My Opera news » Wii're here!

Wii're here!

Friday, December 22, 2006 10:55:56 AM

The release of the final version of the Opera browser for Wii is currently scheduled for late March 2007. Users who download Opera before June 30, 2007, can continue to use the browser at no cost for the lifetime of the Wii system!

The Opera browser for Wii is based on the same standards compliant core as Opera 9, and includes the Adobe Flash Plug-in. This means that Web sites can be tested using the latest version of the Opera desktop browser. Our Chief Web Opener, David Storey, recently wrote an article for people who own or are responsible for developing web sites, and how they can make sure their site is compatible for Wii. Read it here.

We have created an optimized exclusive My Opera splash page for users accessing from Wii. My Opera for Wii will feature gaming news, spotlighted bloggers and groups, as well as links to forums about gaming and Nintendo Products. We would like to get as much feedback as possible, so tune in to http://my.opera.com/community/wii/ and share your experience with us in this post.

Comments

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Richie Edquidrichandcreamy # Friday, December 22, 2006 11:04:31 AM

OH SHIT SON!

MYSPACE AND YOU TUBE ON MY WII

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SHIT!

JayRealistOne12 # Friday, December 22, 2006 11:09:51 AM

already downloaded...it ROCKS!

lorddaddy84 # Friday, December 22, 2006 11:11:54 AM

Excellent. It works great, for browsing on a t.v. anyways. I am writing this on my Wii as a matter of fact. It could use java though, I tried to run a speed test at broadbandreports.com but can't because of no java. Well thats about it for now. I will use it a bit more and write a better review from my P.C.

Richie Edquidrichandcreamy # Friday, December 22, 2006 11:21:48 AM

Its just a fun extra for now. I can't wait for the full version. It looks like I"ll need to upgrade my TV though since I got this old early 90s TV in the living room.

Vetle Roeimvetler # Friday, December 22, 2006 11:31:26 AM

This is awesome! I won't be getting a Wii until next year, unfortunately.

Robbiemoirob # Friday, December 22, 2006 11:44:14 AM

I got this this morning when I was woken up by the Wii's blue light.

Ive not had much chance to play about with it, although I will other the holidays. But looking forward to trying it properly soon.

I am happy to see there is a feedback area, although its only accessable through Wii, which I dont have a work. Well I do but thats a long story.

pocolypz # Friday, December 22, 2006 11:47:15 AM

The browser's awesome! I can't wait for the freakin' bluetooth keyboard, though. Typing with the Wii onscreen keyboard can get tedious, but I can live. I can't play Line Rider, what gives?! The only thing I can complain about is the task bar on the bottom of the screen, which should be optional. I know there's two views, but the second one isn't so hot. Also, the ability to have multiple screens open at once would be sweet. The final version should fix these.

JRB # Friday, December 22, 2006 12:33:31 PM

I was really impressed with the usefulness of the browser, but one thing that I encountered will present a quite common problem I think. One of the best uses for the browser on the Wii is flash games. The problem is that the Wii default pointer doesn't disappear in favor of the pointer in the flash application. This results in a floating hand over top of a crosshair or other in game pointing device. It could really be improved if you made an option for toggling on and off the hand or else allow it to be superseded by flash.

.edDotEd # Friday, December 22, 2006 12:47:04 PM

holy crap.

I'm on the front page!

wooooooo!
this works awesome.... I hope people remember to zoooom!

saito # Friday, December 22, 2006 1:05:57 PM

Link from http://www.opera.com/products/devices/nintendo/
NINTENDO PRESS RELEASE, http://www.nintendo-europe.com/NOE/en/GB/news/article.do?elementId=IsC-1sqxBzf2X6D1MAbsTCubYmGJRdR9
open the above page, the strange vertical scroll bar appears in the middle of text, with the latest Opera for Desktop. Did the people at nintendo-europe test their own page with Opera? The two most dominant desktop browser on Windows render the page fine.

I don't know if Opera for Wii render it fine or not.

