Opera on Wii free until June 2007

[lazyfatbum]

Opera Software today announced details on its browser for Nintendo’s soon-to-be released game console, Wii. 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 Wii users until June 2007.
Wii

From July 2007, users can purchase the Opera browser using Wii points. Wii points are credits users can buy that allow them to add new games or the Opera browser to their Wii consoles. The number of Wii points required to purchase Opera has not yet been announced.

With support for Flash and AJAX-based content such as Google maps, Wii users will benefit from a feature-rich Internet experience that is uniquely customized for the Wii. Opera for Wii boasts the same complete standards support as the Opera 9 Desktop browser, and includes the added functionality of “Zoom” and “Bookmarks”. The Wii remote control will also be an integral part of browsing, allowing users to intuitively control the Web with their Wii remotes.

Nintendo has previously announced that Wii will be available in the U.S. on November 19, 2006, Japan on December 2, 2006, and in Europe on December 8, 2006. The cost for the console is $249.99 or 25,000 Yen.

source: http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/en/2006/09/26/

omg!

[Great Rumbler]

I'm definitely getting it then.

[Weltall]

Charging money (even if it's arbitrary, non-legal tender) for a web browser is stupid.

[lazyfatbum]

GR/ Hey, me too, whaddayaknow! :D

Rtan/ I agree, but this isn't a PC browser that's pretty easy to construct using PC based programs, it's developed on Wii devkits so there's extra cost from the R&D to consider since it goes above and beyond what Opera's development has the means to do. Granted, I would expect Opera for Mac to be free as well, but this does go outside the realm of development in to console devkits, not even counting the extra R&D for integration in to the Wii's OS channels and controller.

[A Black Falcon]

Opera always used to charge, and they still charge for all of the non-PC versions of the browser...

[Dark Jaguar]

...

So...

Yeah, this is pretty stupid. I see your point about development concerns lazy, but considering that they went through all the effort to include an image editor for free, it seems that a port job of Opera shouldn't be that big a deal in comparison. Here's the thing to consider. The PSP web browser is free of charge. Sure using it on a PSP is a pretty sucky experience, but that's not the point.

At any rate, if it's a download, I may not bother getting this even for free, just to save space. Why? Well, I don't want to bother surfing the web on my game console. It should work a lot better with that controller, but have you tried surfing the web at ABF level resolutions? We'll be one level lower than that. I've seen the demos on Nintendo Japan's site. The images are as big as hams! I'll stick with a system that's always on, my lappy, for all my web surfing needs.

And Nintendo points, WEEEE! Please Nintendo, don't copy MS in this regard. This was the stupidest thing MS did with their little online market. I've said it before, having to buy "tokens" does nothing for us as consumers at all. Just list the actual price. Further, I fear that just like with MS, you can't just buy the item flat out and have it convert your money to that specific amount of tokens. No, you'll need to buy a preset number of tokens and the remained stays with Nintendo, meaning if you only intend to buy a 300 token item and the minimum amount of this magical "fun disney dollars" money you can buy (it's like real money, but it's..... fun) is 500, the item effectively costs 500 with 200 going towards STORE CREDIT! YAY!

Nintendo is a business in the end, but that side of things, the "I love your money" side, is really starting to affect us gamers.

[lazyfatbum]

I didn't know that Opera charges for all non-PC editions. Interesting.

As far as image size, text-size and what have you, at 480p on my TV wont be an issue to read fonts as low as 9 but, and this is me assuming, options to control text size and image size/resizing should be included in the browser. As far as browsing the net on the lappy well, I dont have one. So having one integrated in to the TV will be awesome; post on TC, talk on MSN and play online games all from the couch... even have IMDB in the favorites so we can check a director, composer, etc without having to move our butts.

Now, why does Opera feel the need to charge users for its browser on Mac...

[Dark Jaguar]

Perhaps, but you can't do it all at once, can ya? :D (Note: If Wii has a certain area of "off limits" RAM set aside like the 360 so that it can in fact do it "all at once", then we have something a little interesting.)

Wait, MSN? I don't recall Nintendo announcing MSN presence in the Wii. Did I miss that meeting?

[lazyfatbum]

Holy krap, I understand why Opera charges now. In Opera for Mac it basically has all the features of Mozilla, Safari, IE and it uses Windows-based programs such as zoom controls. It has bittorrent integration (no seperate programs) as well as tabbed browsing with thumbnails so you can see what tabs are what (Mac OSX already does this though the mozilla thumbnails can be hard to see).

Not bad at all. I'll install and give it a whirl.

[Dark Jaguar]

I tried Opera for a bit. It sure has great compatibility, but I really wasn't that impressed, and I'd certainly never pay for it. Nothing about it really elevated it about Firefox and actually IE7 now has the same "tab preview" pane as well.

When the pay options don't provide anything over the free alternatives, I see no reason to get them. Can't say how it compares to Safari though, as I've never used it.

