Nintendo Wii goes to Opera

Stan Beer
Thursday, 11 May 2006 05:06

Your IT - Home IT

Nintendo continued to steal the march on its rival console makers with the announcement today that its new Wii games console will enable gamers to surf the internet using the Opera browser. The browser will also be available for the handheld Nintendo DS console.

Opera, from Norwegian company Opera Software, has similar features to the new generation of browsers, such as Firefox and the upcoming IE 7, enabling users to flick between pages and displaying RSS feed summaries. The browser also supports the AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript And XML) standard, which enables the delivery of web services implementations of desktop type applications like word processing with reasonable performance.

According to Opera and Nintendo, users of the Wii console will navigate the net using the new motion sensitive Wii remote controller which resembles a TV remote control in size and shape. Opera Software also claims its browser provides optimized browsing for handheld devices that adapt to suit varying screen sizes and input devices.

"For our Wii console launch in 2006, we required a browser that was fast and secure with support for the latest standards including AJAX. Opera proved perfect for our purposes and is an exceptional addition to both the Nintendo DS and the Wii console," said Genyo Takeda, senior managing director and general manager, Integrated Research & Development Division, Nintendo Co., Ltd.

"Nintendo is clearly visionary in leading the gaming industry into the new era in gaming, and a wonderful partner for Opera," says Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. "We are thrilled to expand our partnership with Nintendo, and work with them to deliver the best gaming experience on the Wii console and the Nintendo DS."