Wii Opera Browser - First thoughts

[RTSDaddy2]

Ok, first off lately I've had no life - I am seriously Wii addicted, which explains why I am writing this at 4:30 AM.  I simply couldn't sleep, I HAD to see if the browser was ready.  At 3:30 AM, it was so after making sure my router was all secure, I downloaded it.

First impression - for a beta version 1, it ain't half bad.  One thing that improves (and was a must) is the ability to type using the remote.  The pointer is much more steady over the internet keyboard; either that or I've simply gotten used to it.  That's still a pain; I'd rather type via keyboard and one can only hope a typical USB keyboard will work with the Wii over time if it doesn't already.

I spent an hour playing flash games at WiiCade, Orisinal (sp?), and WiiFi - this is where the beauty of the internet will prove strongest, I think, for the Wii.  Free online flash gaming? May not be the best games in the world, but nothing wrong with them either.  The mind boggles what doors may lie open from a gaming perspective with this.

One potential thing I THOUGHT was going to be a drawback is not so far - when I went to look at CBS Sportsline, I could not read the text!  I realized, through trial and error (which I would have realized without trial and error, had I payed attention at the start up page), that the plus and minus buttons zoom the page in and out.  One plus click and I was in perfectly readable mode from the couch. .. the B button allowing me to scroll up and down the page.

The Wii's resolution certainly is an issue that I do think may come in to play at some point with news.  I can see it now: some doofus is going to sue Nintendo for blindness caused by trying to read the fine print.   With all these people up in arms over the remote, it's bound to happen.

If I haven't made it clear this isn't going to cause me to give up my computer any time soon.  Do I think this is fun and a novel way to surf the net? Absolutely!  I just don't know if there will be that many Wii owners websurfing at any one time.  Who knows though...Nintendo may have just given people who would have never become acqauinted iwth the net a good reason too.     

[Tahnok]

I didn't know anything like this was in the works (don't have my Wii quite yet). The folks over at Nintendo World Report are saying that it works great with YouTube. I'm looking forward to seeing what tricks people create for it.

[RTSDaddy2]

As am I - and I will be just as anxious to hear what you think of the Wii.  You are STILL in for plenty of pleasant surprises.

[bleemus]

I started the DL this morning, needed to get to work, so couldn't wait for the long time it took to dl it.

Seems that everything takes quite a long time on there, even with a somewhat speedy internet connection.  Hopefully the browser isn't as slow as the connection to Wii Shop and Wii updates!  It would be like surfing with dialup speeds....

I'll post my thoughts once I have time to tinker with it more.

[sphetr2]

Youtube is no longer working for me...how odd.

[bleemus]

Finally got home and played with it a bit.

Speed seems pretty decent, not as fast as a PC downloading on the same connection, but pretty darn close.

Typing stuff is a pain in the ass, hopefully they will have some kind of keyboard support down the line... maybe even something that could plug into the Wiimote like everything else... or just via wireless USB. 

Sites pulled up fine, only fingereleven.com did not (they have some kind of audio streaming on their homepage that I guess Opera doesn't like).  YouTube and most other sites worked just fine for me.  (Watched both the Exies and Talking Heads versions of Once in a Lifetime)

In the end it will work well enough as a TV web browser.

[Samstag]

Am I the only one experiencing total lockups using the browser?

In 15 minutes of playing around with it, I had to soft reset it once and hard reset the Wii twice.  I think all three of those were on www.swiit.com, but I haven't heard of anyone else having that happen.

When it does work I have to say I'm less than impressed.  I guess it works well enough for a console browser, but I think I'd rather leave the room to use a PC.  I actually like the keyboard, though.  What I'd love to see is two-handed support so I can use two wiimotes to type.

[Spaz Monkey]

It is weird using the remote to type in this message, but it is cool.  It appears that it's a preaty darn fast connection.

[markrvp]

The text on screen was pretty unreadable for me. 

[sphetr2]

The text on screen was pretty unreadable for me. 

Press '2' to make the text bigger.

[versapak]

On a Wii browser note...

www.noradsanta.org seems to work just fine on there, so any of you with kids can track where Santa is on his journey from the comfort of your sofa.

[Daniel270]

I had webtv several years back and it operates similar to the Wii.   If you got the one without the keyboard included (back then it was optional), you had to type by remote.  So, I'm already familiar with how it works   Probably won't use it THAT much, but it'll be handy ....

[RTSDaddy2]

Versa:

Now THAT's a useful thing to know - though I doubt I'll show my 4 year old tonight!  She's been ready for Santa for a month!

I agree with Daniel - not something I'll use a lot, but I can see times where it will be handy - such as the wife / kid have the computer and I have the Wii, and we both want to web surf.  Definitely useful.  I'd still like to know if we could attach just any USB 2.0 keyboard to the Wii and use it to type though - the remote keyboard for the net  is better than the one for the Mii channel, but still tricky.

[RTSDaddy2]

Ok, well - not trying to force this thread back into life, but thought I'd add one thought.

Between the flash games we've found online, plus some other little goodies, I've become a bit more enamored of Opera's possibilities via the Wii.  This is going to conitnue to be an interesting year of gaming around my house.

[stephenp1983]

I am pretty sure as of right now you can not use a usb keyboard of any kind.  If you could I would be on it alot more.

[AtomSmasher]

One of my favorite internet game sites is http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/  and I just tried it out on the Wii and it works great.  I don't think any of the games on there use anything more then a mouse, which makes them perfect for the wii.