Nintendo Ditches Opera

By | March 7, 2011 | 16 Comments

Nintendo Ditches OperaIt looks like Nintendo has decided to change the gears as its latest handheld console called Nintendo 3DS will no longer feature the Opera web browser that was previously announced for DS, DSi and Wii devices.

Instead, it will rely on NetFront which is also used by Sony’s PSP devices.

Access NetFront features high speed JavaScript engine, visual bookmarks, different rendering modes and even offers partial HTML5 support.


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Vygantas is a former web designer whose projects are used by companies such as AMD, NVIDIA and departed Westood Studios. Being passionate about software, Vygantas began his journalism carrier back in 2007 when he founded FavBrowser.com. Having said that, he is also an adrenaline junkie who enjoys good books, fitness activities and Forex trading.

  • http://twitter.com/Darklink88 Daniele

    shame on you Nintendo!

  • Armin

    What? Why? PlayStation 3 gamers despise NetFront. They were actually hoping that Sony would adopt Opera for the PlayStation 3 after reading about Sony adopting Opera for their LCD televisions and Blu-ray Disc players. Why did Nintendo go the other way?

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/max1cp?feature=mhum Maxim

    No matter how good the browser is it will never be good on shitty platform. Good luck Nintendo.

  • http://www.facebook.com/itpastorn Lars Gunther

    It sounds like they think NetFront has better JavaScript speed and HTML5 support than Opera. Poor misguided fools…

    • udstdb

      I don’t think that’s the case. They are understandably cutting costs because the 3DS is so hideously expensive in the first place. So they choose crappy Netfront over Opera, which is likely much more expensive to license.

  • Nobody

    i expected this, but also expected them to adopt one of many webkit-based solutions that are already dominating mobile market (cpu type plays a role in costs/time of delivery, based on toolchains and developers available) – webkit has strongest position here (and it is cheaper to find webkit developers than opera developers if any extra tweaks are necessary)

    netfront is strange engine to say the least

    but, oh well – most probably it was the non-recurring costs opera talked, so it is alright :)

    • udstdb

      Nintendo doesn’t really care about browser, so they naturally want to spend as little money as possible. Hiring people to make a custom webkit browser would be insanely expensive, and require Nintendo to become a browser vendor.

      Now they get a much cheaper browser than Opera. It might not be as good, but money talks.

  • Hans

    Have fun with that crappy browser lol

  • Sirnh1

    Netfront, fast? Where did they get that idea? I have both a ps3 and a psp and these devices use netfront and netfront is clearly a lot slower overall then opera. Even sites that opera mini loads in 1 or 2 seconds, seem to take ages in netfront on my end.

  • johnnysaucepn

    Webkit would be fine if there’s already a version ported to your processor/platform. That’s the part that takes the most development effor. Once you have, say, Apple or Google to do that part, building the UI around it becomes easier.

  • johnnysaucepn

    Webkit would be fine if there’s already a version ported to your processor/platform. That’s the part that takes the most development effor. Once you have, say, Apple or Google to do that part, building the UI around it becomes easier.

    • Hel

      It took Google more than 2 years to build the Chrome UI around WebKit, didn’t it? And at that point it was only beta, too.

  • Geek

    Webkit would be fine?? I’m sorry but web browser doesn’t consist only from layout engine. Just compare Safari and Chrome, for example, on Windows. Safari blows and still it uses Webkit like Chrome. It just shows that you have to put many resources to make good browser, not just layout engine

  • Lola

    fuck you nintendo

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_RCDZENVSDKLPPWFRKJ6ML4NFJM Armindo

    NetFront features high speed…. ahahahahahah … can’t continue laughing without bursting into laughter… What a bad joke. NetFront? Rather NetPileOfShyt ! What a useless piece of crap software, lame excuse for a broswser. Congratulations Nintendo, less on reason to buy your dying devices.

  • Heath

    WHAT? This is stupidity! Even Opera haters know this is stupidity!

    I own both a PS3 and a Wii. There’s is a reason my friends insist I fire up the Wii’s browser instead of the PS3′s. Nintendo, you disappoint me so bad.

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