Nintendo makes Wii's Web-browsing Internet Channel free (again)
(Credit:
Nintendo)
Nintendo Wii owners who wanted to browse the Web from their consoles have previously been forced to purchase the Wii Internet Channel application from the Wii Shop Channel for 500 Wii Points (that's $5.00 to the rest of us). Nintendo has now made the app free for all Wii users, saying, "Effective immediately, people who want to browse the Internet using their Wii consoles will be able to do so at no added cost."
The Wii browser, based on Opera, was previously available as a free download to early adopters who installed it between April and June of 2007.
If you've already shelled out 500 Wii points for the Internet Channel, Nintendo is offering a make-good in the form of a free game download, but you'll have to wait until October to collect.
Nintendo says in a press release: "Starting at the end of October, consumers who have previously exchanged 500 Wii Points to download the Internet Channel will be able to download, at no cost, one NES game of their choice valued at 500 Wii Points from Virtual Console."
While all three major living room consoles offer online features, only the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii have traditional Web browsers. With this price cut, both systems now offer free Web browsing software. However, some of the most compelling reasons to use a game console Web browser -- streaming Hulu and Netflix videos -- don't currently work out-of-the-box, but workarounds such as PlayOn are available for those who don't mind doing some extra set-up work.
Update: Also new to the Internet Channel is Adobe Flash Lite 3.1. We'll download the update and test it on some video streaming sites, but expect it to work with YouTube videos, not Hulu or Netflix.
New York native Dan Ackerman, a former radio DJ turned journalist, has written about technology and music for publications including Spin, Blender, The Hollywood Reporter, and USA Today. He hosts the weekly Digital City podcast and the New York edition of Editors' Office Hours. Dan's new album, Tales Out of Night School, is available now. E-mail Dan. 
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That's early "adopters." LOL
Check out this cool demo of O3D, to see where 3D graphics acceleration in the browser is heading. It's awesome!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAgug5D6Kdg
I really want to play the game that is being demo'd!
Anyway, it's nice that not only is it free again, but they're giving people who bought it a credit.
- by austinite004 September 20, 2009 2:56 PM PDT
- I had a Wii, from day one. I did like it for a while but recently I had to sell it. I have a PS3 and XB360 so I'm not missing my Wii in any way. I also have PLAY ON. I love that program NETFLIX ON MY PS3!! I do have a gold membership for my XB360 but I like to watch movies when ever I want without switching around consoles. The Wii abandoned CORE GAMERS, like me, That's ultimately why I sold the thing, BEER PONG WII isn't fun forever! The WiiWARE channel is a rip off, cheap games and NO Q/C play testing before some games are launched turned me off the Wii too. The Wii console number sharing thing was also a BIG JOKE. It next to impossible to get friends on a Wii, both PS3 and XB360 have a nice easy way to add people to your list, NINTENDO PLEASE, change the way you make us add friends its just wrong the way you do it now. Basically the wii is GameCUBE 2.0 with NO improvement on the graphics when the other consoles have 1080p support, make wii really lose this round despite sales, the spotlight is never on the returns of wii's, or even the wii's RROD of sorts, wii's DO BREAK DOWN. I for one love the XB360 just for cross game chat, if ps3 gets cross game chat XB360 will have to come up with another thing to make it worth $50 a year. The Wii is gonna do an EPIC FAIL.. They already have with me..
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