The Flash Player support in the Opera Browser on the Nintendo Wii has been updated to Flash Lite 3.1, today, as part of the Internet Channel free giveaway (previously it costed some Wii Points to download and use the Internet Channel, and Opera Browser which supported Flash 7 content).

Yes, previously, the Wii supported Flash 7 inside the Opera browser. With the recent Flash Lite 3.1 support, this means support for Flash sites utilizing Flash 8, and limited Flash 9 based SWF’s (no AS3 bytecode supported).

www.flashplayerversion.com reports back 9,1,122,0 for the Wii after update (it’s really FL 3.1 – supports Flash 8 with partial 9 support (no AS3))

I haven’t tried youtube, but I expect videos to stream, probably a bit better than typical Flash Lite handsets with 3.x out there … of course, the killer will be when devices start shipping with Flash 10 and sites like hulu and other video streaming sites allow people to watch their favorite video service online …

IMHO, Flash Video could be one the important parts in pushing more OEM’s to adopt Flash in the future … perhaps even, dare I say it … Apple iPhone, and subsequent devices (but I’m not holding my breath).

Nintendo updates the Wii to Flash Lite 3.1 (Flash 8/9 support)

Also, while we’re talking about Nintendo … the portable (DS) series has never officially supported Flash in any form (although gnash is an option for homebrew). Wonder if Nintendo is working behind the scenes on integrating Flash Lite for DS Lite and DSi devices via OTA update … or possibly a new range of devices they might be rolling out? Not sure!

Hypothetically speaking, if I were an OEM and wanted to get (casual game) content out to millions of users, I’d choose Flash Lite over Flash 10 (at this point in time) … given that Nintendo is based in Japan, and there is a huge amount of Flash Lite adoption there on handsets … plus, Wii released in 2006, so my guess hardware is not capable of Flash 10

Again, I have no special information, this is merely speculation on my part on the Flash Lite update. Main reason: they need to go from Flash Lite to Flash 10 on the next devices, and this is an step to get to 10 on next generation hardware.

Nintendo Platform

Wonder if their are further plans to monetize content on an independent channels from Nintendo, seems like everyone else is doing it … good to admit though, quality and consistency is always nice on the Nintendo platform … not like on the iPhone Store where it’s overwhelmingly cluttered with quite a bit of junk (a few gems in the rough though!).

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 5:06 pm and is filed under Actionscript 2.0, Actionscript 3.0, DS Lite, Flash, Flash 10, Flash 9, Flash Lite, Flash Lite 3.1, Flash Lite Game, Flash Lite application, wii. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.