Wii Opera Browser is Free Until Next Year

Wowzer writes "Nintendo is serious about giving casual game console users multi-functionality by offering not just a weather, news, and photo channels, but a free internet browser with the Wii at the November 19th U.S. launch. From the article: '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 [worldwide] Wii users until June 2007.'"

Attach rate

[tepples]

The Wii could graduate from "casual gamer" market if it allowed homebrew games and -- here's the relevance -- apps such as, say, FF for Wii (and screw this commercial browser nonsense).

FF for Wii [wikipedia.org] is planned.

The problem with a blanket endorsement of homebrew methods is that commercial developers will likely try to pass their games off as homebrew without giving Nintendo a cut. This would kill the attach rate.

Re:Let me be the first to say...

[ArwynH]

Wiill you cut it wiith the Wii jokes alwiidy!

Ok. Maybe that was overdoing it a little, but you got to hand it to Nintendo, their choice of name is pure genius. PS3? Xbox 360? Revolution? Just names! But wii can have so much fun wiith the Wii now can't wii. ^_^

Re:What's next, a free version Firefox?

[Kelson]

On the plus side, it's nice to see someone making the opposite of the classic mistake, taking current information and assuming it was true in the past, rather than taking outdated information and assuming it still applies to the present.

Um, Uh, Kid-Friendly

[Linux Ate My Dog!]

So Nintendo is going to bundle The Best Tool Humanity Has Ever made To Access Porn on a family games console, for free? Pretty big risk there, dudes. One day mom comes home and finds out the older kids have set the page to scat pron to gross the children out. Unlesss they lock it down, this will be a PR disaster in the US the first time a wailing mom is on the news saying how she trusted Nintendo to create a kid-safe experience, and then it wasn't.

Consider

[kahrytan]

Has anyone thought to consider that things like this keep Opera in business? And ultimately keeps Microsoft and Mozilla competitive?

And How would someone browse the internet with the Wii? Sounds like Nintendo plans to release a Wii Keyboard. If not, they screw themselves over with potential additional profit.

Free for a year?

[Zhila the Great Z]

Well, the last time I heard of a company releasing a software product free for one year was from a very large well known company and a certain popular software development product. They seemed to have changed their minds within a couple months.

Re:Uh ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Opera for Nokia Series 60 phones is also free.