Timmytgibson26 # Friday, December 22, 2006 2:32:15 PM

Yeah I have a Wii too. I just wish u could use picture saved on the Wii for our picture here on Opera.

AntonCaptainSeagull # Friday, December 22, 2006 2:56:52 PM

I love this thing! tested youtube, and it works flawlessly! next stop cartoonnetwork! ... after stinky ole' work, hey espen speaking of work... ;P

imaginedbug # Friday, December 22, 2006 3:26:35 PM

it works, but I'd like a smaller cursor. Also, the registration link caused some kind of error when I clicked on it from gmail. Overall I really like the browser

dasme # Friday, December 22, 2006 4:27:54 PM

Great addition to a killer system! So far i'm really enjoying it. Love the autocompletion, love the speed... can't wait for the full version!

Oh, I'm typing this comment right on my Wii. How cool is that!?

Dasme
http://wiispot.com

dbfergus # Friday, December 22, 2006 4:55:02 PM

For all the people talking about how hard it is to type, note that you can change the input method to T9 like on a cell phone.

My problems are no address bar, no java, and no tabs. Also the type is kinda blurry on a lot of sites and so that kinda messes with my eyes. Also, I'd like to be able to add words to my T9 dictionary? And the default for pressing a single letter becomes “>”. I wish that would change! Maybe more zoom functionality.

Otherwise great beta!

Oh yeah, this is posted from my Wii.

FataL # Friday, December 22, 2006 5:05:19 PM

Hey! Browser detection is bad!
I want to see this page: http://my.opera.com/community/wii/
And I just can't buy Wii yet...

Warsmith # Friday, December 22, 2006 5:21:51 PM

Hey

I was watching youtube videos on the wii internet explorer when suddenly it stopped working, it says I either have javascript turned off or have an older version of macromedia's flash player. It was working fine earlier, anyone know how to fix this? Otherwise it's working Great

FataL # Friday, December 22, 2006 5:58:39 PM

@Warsmith: "wii internet explorer"?!

What is that?

tinhoy # Friday, December 22, 2006 6:24:11 PM

Loving the browser, but wanting much more.

YouTube's giving me problems too. Only the one on the YouTube main page was working. Any other video's page that we clicked to didn't work. Same javascript turned off message as Warsmith. Even my desktop Opera sometimes has problems with YT, so I wasn't expecting Wii Opera to handle it well. But this message i new to me.

The little videos on wii.com worked fine. However, the zoom doesn't zoom in enough. This leaves a LOT of wasted space all around the video.

Love the "2" button user mode. It's great for enlarging text to read without zooming in (which then may require scrolling).

BTW, I also second the idea of removing the bar at the bottom. Screen resolution's already limited; the bar makes it worse.

Lastly, what can I give you guys to make wiimote gestures a possibility? I envision holding both B+A to initiate the gesture recognition.

dbfergus # Friday, December 22, 2006 6:28:08 PM

I got the you tube bug too. But to get around it you have to click “bypass flash detection” and everything should work smoothly.

historymaker # Friday, December 22, 2006 7:04:20 PM

hey dbfergus, how u do that? I don't see anything that says "bypass flash detection" in Youtube.

Warsmith # Friday, December 22, 2006 7:07:58 PM

Regarding FataL

Lol

You know what I meant tho.

Could be a silly question but how do you click 'bypass flash detection'

I don't see it

GermanMisfits-gm # Friday, December 22, 2006 7:11:23 PM

LOL wii internet is i woke thinking my friend had send me a message but was nintendo

FataL # Friday, December 22, 2006 7:17:33 PM

BTW, I also second the idea of removing the bar at the bottom. Screen resolution's already limited; the bar makes it worse.

