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Firefox coming to Wii?

January 25, 2007 · by Haavard

I'm sure some of you have heard this rumour already, and people seem to be wondering:

Is Firefox really being ported to Wii?

In one word: No.

The rumour is obviously false, since Nintendo and Opera have already done a lot of work on the Wii browser (known as the official "Internet Channel"), and it's launching in just a couple of months.

It looks like the source of this rumour is a blog which, in a desperate attempt to get more visitors, put out a false rumour that is now spreading like wildfire (including several digg stories).

This is not the first time a site has done something like this. In late 2005, tech site CoolTechZone announced that Microsoft had bought Opera, and that announcement would come shortly. It never happened. After this incident, I have noticed that CTZ has continued to produce sensationalist and misleading stories (many of which have been posted on Slashdot), so the lesson here is to avoid these sites. I'm not even going to mention the name of the site that made up the Wiifox rumour, since I don't want to send them any traffic :smile:


Update: A Danish site got the word, if not from the horse's mouth, then at least from the horse's partner (so to speak):

"The rumours are not true.

Simple as that."

Those are the words of our Communications Director.

Readers' comments 16

Left under the original article, as archived.

  • eterniaMonday, November 12, 2007 8:04:07 PM

    FIREFOX RULEZZ

  • AnonymousWednesday, January 16, 2008 7:07:45 AM

    Cykon writes: Whayt would be the point anyway?

  • AnonymousSunday, April 27, 2008 9:28:29 PM

    im on the intarnet channel rite now writes: i want flash compatible to opera on my wii

  • HaavardMonday, April 28, 2008 6:37:46 AM

    The Internet Channel supports Flash 7 (because that was what Adobe was willing to license to Nintendo at the time, I think).

  • AnonymousSunday, July 6, 2008 9:03:12 PM

    Anonymous writes: i would like firefox on the wii so i can have multiple tabs. if nintendo would do it it would make things easier.

  • HaavardMonday, July 7, 2008 10:18:43 AM

    You don't need Firefox to support multiple tabs. Opera had tabs before Firefox even existed. It's up to Nintendo whether to support tabs or not. If they had used Firefox (which would have been problematic since it isn't optimized for these devices), there still wouldn't be tabs if Nintendo decided not to add them.

  • AnonymousMonday, July 7, 2008 6:07:54 PM

    Anonymous writes: :idea: :idea: :idea: :idea: :idea: we r starting a digital position right here to get fire fox on wii sign (type) name in comment below

  • HaavardMonday, July 7, 2008 8:45:33 PM

    I'm afraid an Opera blog is hardly the right place to petition Nintendo to bring Firefox to Wii. As I mentioned, Firefox isn't really optimized for these kinds of devices, so it probably wouldn't work very well.

    In the future, please take the time to read the existing comments before making a comment of your own.

  • AnonymousWednesday, October 15, 2008 5:22:12 PM

    Anonymous writes: java dont even work

  • HaavardWednesday, October 15, 2008 6:00:19 PM

    Nintendo didn't even make Java available on the Wii, so it's no wonder it "doesn't work".

  • AnonymousThursday, October 16, 2008 4:20:35 AM

    PKoH writes: I'd love to see Flash 9 on the Wii. Both Firefox and Opera are very awesome browsers.

  • AnonymousFriday, December 5, 2008 7:37:34 PM

    A Dad writes: Wii Opera really needs to update its Flash component to keep up with changes. One of the nice features for the Wii, that I am working out the kinks for my 4yo is making it simple for her to get to Play House Disney and PBS Kids. The problem is Wii Opera isn't updated to the current Flash Player. A Dad

  • AnonymousSaturday, December 6, 2008 8:42:55 PM

    Anonymous writes: 1. Opera doesn't need an update. The Flash plugin on the Wii does. 2. It's up to Nintendo to decide what happens to the Internet Channel. Opera can't do anything without approval from Nintendo. 3. Adobe would have to be willing to license a newer Flash version to Nintendo before Nintendo could even think about asking Opera to add the new Flash plugin. If you had read the damn blog post you would have known all this by now. Poor children with such an ignorant "dad".

  • AnonymousThursday, October 15, 2009 6:48:14 PM

    Anonymous writes: I miss firefox, because it's multible tap function.. because of the f***ing popups on megavideo i cant watch movies -.-

  • HaavardThursday, October 15, 2009 7:56:24 PM

    Opera supported tabbed browsing before Firefox even existed. The lack of tabs on the Wii is not due to Opera, but rather due to a design decision by Nintendo.

  • Josh ParrisSaturday, February 27, 2010 5:10:40 AM

    You can get rid of the ads on Megavideo by clicking the stop button in the bottom menu bar on the wii right after clicking the red play button, but this is pointless becuase the Wii is not compadible enough to load megavideo videos. And if you get annoyed at everything in life when somthing goes wrong, saying expletives unneccesarily then you arnt going to have a great life if you dont think before you say things...

    Anyway good work Haavard on your helpful blogging and comments.

About this article

Published inA Journal from Behind the Trenches
DateJanuary 25, 2007
AuthorHaavard
Tagsbrowser, wii
OriginalInternet Archive

The Red O » Developers » Haavard » Firefox coming to Wii?

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