Hardware keyboard support, send to a Wii friend are key features of new
release

Oslo, Norway and Tokyo, Japan - October 10, 2007

Opera today announced
Nintendo has started distributing the much-anticipated new version of the
Internet Channel for Nintendo Wii. The Internet Channel now features
new ways to share, communicate and enjoy the Internet Channel by adding
support for a USB keyboard and enhanced ways to communicate with your Wii
friends.

Hardware support for any USB keyboard makes typing both easier and faster.
Simply plug any standard USB keyboard into one of the two USB ports on
your Nintendo Wii and you are ready to write email, compose blog posts,
comment in forums and much more. Also making text input more comfortable
are several new keyboard-specific shortcuts to be used with the existing
soft keyboard, such as using the “B” button on the Wii remote as a “Shift”
button.

“We believe this new version of the Internet Channel is even more engaging
and delightful for the users around the world than its predecessor,” says
Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera. “Nintendo has always brought a new
perspective, fresh ideas and unwavering enthusiasm to our partnership. And
today, our combined efforts have given users more reasons to be excited.”

Send to a friend enables you to send links to your favorite Web sites - or
the one you are currently browsing - to your Wii friends whom you have
added in your Wii. You can also add a message to send along with the link.
When your Wii friend opens the message, they can immediately visit the
page in the Internet Channel.

The new Internet Channel for Nintendo Wii carries additional usability
improvements. Users can now copy information from a Web page and paste it
directly into the search field. Users may also store nine more favorites,
bringing the total to 56. Visit the Wii Shop Channel to download the new
Internet Channel today.

For Web Developers

The Nintendo Wii also embraces Web content and applications in a
revolutionary new way with the debut of Widget View Mode in the Internet
Channel. By surfing to widgets.opera.com users can browse Opera’s
collection of community-built, Opera-tested Web applications immediately
ready to run on the Nintendo Wii Internet Channel.

Widgets available now include calendars, news readers, Internet radios and
other fun applications. Users of Opera’s desktop browser will immediately
recognize their favorite widgets on this new platform. Web developers can
publish widgets on Opera’s website to make them available to Wii users.
For more information on creating widgets, please visit widgets.opera.com

Availability

The Opera powered “Internet Channel” is available as a free upgrade for
existing Internet Channel subscribers. For people wishing to subscribe,
the Internet Channel can be purchased from the Wii Shop Channel menu for
500 Wii points.

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–2K, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), announced today that Fantastic Four™: Rise of the Silver Surfer, a new third-person action video game featuring Marvel Entertainment’s legendary super-powered foursome, is now available. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was developed by 2K’s Visual Concepts studio for PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft. 7 Studios developed the title for PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, Nintendo’s Wii™ and Nintendo DS™.

Based on both the popular comic book series and the film FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER, which Twentieth Century Fox released June 15, 2K’s video game includes exclusive plot elements that complement the film and a host of classic Marvel comics’ story elements. In the game and the film, the Fantastic Four face their greatest challenge yet as the enigmatic, intergalactic herald, the Silver Surfer, comes to Earth to unleash destruction. As the Silver Surfer races around the globe wreaking havoc, the team must unravel the mystery of the Silver Surfer and confront the surprising return of their mortal enemy, Dr. Doom.

“The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer video game capitalizes on the capabilities of next generation platforms to bring fun new features to the franchise, such as seamless four player co-op and the radically unique Fusion Attacks,” said Christoph Hartmann, President of 2K.

Game features:

* Take on the role of any member of the Fantastic Four team and switch characters at any time. Each member has unique special abilities that will help the team get through different situations.
* Unite and fight! Battle in four player co-op with easy pick-up-and-play ability.
* Combine super powers for devastating team attacks with the new Fusion Attack System
* Loads of unlockable features including alternate Fantastic Four costumes, historical comic covers, concept art and more!
* Face enemies from the Fantastic Four universe including Red Ghost, Terrax and Super Skrull.
* Enhance your super powers: use the Wii Remote™ on the Wii and the SIXAXIS™ controller on the PLAYSTATION 3 for mega boost attacks.

“With Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, 2K is giving fans of the comic book series and movie franchise a great opportunity to continue the exciting Super Hero experience,” said Justin Lambros, Vice President of Interactive at Marvel Entertainment, Inc. “Gamers can relive the best moments from the film and also play through additional storylines exclusive to the game.”