I don't have a Wii yet, but definitely +1!

dbfergus # Friday, December 22, 2006 7:17:51 PM

A couple of my friends told me they didn't see the link. I think I got it from another site linking to you tube. But another friend fixed it by resetting his browser.

odinfire # Friday, December 22, 2006 7:18:30 PM

Hmmm. Mixed feelings about the browser. I dont like the fact that there is not an address bar across the top of the screen. Screen real estate is being taken up by a black bar, so why not make it useful. I really despise having to go back to the start menu to type url. PLUS... when you click links you cannot tell where the browser is sending you. THIS NEEDS FIXED.

YOUTUBE does NOT work. Browser needs a flash upgrade.

Ironically, I could NOT post these comments using the Wii console. I had to use my PC as the browser did not allow the url when I would click submit.

The programmers really need to take a note from Webtv. It worked wonderfully on my tv. No letterboxing of the browser, and the url of the current page is immediately available.

I can appreciate the work that went into the browser, but its a bit useless at the moment. Forms dont always work, You have no idea what url your clicking into unless you make it a favorite, the resolution is minimized due to black bars on the top and sides.

By the way, scrolling would be much much easier if you just used the directional pad on the remote. If we can have 2gb SD cards for our consoles, why not just allow us to download the flash updates ourselves. This way we wont have to wait for Nintendo to catch us up on the web.

Nice start, but needs work.

scottydontno # Friday, December 22, 2006 7:26:39 PM

this is wicked. i just got my wii yesterday and i love it! the browser is awsome.

id really like to see a way to stream video or some sort of video support so that we can upload or stream movies to account for no dvd playback. i know nintendo doesn't want to compete, but it would really show the potential of the wii.

flash and java support would also be great!

Warsmith # Friday, December 22, 2006 7:29:02 PM

Just deleted then redownloaded the browser, flash is now working on youtube, didn't take as long this time either.

The stuff like your favourites are saved elsewhere so just delete the internet channel then redownload to fix the youtube problem.

I hope that this gets properly fixed I don't want to have to do this every time.

JesseSilverXrider # Friday, December 22, 2006 8:54:57 PM

I got up in the night and saw the 'Blue light Special' and just had to find out what was new. I had no trouble using the browser to log onto and join this site. People, you need to keep in mind that this is a trail version, I am sure that the finished product in March will address many of the issues we have at this point. I for one feel Nintendo needs to come out with a Bluetooth Key Board, or at lease support the ones already on the market.
I went to my website and it played the flash intro with music fine, although a bit smaller that what was coded. I agree that the bar at the bottom needs to go and be replaced with an address bar at the top. When I went to my photos page it showed the photos fine but locked up when i clicked on the video link, had to use the reset for the first time. The other thing is it needs a History tab, to quickly navigate to a recent page rather than using the back button so much. I assume this would be incorporated into the address bar. All in all i like it, along with the newly released Weather channel. Next is the News Channel......

As a side note... I am displaying my Wii on a 52" Sharp LCD. Using the Component cable at 420p it up converts to 720p and looks awesome, more detail and brighter sharper colors....
If you are still looking for the component cable try www.wiicable.com, $29 and fast shipping. (no, I am not affiliated with them, just liked the service)

Giovanni MedinaWiidark # Friday, December 22, 2006 10:57:07 PM

For a beta, its pretty decent, but of course it could use some improving. I was thinking along the lines of offering updates for the wii browser periodically though out the progression of creating the final version of the browser for the wii. You know like make the browser less buggy, allowing for the use of the sd card to upload and download files, allowing for the viewing and editing of html documents, mp3 player, quictime player. But of course such functionalites would require several system updates thoughout the progression.

Espen André ØverdahlEspenAO # Friday, December 22, 2006 11:12:12 PM

Your feedback so far has been very valuable, and to the point. Has anyone tried to visit the optimized My Opera site? We want to create a community portal for all your needs (search box field, community- and Wii news, direct forum access etc.).

If anyone has any suggestions, concerns or questions please let us know as well. On a personal note, I'm thrilled to see the response so far!

Dustin WilsonKhadgar # Friday, December 22, 2006 11:57:58 PM

Have I died and gone to heaven?

