Wii Firmware, Internet and Everybody Votes Channels Updated

So today Nintendo decided to give us some major Wii updates. First off, they updated the firmware to version 3.1 which added a new feature in the Wii message board. Now when you receive a URL in a Wii message, you can click on it and it will open the Wii browser directly on that page. Vook.Net has a video showing this.

The Everybody Vote Channel got USB keyboard support for typing in your questions, and the Internet Channel got some major updates. Here’s a list from Nintendo’s website:

- You can now use a USB keyboard to enter text such as writing emails or entering URLs.
- The B Button can be used as a “Shift” key when entering text with the Wii Remote.
- You can highlight text on a page and click the “Search” button to enter that text in the search field.
- Web addresses (URLs) can be edited instead of having to retype an entire URL from the beginning.
- The “Page Information” icon will stay visible. Clicking the icon will display the page’s security level, and offer the ability to send the page to a friend.
- The way pages are displayed has been enhanced with the ability to ignore white space, notification when zoomed images are at their native size, and other graphical enhancements.
- You can now save up to 56 sites to your “Favorites,” and you have the ability to send favorites to other Wii friends.
- The stability, speed, and security of the Internet Channel have all been improved.

There’s also an added bonus that the Opera Software Team told us about this morning:

Also new with this release is the ability to download Opera Widgets (http://widgets.opera.com) to the Wii using Widget View Mode. Widgets available now include calendars, news readers, Internet radios and other applications.

I think Nintendo is finally getting serious about its online support.