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is now available and is rated “T” for Teen for PLAYSTATION 3 and PlayStation 2 systems, Xbox 360 and Wii. The DS version of the game is rated “E10+” for Everyone 10 and older.

For more information, visit the Fantastic Four website at: http://www.2kgames.com/riseofthesilversurfer.

Santa Monica, CA – May 14, 2007 – This fall gamers will be able to command their skating destiny in Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground from Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI).   For the first time, players will have the freedom to define their character, story and style based on the choices they make, the paths they choose and the style of skating they use on the proving grounds from Philadelphia and Baltimore to Washington, D.C.

Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground features deeper customization than ever before, including a Video Editor with full-featured editing tools and visual effects for creating “epic skate videos,” and a fully customizable online Skate Lounge where players can skate with friends in the ultimate pad.  In addition, players will have the freedom to skate from single player to online seamlessly, as well as utilize new gameplay mechanics such as skateable terrain altering and building, and Bowl Carving, delivering the most empowered skating experience ever. Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground also features even more Nail the Trick™ moves such as Nail the Grab and Nail the Manual intensifying the thrill of pulling off big tricks.

“Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground drops players into the skateboarding world like never before,” said Joel Jewett, president of Neversoft.  “This is the largest, deepest and most compelling Tony Hawk game ever.  You can skate the best lines, define your own style and produce your own videos.  You can even take it further by tricking out your own Skate Lounge, where you can hang out and skate with others online.  Proving Ground will throw you so deep into the lifestyle of skateboarding that you won’t be able to get out.  Hands down, it’s the most exciting Tony Hawk title yet.”

Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground is in development by Neversoft for the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, Wii™ home video game system, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, and Nintendo DS™.  The game is not yet rated by the ESRB and is scheduled for release later this year.

About Tony Hawk, Inc.

Tony Hawk, Inc. is a world leader in its field with the unprecedented ability to bring alternative sports and their unique lifestyle to the masses while maintaining an indispensable edge of authenticity with the market’s hard-core, trendsetting audience. Founded by Tony Hawk in 1998 and based in Vista, CA, the company is organized into five segments: Merchandising, Events, Endorsements, Film and Digital Media. These lifestyle sports include skateboarding, BMX, Motocross, surfing and snowboarding. Consumer goods bearing the Tony Hawk brand have dominated several markets, including interactive games, skateboard hard goods, lifestyle apparel, toys, publications and more.

About Activision, Inc.

Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products.  Founded in 1979, Activision posted net revenues of $1.47 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006.

Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Australia, Scandinavia, Spain, the Netherlands and South Korea.  More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company’s World Wide Web site, which is located at www.activision.com.

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This is an excerpt from the Preview of the Nintendo Wii game Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer by 1up

For Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, that key mechanic the developers are going for is the idea of playing as a team. “Marvel has had some fabulous success with its superhero franchises and they can all be singled out to certain key goals — Spider-Man is about web-swinging, Hulk is about destruction, etc.,” says Paul Weaver, senior producer at Visual Concepts. “For us, the focus was not only on making the characters unique to play, but most importantly, allowing them to work as a team, as we believe that is one of the biggest strengths of the Fantastic Four.”

Full Preview 

More About: Preview, Nintendo, Wii, Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer

Nintendo Life got an interview with Berit Hanson from Opera to talk about Opera Wii , below is the interview:

Why do you think Nintendo chose Opera for their Wii browser? There are a lot of browsers out there, and some are more popular than Opera?
Opera is experienced in porting to many different devices and mobile phone platforms. We have long been a provider of full Web browser to a variety of devices, allowing users to access the entire Internet despite potential limitations of smaller device. Opera also features unique rendering technology. This means that if you are surfing the Web on your TV, Opera will not appear as it does on a PC. It will adapt the content of the page to suit the size of the screen. These capabilities, in addition to the speed and reliability of the browser, made Opera a natural choice for the Wii.

How long have you had to develop the Opera software for the Wii?
We have followed Nintendo’s development schedule for this project, but are unable to say more.

What web standards will the browser support? The DS browser don’t support Flash or PDF, what about the Wii browser?
Opera for Wii will support all the same Web standards that are included in Opera 9 for PCs and Macs. This desktop beta version is available now at this link: http://www.opera.com/download/index.dml?ver=9.0b This version does include Javascript. Whether plug-ins such as Flash will be supported in Opera on Wii has not yet been announced. Stay tuned!

