Not long after we got the news that final version of the Opera browser for Wii would be delayed Nintendo has let us know what we should expect to find once it's available, perhaps looking to divert everyone's attention away from the delay. Opera and Nintendo have been open to feedback from Wii owners and have taken it all into consideration. Although it still seems to lack even optional nunchuk support which I feel Opera could have use to add more features to the browser.

According to Nintendo the full version will include:

• improved zooming and scrolling
• an improved zoomed font
• shortened startup times
• quicker access to “favorites”
• an ability to hide the toolbar
• buttons that will instantly type common preset letters, such as “www” or “.com”

All this sounds great but I still feel like they could have done so much more. Quicker access to favorites is much appreciated because whenever you view your favorites there's always a bit of a delay as it seems like the browser is trying to load a screen capture of the site. I also rarely used the toolbar at the bottom of the screen so it's nice to see that we'll have the option to keep it off screen. And buttons that will enter "www",".com",".org", etc. should make it easier to enter a site's URL (As a side note, I don't know if anyone noticed but if a site ends in ".com" simply typing in everything that goes before the ".com" ending will still take you to the site you're looking for. For example entering "wiiloaded" as your URL will still take you to "wiiloaded.com").

The big thing that's missing however is tabbed browsing. Team-DSX has shown us that it's possible and that's a web based feature. Something similar built into the browser would have much less bugs that it's online counter part. I also hope that they were able to resolve the issue the beta version has with pop ups. Sometimes you'll be browsing a web page when all of a sudden everything is messed up due to a pop up. Pressing the back button will take you back but that pop up is still in the background somewhere and then when you least expect it the browser winds up jumping back and forth between the page you were on, and the many pop ups that may have opened.

But there's still hope for these things to be added as Nintendo says that "other functions will be announced in the near future". The final version of the browser is expected to be available in April and will be available for free through June. After that anyone wishing to download the browser will need to pay 500 Wii points (roughly $5 US).

Official Nintendo press release - Opera browser update details, price confirmed - Go Nintendo

This post was last modified: 03-24-2007 10:34 AM by z6joker9.

im def getting that as soon as it comes out so i dont gotta buy it (im cheap)

Maybe they're hiding the fact there will be tabbed browsing, if it is not there in the final version, it can always be added because the final version will be updated.

I'm not incredibly interested in the browser and it wasn't a selling point but hey I'll download it anyways. >.<

I'll download it just so I can go onto the internet whenever I can't reach my computer for some reason.

It's nice to know that the finished version, if you missed the free download, will only cost $5. Opera for most devices (PDA, cell, etc) costs ~$30.

No one would pay that amount for the Wii version because it does less than the other formats. $5 is perfect for the Wii version.

I wouldn't even pay $5 dollars for it but I know that many people would. I'm perfectly happy with using the internet with a keyboard on my laptop. You can't beat free though and I'm a sucker for free stuff so that's why I have the beta version and will get the newer version.

I wouldn't really want to but I know that eventually my curiosity would get the best of me and I'd wind up downloading it.

what about video support ha! nobodys talking about it! the beta versions fine except what if you what to what a movie trailer ha, or free porn! I know I'm a perve!