Wii wins.

I don't think there's gonna be an online pictochat. It's probably not very easy to write using the wiimote.

Wow this is some awesome news. This means all the developers can take advantage of the fact that there is a web browser on board. I'm sure this will open up some more new venues in gaming. When you stop and look at the complete package of the Wii it is becoming more and more impressive.

Why not? Just have pictochat download to the DS via Wii and using that connectivity the DS could piggyback and join chatrooms you select via the Opera browser on Wii.

But... Nintendo websites aren't Opera-friendly...

Yet.

Not easy to write with the Wiimote?

Dude, do you own a USB keyboard? :/

I haven't used Opera in ages - is it any good now?

Quote

---

Cubed3: Will the Opera browser be embedded from launch on the 512MB internal Flash or included with the system via a memory card?

Scott Hedrick: The Opera browser is saved to the Flash ROM on the Wii console, and does not require a separate memory card as Opera for DS does. The browser can be launched in only a few seconds, immediately delivering a great user experience.

---

This was clearly an email interview. You can't really have a trick question in an email interview, becuase they can just not respond to it. If Hedrick didn't want to say it was included with Wii, he could have said "Nintendo has not revealed that information about the browser yet."

Hunter cards and other such uses to the next level
check it on the Wii or your friends PC

And still their damn video podcasts dont work in opera for me.

When I first read the headline I thought of the Wii conductor game and made an sound of glee. Then I realised it was about the browser. That's good too, I guess. I just hope it's better then the DS version they showed at E3. This is a meaningless feature if it doesn't work well.

So is anyone else thinking of online storage and game save swapping?

I was thinking that about the VC a long time ago. Instead of all games being saved to your system, it will keep a library saved online, and you just download the game when you want to play. For NES and SNES games, that probably would be very useful.

Crimm, considering the Wii and the browser are being developed at the same time (as opposed to after-the-fact with the DS), and Wii has a LOT more (and faster) RAM, I'm sure the Wii Opera browser will be much more capable. Even though it isn't high def :-/.

haha, thats probably the only drawback there is for lack of HD, but Im sure PGC will make a rev-friendly version of their site to be viewable in the low resolution of a normal TV

Quote

---

C3: Will the browser be issued with all Wii consoles or will you purchase it separately?

SH: As mentioned before, Opera will not be sold separately on a game cartridge for Wii. We would like all Wii users to be able to use Opera to surf the Internet. The details of how exactly Opera will be available for browsing within Wii have not yet been announced by Nintendo.

---

I don't know if anyone agrees with me, but I am so totally over the Internet.

What this made me think of is that people could make simple Wii games and store them on the net, for free access on the Wii via the Opera web browser.

They could setup the virtual console similar to steam. You could just sign in and the game would download to the flash drive until you're done and use SD cards as memory cards maybe?

That's cool and all, but what if you had internet connection and then moved to somewhere where you don't? Can I take my games with me?

Quote

---

Originally posted by: wandering

Quote

---

Cubed3: Will the Opera browser be embedded from launch on the 512MB internal Flash or included with the system via a memory card?

Scott Hedrick: The Opera browser is saved to the Flash ROM on the Wii console, and does not require a separate memory card as Opera for DS does. The browser can be launched in only a few seconds, immediately delivering a great user experience.

---

Is it just me, or was that a trick question to determine whether Opera was included with the console out of the box?

---

OMG! You're right!

This is confirmation of Flash ROM on the system for...upgrading firmware?

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

upgrading anything that needs upgrading....not neccessarily the firmware. Maybe a new version of Opera?

It was also be very easy to make a Web-based Media-Center, effectively making the Wii into a media center... assuming one knows enough javascript and perl (or AJAX or something). Heck, something like this may allready exist.

Also assuming that the Wii would support a particular video format (the server could dynamically re-encode it into whatever the Wii recognizes.

I thought the 512MB are called flash ROM? Guess the other interpretation is that the 512MB are all user data and Opera is included with the firmware.

KDR is correct. Flash ROM (Read-Only Memory) a.k.a. EEPROM is rewriteable. It made sense to someone. (I think the tech used in Flash memory is similar to ROM chips.)

But why use the term ROM? That usually refers to EEPROM technology, much like our 100-saves-before-they're-kaput SuperNES technology.

Flash memory, which is what the 512 MB has been called, is more like our Memory cards and USB Key drives. This is similar to EEPROM, but is better for rewriting purposes (it doesn't go kaput).

I'd like to think that he uses the term ROM because he really means a sort of memory in the hardware not intended for frequent rewriting, not because he doesn't know what the technical term means.

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com