Ask an Expert Online

In the guise of a "new" feature, Nintendo just announced that Wii owners who want to browse the internet without a computer can do so for free using the Wii console.

As if anyone with an internet connection wouldn't have a web browsing computer already, Nintendo previously sold a modified Opera browser as an "Internet Channel" to Wii owners as a $5 (500 Wii Points) download. Before that, the browser was free for a (clearly) limited time.

From the beginning and through the foreseeable futures, Nintendo defines Wii web surfing as a abject lesson in patience as users view about one quarter of a web page at a time and type URLs by pointing a shaky reticule at a virtual keyboard at try not to enter wqw.ohshoot.backspacebackspace...

For paying downloaders of the "Internet Channel," Nintendo is offering an apology of sorts in the form of a $5 rebate good for one downloadable NES game, dubiously valued at - surprise - $5.

In other words, $5 worth of game you won't play in exchange for the $5 Wii browser you didn't use.

Excitingly, the "new" and totally free web browser will now support flash, which means many heretofore non functioning flash-based web sites and web content will now be viewable on Wii. It might even allow for web video to be seen in entirety at the 640 x 480p maximum resolution the Wii graphics chip supports.