Europe gets Opera Browser Trial on 22nd!

[xbandaidx]

by Matt Wales, IGN UK

UK, December 19, 2006 - Rejoice, citizens of Europe, for Nintendo has revealed that a trial version of its Wii Internet Channel, courtesy of Opera, will be available to download from the Shop Channel starting this Friday, December 22.

Adding Flash-enabled web browsing capabilties to Nintendo's feature-burgeoning console, the trial version of Opera's Wii-specific browser is set to make way for a final version of the software next March. As previously promised, the Internet Channel will be free to all Wii users until the end of June 2007, after which it'll set you back a measly 500 Wii Points.

Scott Hedrick, executive vice president of devices at Opera notes, "Our software brings the power and reach of the Internet to the hottest video game system available. Wii's unique interface adds a new dimension to our browser, making it a useful tool that the whole family will enjoy operating with ease."

Keen-eyed Europeans will probably also have noticed that Nintendo launched its Wii Forecast Channel this morning too. The outlook for the rest of the day is 'moon'.

Looks like Europe has recieved an official date. Also 500 POINTS! Rather cheap there.

http://wii.ign.com/articles/751/751583p1.html

Glad I'm not the only one thats getting a forecast of 'moon' at 10 am in the morning.

 

[Silent-Sniper]

YAAAAAAAY WE BRITS OWN YOU >D

Hehe...

 

[xbandaidx]

Well I believe its actually worldwide like the forecast update was.

Looking at an article from gameinformer.

"The Wii’s Forecast Channel is up and running in North America as of the morning of Dec. 19, a day earlier than expected. Users can download the channel through a free system update. After that, updated weather reports and forecasts will be sent automatically to users through the WiiConnect24 service.

After installing the update, the system prompts users to choose a home location from a list of major cities. The Forecast Channel then shows the current temperature and weather. Users can then switch to a variety of other views, including one- and five-day forecasts and UV updates. By pressing the + and – buttons on the Wii’s remote, you can also zoom out to a global view and spin the world around with the B button.

The Opera browser will be available Dec. 22, and will be a free download until June 2007. At that point, it will be available for 500 points.

The Wii's News Channel is scheduled to be available in North America on Jan. 27, 2007, and will provide news feeds from the Associate Press wire service.

You can see they didnt state a specific area, and that main article the thread started WAS from an IGN UK reporter. So its probably safe to say its a worldwide launch on the 22nd.

Heck if its only 500 points, I'll probably buy it anyways. There isn't any NES games out right now that deserve it yet in my opinion.

 

[Silent-Sniper]

There will be plenty games available come June.