When it comes to taking on the might of Internet Explorer, the small, but perfectly formed Opera is a mere bit-part player in the battle for browser supremacy, with Firefox now firmly established as the mainly pretender to IE’s crown. Not to be deterred by its tiny share of this market, Opera has pulled off something of a masterstroke when it releases a beta version of its browser for the Nintendo Wii on December 22nd.
The console has received many plaudits for its innovative use of new technology, and in particular the motion-detecting joypad. It’s rather fitting then that Nintendo should team up with Opera, which is famed for its innovation (it was after all the first app to give tabbed web browsing and mouse gestures). The two firms have been mere also-rans in recent years, so it’s nice to see them working together to develop the first external web browser for a console.
To us it seems a little strange that the next generation consoles haven’t done more to provide a decent web browsing service for gamers. The Xbox 360 didn’t include its own browser, although you can set one up using a fairly elaborate hack. When the PS3 (eventually) comes out it will be bundled with a Sony-developed application for browsing, which from what we’ve seen looks pretty uninspiring.
All this begs the question why the two largest web browser developers have stayed away from embracing these potentially lucrative new areas. Hopefully it will mean smaller producers of web browsing software will follow Opera’s lead and make their software available for these new platforms, bringing some refreshing new competition into the market.
