DS spins an irresistible Web

***wraggster*** · August 8th, 2006, 16:43

News via CVG

Nintendo DS owners will soon be able to take full advantage of those free Wi-Fi hotspots thoughtfully provided by the Japanese company: Nintendo will launch an Internet browser for the machine, designed by Opera Software, across Europe on October 6.

As if the DS wasn't already enough of a polymath, purchasers of the Nintendo DS Browser (which, Nintendo says, will cost around 30 GBP) will be able to surf the Web, read and send emails and indulge in live chat. It can hook up to home and public Wi-Fi when out of range of one of Nintendo's free hot-spots.

It sounds as though the DS Browser has been cleverly designed to minimise the machine's limitations in comparison with PCs which have keyboard and mouse - and it includes an onscreen virtual keyboard and support for handwriting recognition.

And it even makes use of both screens - in Overview mode, it will show a complete website on one screen and highlighted areas on the other, while in Fit-to-Width mode, websites will be scaled to fit inside both screens, eliminating the need for scrolling. The DS Browser will be available as a cartridge, designed to fit into the GBA slot; there will also be a slimmer, more aesthetically pleasing version designed not to ruin the DS Lite's sleek lines. And there's more good news: it will come with a memory expansion pack, in a bid to minimise loading times for multimedia-heavy sites.

Come October 6, PSP owners will no longer have any excuse to argue that their machines can do stuff which is beyond the capabilities of the DS. Indeed, anyone who has tried to use the PSP's (shockingly unfriendly) Web browser would never dream of trying to establish bragging rights.