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Wii U Browser Has Tabbed Browsing, Screenshots, HTML5, But No Flash

marc^o^

Nintendo's Pro Bono PR Firm
Source: Nintendoworld

The built-in webkit-based internet browser for Nintendo's upcoming Wii U system will have a host of new features, including HTML5 support, Nintendo revealed last Thursday during a Japanese Nintendo Direct that aired simultaneously with the North American Wii U Preview Event. HTML5 is an up and coming web standard that is slowly being adopted by the latest browsers and websites. For example, Youtube (which Nintendo made sure to feature support for in their video demonstration) has an experimental HTML5 version for users with browsers that support it and the necessary video codecs.
However, this HTML5 support is contrasted by the Wii U browser's lack of support for Flash, the latest versions of which are also not supported in the Wii, DS, DSi, or 3DS browsers.
Not surprising.
Nintendo also revealed that when players pause their Wii U games and access their internet browser, they will have access to images of the tv and GamePad displays from that paused game. Player-created game screenshots are already known to be used in Nintendo's MiiVerse functonality. However, many details regarding using and saving the images are still unknown. When users pause a game and access the internet browser, the software will remember the paused game's name and prepopulate search queries with it to help users look for relevant information.
Nice touch.

Nintendo also showed video footage of other features of the browser, like tabbed browsing that lets users keep track of several web pages at the same time. The video shows another multitasking scenario where a Youtube video is opened to play on the TV screen, but the GamePad continues to browse the internet as usual even while the video continues to play. One final example is that Wii U owners can simply just browse the internet on their GamePad while the television displays regular programming.
Great.

Gamers can even simply tilt the GamePad forward or backward to automatically scroll up and down through long web pages.
A la Instapaper, love it.
 

WillyFive

Member
Sounds good.

The Wii browser was also fantastic when it first came out, however it quickly lost relevance due to the fact that they never bothered updating it for modern stuff. Hopefully the Wii U browser doesn't suffer the same fate.
 

Hoo-doo

Banned
Amazing news!

Still hesitant about experiencing the internets with a resistive single-touch display though. *shudder*
 

cjkeats

Member
Does the 3DS have a YouTube app? I image we'll see the same stuff, as there like Netflix, Hulu, etc.
I can't remember what was in that announcement the other day as I kinda ignored the TV stuff.
 

Luigiv

Member
Yeah seems like a pretty great browser. The lack of Flash is disappointing (especially since the Wii browser has it) but it's a dieing standard and probably won't matter in 3 years time anyway.
 
As long as it doesn't have the "LOADING A PAGE DADADADA. DADADADA." sound from the 3DS Browser. Honestly, when a Browser takes so long to load a page anyway, you don't want a sound to remind you of that. So annoying.
 

Luigiv

Member
Amazing news!

Still hesitant about experiencing the internets with a resistive single-touch display though. *shudder*

Being able to click on tiny links more precisely (with the stylus) sounds like a plus to me. The only thing I'll miss is pinch to zoom, honestly.
 

Randdalf

Member
Amazing news!

Still hesitant about experiencing the internets with a resistive single-touch display though. *shudder*

I've got around 80 hours in the 3DS web browser, I only use the touch screen for clicking on links, you can do everything else with buttons. It works fantastically.
 

Combichristoffersen

Combovers don't work when there is no hair
I feel like I am living under a rock. Why is Flash hate? Wasn't a must few years back to play videos and stuff?

Flash is slow, bloated and prone to crashing/freezing. The only reason people stuck with it was because there were no viable alternatives. Now there are viable alternatives.
 

Chuckpebble

Member
Whats with the sudden hate for flash?

This has been going for a while. It all started with the mobile phone wars. The battle lines were clearly drawn between the Apple fanboys who echoed the mantra of the mothership: "Flash is awful and we don't need it!"

and the Apple-haters: "You need flash for the real web experience!" even though a phone with flash, desktop parity flash, did not materialize for a very long time.
 

Hoo-doo

Banned
I feel like I am living under a rock. Why is Flash hate? Wasn't a must few years back to play videos and stuff?

Back then it was a bullet point on the boxes of most android phones, as if it was somehow a big "get" from Google that iPhones didn't offer.
Fanboy wars raged hard over that dumb point, making Flash seem 10 times as important than it actually was.

Those times are thankfully long gone. Well, almost.
 
I must be out of the loop; isn't Flash the very thing needed to operate videos and such?

I use Adobe Flash Player on my Windows 7 Home Premium.
 

KalBalboa

Banned
Depressed+Flash.png
 
I doubt I'll use the Wii U for web browsing, but as long as it has HTML 5 it should do alright.

The lack of Flash is disappointing (especially since the Wii browser has it)
Wii browser flash version is so outdated that it may as well not have Flash for a lot of stuff you would want to use it for.
 
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