Wii net browser free until June

Monday 18 September 2006
Nintendo's UK boss, David Yarnton, has told GamesRadar that Wii's internet browser - which will use the same Opera software as DS - will not come packaged with the console when it launches in the UK, although it will be free to download through the Wii Channel screen (Nintendo's answer to 360's dashboard) for a limited period of time.

"For the first six months I think we'll be looking at the browser to be free for people - it will be available as a sample sort of situation," Yarnton told us at last Friday's European Wii event in London.

This is the same scheme as Japan and the US, where for six months from launch the browser will be free, but after that time you'll need to spend Wii Points to access the net. Exactly how many Wii Points the Opera browser will cost is unclear, although Yarnton did explain that Nintendo was still working out the details of pricing and how the browser will be made available in the run up to the console's launch in December.

Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.