Wii owners will finally be able to start browsing the web this Friday December 22 when the first public beta version of the Opera browser for the Wii is made available for free in the Wii store. Assuming we don’t end up off the grid again — and there is word that another batch of wind could be coming to our area starting tomorrow (lights were flickering a bit earlier and just flickered a few seconds ago) — I’ll be taking some pics of the experience come Friday.

Nintendo announced this morning that the browser will be free until June 2007, and anyone who hasn’t yet downloaded it by that time will have to pay a reasonable 500 Wii Points. And yes, it’ll support Flash.

Hopefully there will be enough Wiis to go around by June 2007. As I had pondered earlier this year, the Wii is turning out to be the must-have game system this holiday season. Gamers are excited about the PS3 too, but I’ve been reading more excitement toward the Wii and the added health benefit of exercising while you play. The Blu-Ray format might as well be called Bust-Ray at this point. HD-DVD doesn’t look much healither, but of the two which shows the most promise thus far, it gets the nod.

Read the full Nintendo Wii press release here which also indicates the Wii weather channel will be available tomorrow, Dec 20:

The Forecast Channel goes live on Dec. 20 and provides current and future weather information that can be accessed using a text list of cities or by using the Wii Remote to zoom in on a 3-D interactive globe. Weather information is provided by Weathernews. The Internet Channel, Forecast Channel and Wii Shop Channel are available at no charge, though they require Wii owners to have a high-speed Internet connection.

This week Wii: 3 new Virtual Console games
The following Virtual Console games are available now: Military Madness (TG-16, 600 Wii Points), Tennis (NES, 500 WP) and Space Harrier 2 for Genesis (800 WP). Nintendo has been releasing new games every week since launch which is good to see. This aligns with Xbox Live which has been better since they released arcade Wednesdays and is imperative to keep these live services fresh. Got my eye on the Alien Crush pinball game for the TG-16 that was released last week. Have been enjoying Bonk.

Class action stupidity
Also updated my rant made earlier this week against people getting too excited and intentionally breaking their Wiimote straps with a story about a class action lawsuit. I have one word to add to that story: despicable. The primary people who make money in class action lawsuits aren’t the people — even if they were somehow damaged by defective Wiimote straps (which I seriously dispute as reality) — it’s the lawyers. Nintendo has already created a replacement program for those who are worried about doing damage with their Wiimote weapons of mass gamestruction. Enough, already.

Did this post make you go hmm?

Maybe Related Posts (plugin generated)

• Wii Forecast Channel looks just like TV weather forecasts
• Are people trying to break their Wiimote wrist straps?
• Joyful Tidings #1: Wii be browsing, thanks Opera
• Free Wii browser games: Rapid Fire and Crazy Chess
• Nintendo DS WiFi USB dongle in Europe
• Wii Virtual Console 4 games added 12/11