DS Web Browser in June

Eurogamer reports that the Opera DS Browser will be available in June, though so far only in Japan. From the article: "In fit-to-width mode, Opera uses both screens for scrolling up or down a page with both screens completing the view. In DS mode, an overview of the Web page is displayed on the lower screen and a pink square can be moved around an area of the page. The area you have selected is shown on the upper screen."

Comments

DS Lite

[DeionXxX]

Anyone know when the DS Lite is coming to the US? I've been holding out, for one and don't want to pay $300 bux for one from Lik Sang.

Re:DS Lite

[Servo5678]

On an unrelated note, newegg has Metroid pinball for 18 bucks. To anyone out there who has it, would you recommend it?

I recommend it. It's a fun little pinball game and if nothing else you'll get the Rumble Pak with the game for free which I believe sells for $10-$15 by itself. It took me about 2 weeks to unlock all the secrets and get the high score on each table, but the Rumble Pak has come in handy for other games.

Re:DS Lite

[yammosk]

Of course, now that I've ordered one, they'll make the announcement in a few days...

Thank you. You have done us all a great service :)

Re:DS Lite

[PeelBoy]

It's not THAT bad. I mean the screen is better than the GBA SP (pre-back lit version). I've been perfectly happy with mine. It's been pretty rare that brightness is an issue for me.

It is a little bulky but not any more so than the PSP. It's a lot more durable too.

My only complaint is that it's a little top heavy so playing games like Mario Kart gets tiresome after a while.

For $130 I can't think of any reason not to buy one. You could probably get a decent trade in for it when you upgrade to a lite but personally I'd keep it for when a friend comes over. Multiplayer Meteos is bad ass as well as Mario Kart and Metroid.

I always find my self wishing I had a few extra DS's laying around. (4 or so would be nice)

Re:DS Lite

[rev063]

On an unrelated note, newegg has Metroid pinball for 18 bucks. To anyone out there who has it, would you recommend it?

As a real-work pinball junkie, I heartily recommend it. It's made by the same people that made the awesome Pro Pinball PC pinball simulations "The Web", "Timeshock", and "Big Race USA". (Disclaimer: I was a design consultant on the latter two, but I'd lost touch with the Pro Pinball guys a long time ago and didn't realise they were behind Metroid Pinball until I finished the game and saw the credits!) Metroid Pinball is less of a simulation and more of a pinball-themed game, but it's still very strong on real-world physics and just "feels" like a real pinball game. If you like pinball, go for it.

Re:DS Lite

[Swordsmanus]

As far as I know the DS Lite hits the US either on May 7th or 21st. They tend to release hardware on sundays, and the new Super Mario Bros. game's release date has been pushed back two weeks to May 21. Normally Nintendo doesn't release games on Sundays unless it's with new hardware, so it seems very likely that the DS Lite and SMB game will release on the same day.

DS Browser In Action (video)

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ogWgYF3r4M

it's in japanese, but it's cool to see. not sure how youtube will handle /. but we'll find out.

Gaming implications?

[jomas1]

There is a real chance that this browser can be more than a novelty and may open up even more games to the ds. Does no one else see this? If so I can't say that I've seen evidence on any of the video game review websites. Is there something about the ds opera browser that should not make it possible to play games like the ones on websudoku.com and http://dmoz.org/Games/Video_Games/Browser_Based/ ?

Re:Gaming implications?

[jomas1]

Is there no flash support for the DS version of opera? Even if there isn't, there are quite a few browser based games that don't rely on javascript or flash. I realize that these games may not appeal to the typical console gamer but nintendo has already expressed that they want to draw in non-traditional gamers and there are quite a few people playing games like http://www.urbandead.com/ and http://www.fallofnations.com/ These games already work on browsers for Palms and Windows Mobile so they should work on the ds.

Re:Gaming implications?

[Fammy2000]

The browser should have JavaScript support, so some web based games will work (non-Flash). Screen resolution will be the limiting factor.

I'm hoping that we'll be able to capture D-pad and button presses in JavaScript.

Re:Gaming implications?

[Kelson]

Hmm, if they include Flash support, this could open up sites like PopCap to a whole new audience...

Re:WPA Support

[BeardsmoreA]

Why do you need - actually need - stronger encryption on a portable games console. Obviously when the browser comes out and you absolutely gotta do your banking from the sofa... I guess...?

Re:WPA Support

[the_maddman]

How about because I use my wireless network for more than just my DS? It's not that I need my Mario Kart packets secure, it's about my laptops and server being secure.

Re:How?

[Kelson]

You'll buy a DS card and plug it in.

Re:Two Questions

[Zangief]

1. What the hell took so long?

Probably the Opera team started playing Mario Kart DS when the devkits arrived, instead of actually working.


2. When are we going to see the first sensationalist news article about rabid child molesters preying on kids with Nintendos?

A couple of months ago there was one. Pedophiles could prey children via...Pictochat. Which has a range around 30 feet IIRC.

Tracking done through...

[JFMulder]

a pink square can
Great, now all we are missing are ponies.

Re:WPA Support

[neumayr]

How about a second base station? They're pretty cheap, especially if you only need 811.2b and WEP. Put it between your router and the modem and your network is pretty much secure - except against people wanting to use your uplink maybe.

Re:WPA Support

[poot_rootbeer]

will we still be forced to use WEP encryption?

No one's forcing you -- you're free to use NO encryption instead.

Anyway, my theory is that the DS's processors aren't powerful enough to do strong WPA encryption AND maintain a smooth multiplayer experience in a game like Mario Kart.

In a web-browsing title, there will be more CPU cycles free to dedicate to encryption. It's not out of the realm of impossibility that WPA support will be included on selected titles.

Not very convenient if you want to set-and-forget your wireless router configuration, though.

Opera Mini cell phone browser

[Is0m0rph]

After using the Opera Mini browser on my cell phone I'm sure they'll do a good version for the DS. There's really no comparison between the Opera cell phone browser and built in phone browsers. It's in another class.

Re:WPA Support

[Elrond, Duke of URL]

Because that's only an illusion of security. Your MAC is not hardcoded on PCs. In fact, you can quite easily change your MAC in Linux when configuring your network device.

My understanding, though I could be mistaken, is that even when you are using WEP, the MAC address is still sent unencrypted (so you can do things like filtering). Because of this, somebody needs only to sniff a little bit of traffic to find a valid MAC and set their machine to use it.

That said, I still use WEP on my AP in my apartment. My laptop has a 802.11g card with WPA, but both my DS and my PDA only do 802.11b and only support WEP, unfortunately. But... I really don't do enough of the wireless to worry about it and when I do something important there's always a second layer of encryption (i.e. SSL, etc.). And my desktop PC, where I do most of my work, is connected by a wire.