[lazyfatbum]

It's by far the best browser, but yeah, I dont see paying for this either. But since we're getting it for free, I have nothing to complain about. :D

I didnt mean MSN, I meant an IM program.

You missed the meeting and you were fired. I tried to stick up for you but everyone seemed really happy about getting rid of you, to quote Barnes in executive localization "I never felt comfortable around a genderless cat that thinks one input can be two".

I couldn't really disagree with him. Jen got you a card.

[A Black Falcon]

You can surf the web at 640x480... it's not fun, but you can do it... the real problem will be trying it on normal TVs. It's not just resolution, but screen quality... SD TVs are so fuzzy that you won't be able to make much of anything out unless the font sizes are quite large...

[Dark Jaguar]

You're still on about that input thing? Question 1: Can you design a program that takes joystick input and assigns every single point on it's axis to a number? Yes, and you can check this by going into the Windows "Game Controllers" setup and turning on the axis value option (in Windows, it's -255 through 255 per axis). Question 2: Can you then assign that value to a variable? Well, most likely it already is, but if it's not, yes you can assign it to a constantly updated variable using a standard looping structure. Question 3: Can you have a switch statement that does different things depending on the value of an integer variable? Yes, it's done in every program of merit.

If each individual step in the process works, why doesn't the whole work?

But oh well, at any rate I'll say this. The browser nerds out there would certainly have a bone to pick with the statement that Opera is the "best". It depends on what you want out of a browser I suppose.

[The Former DMiller]

Now, why does Opera feel the need to charge users for its browser on Mac...

They don't charge anything for Opera on the Mac. They stopped charging when they stopped charging for the PC version.

[Dark Jaguar]

Ah, that's good. There's one other thing. The need is the desire for actually making a profit. That's understandable. They do charge on cell phones though. I dunno, I think surfing the web on a cell phone would be way too hard. When are they going to start putting touch screens on cell phones? I think that little adaptation is long overdue. The problem comes from the fact that suddenly charging for something that was once available for free isn't really a good idea as far as I can see, and the fact that Sony's browser is free (well, after the price of getting the system), and if MS decides to follow suit and include IE with the 360, I doubt it'll be anything more than "free" either.

[A Black Falcon]

But oh well, at any rate I'll say this. The browser nerds out there would certainly have a bone to pick with the statement that Opera is the "best". It depends on what you want out of a browser I suppose.

Yeah... SeaMonkey is the best. No question. :)

[Dark Jaguar]

So you went from Mozilla to SeaMonkey? How's that working out?

[lazyfatbum]

DJ get C++ for dummies, it has a lovely section explaining why you were fired.

Opera on Wii will have a zoom function as well, just like the windows zoom tool. Essentially a quarter of the screen will be a blown-up window that displays whatever you're pointing at in a larger font. So you have th large, full page to navigate through and then the zoom window to read the tiny text in a comfortable larger font. But just upping the native and default text size and making the respective web page larger will remove that need.

[Dark Jaguar]

Explain exactly why it won't work, oh person who apparently knows how to program all of a sudden.

Here's the break down. PC GAMES ALREADY DO THAT. I no longer need to worry about you. Just play any game that lets you assign different functions to a joystick axis! None of them are that detailed but the point is proven. Also, BASIC LOGIC.

Again. You can assign a series of numbers to any position on the axis. This is a fact. Go into the Game Controllers option and you can see the variables yourself.

You can take ANY number that your program has generated or had fed to it and assign any command you want that the language will allow, which is pretty vast. This is also a fact.

So why can't I take a variable and say:

int thingy = joystickposition; //This is beyond dispute. USE YOUR JOYSTICK CALIBRATOR IN WINDOWS. This has already been done.

while gameinprogress = 1
{
If (thingy > 100) then do stuff;
If (thingy == 255) then do this;
If (thingy == 244) then do that;
If (thingy == 244) then do something else; //This is to show that in fact you can assign two things to the same variable using two seperate commands, it'll run this check over and over again.
}
wend

It should be noted that any variable that is displayed by a program (text for example) can also be used by the program in some other way. This is pretty basic stuff here. There's nothing keeping that pseudocode up there from working fine, so long as the API allows for it, and if the API does not, an API can be designed that does.

The only reason I can think of that your teacher would say it's not possible is that you were only being taught to use an existing, but limited, joystick class and weren't really taught the intricacies of that class (it's data was probably hidden from you excepting set and get functionality).

[A Black Falcon]

So you went from Mozilla to SeaMonkey? How's that working out?

It's like Mozilla... with a new loading icon (the M logo is now a "seamonkey" and blue) and updates that Mozilla doesn't get anymore. As in, great. :)

I was worried when they ended support (ie stopped updating) Mozilla that I'd have to use Firefox, but fortunately SeaMonkey is here, and unlike Firefox it's not new. It's basically just Mozilla renamed... :)