sure it's not the same time as the DS came out, but within half a year of launching their very first online service? Awesome!

[wandering]

First voice chat in MP, then this? What's wrong with Nintendo? It seems like they're making one good decision after another. That's not like them at all.

[Nephilim]

Awsome

even nintendo thinks opera is better then firefox hehe

[cmoney]

Quote
Originally posted by: Mario
I think it'll be a bit limited in terms of things like that, since Nintendo might be worried people will hack it and somehow get emulators running on it or something.

There already are emulators running on the DS. But anyway, wouldn't it be possible to release the browser on a larger flash card? To allow for caching, cookies, and the like? I'd pay a few extra bucks for a larger card with the brower included.

[KDR_11k]

I doubt it'll do Flash, the EULA forbids installing Flash on a console or handheld (or laptop) so Macromedia would have to provide a special version. I also doubt that the DS could handle Flash, it has horribly excessive requirements.

Bookmarks, cookies and stuff like that don't take up much space. I hope it's as customizable as the PC version but I suppose my favourite layout wouldn't work without a three button mouse.

Oh and what do we do about the lack of a scroll wheel?

[Infernal Monkey]

Wow! Internet! PORNOGRAPHY ON THE TOP SCREEN, PORNOGRAPHY ON THE BOTTOM SCREEN.  

[JonLeung]

What's the resolution of the DS again?  Some sites are designed with a PSP-ideal way of viewing them, and the DS has less resolution than that.  Oh, well, it'll be better than most other web-capable mobile devices, at the very least.

They'll probably have the scroll bars only on the bottom screen, or I guess the D-pad would do scrolling functions.

I always thought that if they could manage the memory and caching, etc. properly, the DS would be more ideal for web browsing than the PSP, since the DS has a touch screen so the stylus can act like a mouse pointer.  I don't know how browsing is handled on the PSP but I imagine it's clunky.

Hopefully this DS browser will be available in North America (and worldwide)!  I'd love to see my web site on a DS. It is image-heavy, but there's no video or Flash.  However, the inefficient Super NES maps page's "index.htm" (before any images) is nearly a megabyte in size alone...I hope that'll be viewable.

[Bloodworth]

Considering how flash-heavy Japanese sites tend to be, I'd be willing to bet it does have some limited flash capabilities.

[NotSoStu]

If this doesn't have Flash or Javascript support, I'll shoot somebody (not that I'd buy it anyway). I've used browsers on both a PocketPC and a BlackBerry, and the thing that is most annoying about them is the complete lack of Flash or Java support.

And I'm still sorta mad that it's not available as a firmware upgrade, although it's understandable considering that the x86-Win32 version of Opera is around 9MB. I doubt it'll sell well.

[UncleBob]

Look at how flash heavy Nintendo's own sites tend to be.  If they don't have flash on this web browser, it'll be pointless.

And I *hate* flash.  With a passion.

[TheYoungerPlumber]

They have 128 MB to play with.  Space really is not an issue, though processing power might cause problems with Flash.

[Pale]

I'm sure this will work great on it!

[Jensen]

It better include Email and IM support...  (though I guess those could be supported as web programs....)

[Mario323]

Yeah so...this is good news.  The DS has had some really good news the past few days.  Winning Eleven will have wifi, Hunters will have voice chat, DS Lite, DS is fasting selling console ever--all good news.  I knew the DS would be a huge hit.  The PSP sold less than 4 million units last year.  Lolzors.

[hudsonhawk]

Quote
Originally posted by: TheYoungerPlumber
They have 128 MB to play with.  Space really is not an issue, though processing power might cause problems with Flash.

That's for the browser footprint, but the memory restrictions that matter is RAM.  The cart will have to have additional RAM built-in otherwise the browser will be pretty useless.  Anyone who's used the PSP browser knows that it will run out of memory on large pages - and the PSP has quite a bit more RAM to play with.

Given the platform limitations, javascript is unlikely and there's no chance it will support Flash.  This will be a very, very simple browser, probably akin to the Windows Smartphone version of Opera - a very stripped down, simple and quick browser.

Edit: It just occurred to me that they could probably use a proxy server to do all the heavy lifting for them - sort of like Blazer does on the Treo.  That would let them work with the DS' very, very limited RAM (i.e. it wouldn't have to downscale the images on its own) and workaround page size limitations (by using compression and pagination).

Just a thought.  It still won't have Javascript and Flash though.

[ABlueflameA]

My favorite browser (and the one I'm currently using) combined with my favorite game company....

Good decision Nintendo.  I am proud.

-ABlueflamea

[Smash_Brother]

But can I launch denial of service attacks from it?

[trip1eX]

This is nice.  Hopefully it's coming to US.

But please people keep your expectations in check.  This ain't going to be a full-fledged browser that will replace your pc.  

[JonLeung]

Will PGC come in a DS browser-friendly version?

[Smash_Brother]

Quote
Originally posted by: trip1eX
But please people keep your expectations in check.  This ain't going to be a full-fledged browser that will replace your pc.

Dammit, I JUST eBayed my PC before I read that...

[KDR_11k]

Anyone who's used the PSP browser knows that it will run out of memory on large pages - and the PSP has quite a bit more RAM to play with.

The PSP's browser is written by beginners, it's a crappy implementation of the concept. Opera Mobile was designed for cellphones and stuff like that which has even less RAM and screen area. AFAIK it's the best browser for portable devices available.

Edit: It just occurred to me that they could probably use a proxy server to do all the heavy lifting for them

I think that's what one version of Opera for small devices does.

[vudu]

I pointed this out in a thread in the DS forum before I realized there was a TalkBack thread here, but up until very recently (within the past two weeks) Nintendo's website didn't support Opera.