MAXmaxmia # Saturday, December 23, 2006 12:34:12 AM

BUG and PROBLEM

1.some sites around 30 seconds back to start pages

2.favorite is too slow

3.not full screen

Suggestion ( based on the core concept of simple use and TV browser for family and distance from TV over 2meters )

"opera-wii is not for PC, we should not denfine opera-wii same as PC function" - must according nintemdo wii's style including font/button/style. means what? means button must be big!

1.one wiimote contronl( forget nunchunk )

2.use all wiimote button including D-pad

3.display mode button "2" should more function:like
press once: fit screen
press twice: one column
press 3 times: back to whole structure mode

4.full screen - support 16:9/ 4:3 mode

5.scroll bar is not a main problem ( for TV user is too far to catch, how big scroll bar can be?? )

6.support full language code

7.tools bar should be big but should have "setting" button and can be hide by optional

8.unlimite type text

9.real function of mouse in flash game

10.support windows media/quicktime/real mideal( some car website use qucictime for 360 degree picture)

11.support save and upload any files from SD card

12.hide password

13.improve zoom function(current is confuse for zoom multiple,somtime is biger sometime a little bit)

14. favorite is too slow by using picture display and layout

15.multi-pages is good but shold not be unlimited, like 5 pages same time, tags at bottom, tags must be big

16.current many pages mixup, pls improve that

17.full flash 8 support

18.can be update

----------------------------------------------------------
we would like to see more trial version come out, opear can tell opera community user to test that for internal propuse

W0LF # Saturday, December 23, 2006 5:38:09 AM

Ok, despite all the apparent "there needs to be these..." for the wii opera, my biggest issues that I WOULD LOVE to be fixed before the supposed final version of opera somwhere around the end of march is for the wii opera to be able to stream audio and videos on the net via windws media, real, and quick time seeing as these are the common formats found on the web and that people dont just use the web for just reading and looking at pictures. If someone could address these problems it would be great, seriously though at least give us wii opera users that for the meantime. Also one last note, i tried plugging in my usb keyboard to the back of the wii to see if i could type via keyboard instead of on-screen keyboard and so far it doesnt work.

Jonathan Robertsjonathan_roberts # Saturday, December 23, 2006 6:27:24 AM

This surfing the web on the Wii is so cool. I hope they will make it where it will have chat rooms and instant messaging.

Jordan Jarvischeatking # Saturday, December 23, 2006 9:57:42 AM

I agree for updates.

Ricky BloomfieldRickyB # Saturday, December 23, 2006 2:26:36 PM

A few suggestions:

1) More fluid panning using the Wiimote. Right now the panning via the Wiimote is awkward at best. It shouldn't be dependent on how close I am to the edge of the screen (use motion sensors, not pointer), and it shouldn't only allow me to pan in one direction at a time. Please take a look at the Mii channel (in the Plaza) on the Wii for an example of perfect panning using the Wiimote - press 'B' and fluidly move in any direction. It's fast and fluid (and not dependent on pointing at the screen - let the motion sensors do the work here, not the pointing functionality - it would be much more comfortable that way).

2) Tabbed browsing! Or at least some sort of quick-switch a la the new IE7 - we could press a button on the Wiimote and all open windows could be instantly shown in 3D. This would make for a smoother experience.

3) Option to minimize the bar at the bottom of the screen, and make it smaller by default. This should actually auto-hide and only appear when we move the Wiimote down to the bottom of the screen, kinda like the new Weather Channel (when in the Globe view).

4) Ad-blocking functionality just like Opera 9.1!

Travismuffinmedic # Saturday, December 23, 2006 4:48:59 PM

Lovin wii internet!! Definitely needs a keyboard.

jat84 # Saturday, December 23, 2006 5:03:46 PM

Thanks Opera! Great new feature for my Wii! Love it!

Haavardhaavard # Saturday, December 23, 2006 8:07:39 PM

Originally posted by RickyB:

Right now the panning via the Wiimote is awkward at best. It shouldn't be dependent on how close I am to the edge of the screen (use motion sensors, not pointer), and it shouldn't only allow me to pan in one direction at a time.

