Nintendo Wii's Opera browser gets update, too

Opera 10 isn't the only news today from Norwegian company Opera Software. Today, the Nintendo Wii's "Internet Channel" browser based upon Opera 9 received a couple of serious updates: It has gone from Adobe Flash 7 to Adobe Flash Lite 3.1, and now it is totally free to download.

Early adopters got a crack at the Internet Channel had access to a trial version from December 2006 to April 2007, and then a free full version from April to June 2007, but after that period, it has cost 500 Wii Points (5 USD). For users who actually purchased the browser, Nintendo will be offering "refunds" in the form of a free game at the end of October.

With the upgrade to Flash Lite 3.1, many of the issues with Flash 7 have been alleviated, and media sites requiring Flash 8 are now viewable on the console. Unfortunately, during our tests this afternoon, popular Video site Hulu --which had more than 38 million views in July-- is still incompatible. As are the players for NBC, CBS and Fox streaming videos. Support for YouTube, thankfully, has improved, but the "high quality" option is not available.