Will the browser be customisable? Will we see skins and “widgets” like in the PC version?
Nintendo isn’t ready to discuss if there will be any user customization allowed for Opera on Wii. Opera’s desktop browser is highly customizable and “skinnable”. We have announced that Opera Widgets will be available on devices and it would be cool to see them on Wii.

What functions will the Wii controller have? Will it act as the mouse pointer? Are we able to scroll or type using the functionality of the Wiimote?
We aim to make a browsing experience that leverages the intuitive capabilities of the Wii remote. Opera for desktop PCs has the built in mouse gesture-based navigation, but how this might be available and mapped to the Wii remote hasn’t yet been revealed by Nintendo.

Will Opera for Wii support tabbed browsing and bookmarks? And will we be able to have personalised bookmarks, so that each family member can have their own profile?
Yes, Opera for Wii will include bookmarks. But Nintendo and Opera have not yet revealed specifics on the unique browser features on the Wii. More will be announced as the Wii launch approaches.

Will the browser be sold as a separate item, like it is for the DS? If so, is it possible to “install” the browser rather than having to swap in the optical disc?
The Opera browser is saved to the Flash ROM on the Wii console, and does not require a separate memory card as Opera for DS does. The browser can be launched in only a few seconds, immediately delivering a great user experience.

What version of Opera is the browser based on? 8.5 or 9.0 ?
Opera 9

Will it support music and video? Will it be possible to stream videos and music?
We are unable to comment on this at this time.

Comparing to a PC display, roughly what resolution will Wii use for browsing?
All we can say at this time is that the user interface for Opera on Wii will be customized to better suit a living room environment. For example, fonts will be larger and the user interface will be simplified so that the Web is easier to view and use from a distance while navigating with the Wii remote.

Will it launch with the Wii?
As mentioned before, Opera will not be sold separately on a game cartridge for Wii. We would like all Wii users to be able to use Opera to surf the Internet. The details of how exactly Opera will be available for browsing within Wii have not yet been announced by Nintendo.

How hard was it to develop the Wii version compared to the PC and the DS version?
There were no major challenges during our development of the Wii browser, since Opera has experience with porting to many different devices and mobile phone platforms. The biggest challenge has been to create the best “living room” Web experience, leveraging the unique capabilities of Wii. Opera has worked closely with Nintendo to achieve a breakthrough experience, especially in terms of incorporating the revolutionary Wii remote into the browsing experience.

Do you think Wii will see more applications? Are you planning on developing anything else for Wii?
Opera is very excited to be working on the Wii project, and we hope to continue to improve the Wii browsing experience by utilizing Opera’s unique capabilities. We would also love to see some interaction between the Wii and the DS browsers, but Nintendo has not announced any plans to do so yet. More info will come as the launch approaches.

More About: Opera Wii, Wii browser, Wiimote, Nintendo

Opera have confirmed their web-browser for the Nintendo Wii will come pre-loaded onto the system’s Flash memory!

Wii web-browser developers Opera have revealed the software will be saved onto the console’s Flash ROM, not needing to be saved on a separate card as the DS version is. This also means it can be launched in just a few seconds.

The company have stated that navigation should be “easier than using Opera on a desktop”.

The browser will integrate its ‘unique rendering technologies’ to compensate for the lower resolution of TVs and the added distance of the user from the TV screen- expect the interface to be simplified and fonts enlargened.

The browser will be able to surf the full net and execute applications using technologies such as AJAX as well. While the software will support the same web standards as desktop versions of the browser and include Javascript, the company declined to comment if plug-ins such as Flash will be supported.

More About: Opera, web-browser, Nintendo Wii

In an interview with IGN, Hedrick said: “The Wii remote control is an extremely advanced tool. Opera plans to use this to its full advantage and it will provide an intuitive way to surf the Web.”

“Imagine the possibilities in terms of surfing with a motion sensitive remote control.”

source: Games Industry

More About: Wii, remote control, Opera, surf the Web, motion sensitive remote control

The Announced Game for Nintendo Wii , Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, nows open hie official website
Get the latest news on the development of the game and take sneak peeks at how Marvel: Ultimate Alliance will turn out. It also has rich info about the playable mutants (Wolvie, Spidey, Silver Surfer etc.!). After a few visits, you’ll surely make a countdown to fall when this game is coming out.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Official Site 

More About: Nintendo Wii, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, game