I would say that it should depend on how close you are to the edge of the screen (sometimes you want to scroll slowly, other times faster). And you can already pan in any direction, including diagonally.

Ricky BloomfieldRickyB # Saturday, December 23, 2006 8:24:34 PM

Originally posted by haavard:

I would say that it should depend on how close you are to the edge of the screen (sometimes you want to scroll slowly, other times faster). And you can already pan in any direction, including diagonally.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't think scrolling should be dependent on the pointing functionality. It should be done via the motion-detecting abilities of the Wiimote. In other words, I don't want to have to point the Wiimote at the screen in order to scroll. At least make it more fluid like the Mii channel scrolling - this would be ideal.

Giovanni MedinaWiidark # Saturday, December 23, 2006 8:51:41 PM

We need more people to convince whoever is in charge of the development of the opera browser for the Wii. to offer updates, then again, Nintendo has full control over that. So I guess we have to convince Nintendo. (that will be hard)

imaginedbug # Sunday, December 24, 2006 12:57:54 AM

Here are a few suggestions for the dev team in case they want them;
- A button on the bar at the bottom of the screen to hide/show the bar: this will free up lots of screen space everyone wants.
- an addressbar (hidden like my idea for the bottom bar) so we can more easily go from one site to the next and see where we are.
- more media plug-ins
- options to A) resize the cursor B) use an arrow-shaped cursor C) change the size and/or opacity of the arrows on screen when zoomed in on a page
- tabs, which could auto-hide, sure would be great
- link detection on AJAX pages like those of Gmail should be improved

that's all I could come up with right now (at 2 in the morning) but until I know our suggestions are taken seriously into consideration I'm not posting any more. It just takes forever on the Wii, without a proper keyboard

Fabianwii-lite.com # Sunday, December 24, 2006 6:35:43 AM

This Wii-Opera thing is good but not enough. Then again is only a trial version (thank goodness). I wrote my own review of it on my site, check it out:

http://www.wii-lite.com/index.php?ind=reviews&op=entry_view&iden=17

Giovanni MedinaWiidark # Sunday, December 24, 2006 12:21:48 PM

Pretty nice review Wii-Lite dude, I actually read the entire thing. You kept it short and simple with grapical representantions of the browser, just the way I like it.

has anyone ever went to http://wiicade.com yet? It's a great site where you can play wiifriendly flash games on your wii. Its been out for quite a while now.

maikel de bakkernisute # Sunday, December 24, 2006 2:22:17 PM

Thanks Opera!!!

china_zxq # Tuesday, December 26, 2006 1:14:57 AM

Link from http://www.opera.com/products/devices/nintendo/
I would say this, http://www.vsbclub.com/mfxlhff/hdindex.htm

FanFanfangfang457 # Tuesday, December 26, 2006 2:39:57 PM

Great blog!Welcome visit mine: http://my.opera.com/fangfang457

Duncan Lockdflock # Tuesday, December 26, 2006 3:12:32 PM

I've been using the Wii Opera browser for a couple of days and it's great!
One thing that I would love to see is the ability to make selected Favourites into Channels on the main Wii Menu. I'm not sure if this is technically feasable (or allowed by Nintendo) but would be a great, great feature.

I also agree that being able to use the d-pad for scrolling would be nice, as would more zoom, sometimes.

mikeshaw1000 # Tuesday, December 26, 2006 9:17:44 PM

well done nintendo and opera. i am amazed how well this internet service is operating, even as a trial version. typing this on my wii `mint`..!

some feedback.
1-cant get most videos to play.
2-some sites kick me back to wii start page? 'gamespot.co.uk'
3-spellchecker would be good
4-cant access my aol user page (all email pages etc blank when i log in)
5-use of dpad to scroll please
6-variable zoom settings a must
all minor issues that are sure to be sorted for thr final version. wii wish you all a happy and wii-resistable 2007.

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