Nintendo considering DS web browser?
According to the guys over at
Cubed3, Reggie Fils-Aime recently dropped some hints in an EGM interview regarding potential web
browsing functionality for the DS. With so many online pieces already in place, it's quite surprising that Nintendo
hasn't put more effort into getting the necessary software out. Supposedly, a third-party initially expressed interest
in providing a browser and Nintendo thought it best to step back and give them free reign. However, with no real
results yet, Reggie suggests that Nintendo is likely step up soon and get the job done. That is, if someone else entirely doesn't get there first.
[Thanks jah75157, who we stupidly forgot to thank at first.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
zverg @ Feb 10th 2006 9:15PM
hooray for that, the touchscreen and having a portrait layout would pwn the web browsing of the PSP.
Nushio @ Feb 10th 2006 9:24PM
If they dont do it, the homebrew scene will.
I'm sure that as soon as stephen releases the full sgIP lib, it'll be a matter of time before Opera mini is ported to the NDS
Probot @ Feb 10th 2006 9:57PM
If I had more hotspots near me, I'd be more interested. But I mainly connect using the Wifi in my apartment, so my computer's broswer is never far away.
On a related note, I'm a little suspect of EGM's interviews with Reggie. The last interview they had, they asked questions like "Will the Rev have a camera or microphone?" and the answer was "I can't say anything about that." And news sites reported it as "Rev might have camera or microphone."
I understand this is different and more direct, but I'd like to see a quote from him to know exactly what he said.
I'd also be very interested in who exactly was the third party company that approached them about it.
RageOverdose @ Feb 10th 2006 10:47PM
Um, would it work well though? Let's not forget, the DS doesn't exactly have the best of screens, so displaying the web pages in their entirety may not be possible, or just not that great.
I don't visit many flashy sites anyway (no offense DSfanboy :P) so I could pretty much go to all my favorite places. Even though I only really use my Wi-Fi in my house, my mom shares this computer, so I could be online as well as her with browsing features, and we have the bandwidth to spare, I think...
Still, I need more concrete evidence until I get my hopes up.
jah75157 @ Feb 11th 2006 1:03AM
yeah thanks for the credit of giving you the tip. wtf?
jah75157 @ Feb 11th 2006 1:17AM
i mean seriously i sent this sh*t in like before 11 eastern standard time. give credit where credit is due, like your sister site, joysitq. i gave them the tip on contraband, they said thanks jah75157. bah!
Ludwig Kietzmann @ Feb 11th 2006 5:09AM
My apologies, I accidentally left out the thank you line at the bottom. It was nothing personal.
Tom @ Feb 11th 2006 1:00PM
I've often thought that maybe the Firefox team should do this. It probably wouldn't take too much effort to port over Minimo (http://www.mozilla.org/projects/minimo/). The only real conflict I can see is about it being open source. Would Nintendo allow it?
But then the Mozilla Corporation could sell cartridges of the browser for like $20 and call it a fundraiser for the non-profit Mozilla Foundation.
More likely though, the third party involved is Opera. Still not bad at all!
Another Primate @ Feb 11th 2006 1:12PM
Actually, Minimo would be a bad idea for the DS, as it requires too many resources (being branched from the same core that Firefox and Thunderbird come from). Stuff you can get away with on a full desktop PC can NOT be done in a limited, embedded system. Minimo would be an excellent choice for that overpriced, overpowered handheld that many of the kids like. It has the RAM and processor speed for it, and the company behind it has already included a functional web browser in it. A good Open source choice for the DS might be KHTML, the core of Apple's Safari/Webcore and KDE's Konqueror (just google for it).
For the record, this isn't nearly as exciting as DS Voice Chat. I would love Nintendo forever if they would release this as a GBA slot expansion cart rather than a feature in certain games. Like the rumble feature.
jah75157 @ Feb 11th 2006 2:46PM
thanks ludwig =)
Tom @ Feb 11th 2006 4:10PM
Wow, I was all set to say that the DS surely must have enough memory since Minimo is targetted at devices with 32-64MB RAM. According to Wikipedia though, the DS only has 4MB! With that in mind, yeah. Minimo would likely blow.
The reason I suggested Mozilla and not KHTML is that Mozilla has big organization behind it, and a boatload of developers. Although I certainly respect KTHML, I'm just not sure if they are up to the task, nor am I certain they could get Nintendo's help on this. (And is KHTML's system requirements really that much less than Mozilla's? Might take a LOT of work.)
Which leads us back to Opera.
Dave @ Feb 11th 2006 8:20PM
Unless they include extra RAM on cartridge or something (if this is even POSSIBLE) serious web browsing won't happen on the DS. We'll just get a glorified mobile phone browser at best. ='(
Rob @ Feb 11th 2006 9:03PM
The best option would be Opera. Actually Opera makes Opera mini wich runs on every java phone, including old low resources one.
By the way Opera is closed source and the mini version is free.
nissu @ Feb 12th 2006 4:54AM
"The best option would be Opera. Actually Opera makes Opera mini wich runs on every java phone, including old low resources one."
I was thinking about Opera, too. They have a "native" version for Symbian and PocketPC devices already, but maybe a native DS version (since there is no Java runtime for DS) of Opera Mini would be the best option.
For the people who don't know, Opera Mini doesn't render HTML pages itself, the hard work of parsing HTML and rendering the pages to fit a small screen is done by Opera's servers and the browser only receives compressed binary markup. It works suprisingly well even on low-end Java phones.
HyperHacker @ Feb 12th 2006 10:47PM
FYI, it is possible to include more RAM in a GBA expansion cart.
mdizzle @ Feb 14th 2006 8:40PM
hell yea!!!!!!!!!! mobile internet with touchscreen so we actually have something of a mouse.........psp is being owned with the news of media players, wifi, and actual browsing
keith @ Feb 15th 2006 6:11AM
http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/en/2006/02/15/
Seems as though nintendo are doing much more than considering, Opera is actually coming out on the DS!
ladyof wind @ Mar 2nd 2006 1:03AM
awesome!what operating system does your web browser has?does it runs by DSLinux like the one i've read from http://ds.qj.net/Fist-DS-web-browser-Watch-out-Opera-/pg/49/aid/5323?