Aral Balkan

One of the most exciting pieces of news in the last few days was the release of the Opera-based browser for the Nintendo Wii. Why? Because it has Flash support. Flash 7, to be precise.

This means that Flash developers are now automatically also Wii developers if they want to be. You have to love a platform that adds to your skill set without your having to do anything! :)

So, today, I started playing around with my Wii. Sorry, I'll stop now. It won't happen again.

Initially I wanted to know what resolution the Wii browser supported. There are a number of online references, like the Web design guide for Opera Browser on Wii, that state that the browser supports a resolution of 640 x 480 and that you should design for a safe area of 608 x 456. My own findings with Flash contradict this, however.

System.capabilities tells me that the system resolution on the Wii -- at least what is reported to Flash -- is 800 x 600. On a test SWF, set to 100% width and height, you get Stage dimensions of 784 x 484 with the default Macromedia HTML and 800 x 500 by hitting the SWF directly. Setting all of the margins to zero on the HTML page removes the 16x16 border and gives you the same 800 x 500 resolution.

I start to wonder whether the supported resolution is affected by the display settings in the Wii Options and decide to test it out.

Initially, I test with the TV Type set to 60Hz (480i) and the widescreen settings set to Standard (4:3). This results in the browser's controls appearing slightly cut off on my screen (46" Sony Bravia W series/1080p). Next, I try it at 50Hz (576i), again with Standard (4:3), and that gives me the same results.

Next, I change the widescreen settings to Widescreen and hit the same test page. This time, the system resolution is again reported at 800x600 but the Stage width and height defaults to 1024 x 500 (100% width, 100% height, stage set to noScale and align TL). The grid I'm drawing, however, looks all wrong. The aspect ratio is way off and there's definite antialiasing.

Update: I just tested with pixel values (the movie set to 800px by 500px) and I can confirm that this is the largest movie size that the browser will display without showing the scroll arrows. I also included a mock Wii safety image from IconFactory.com in the test file that is 800 x 500 px.

I'd love to hear what results you get with your TV set. If you have a Wii and the browser, hit the Flash resolution test file for the Nintendo Wii (http://aralbalkan.com/wiipii/arrow_wii.html) and report your results in the comments.

When leaving a comment, it would help greatly if you can mention the following information:

• TV Brand
• Standard or Hi-def
• Max res. (eg. 720p, 1080i, 1080p, etc.)
• Wii settings (4:3 or 16:9 and whether you're running at 576i, 480i or 480p)

So, does anyone else have information they'd like to share on developing for the Wii?

Comments

• It's 800x500 here with an old (german) conventional CRT-TV (PAL/576i) - Grundig TV - SD (analog) - 4:3 Wii Setting

  by Flo on 2006-12-26 23:42:03

• Thanks, Flo! :)

  by aral on 2006-12-27 00:41:33

• It's 800 x 500 here with a fairly new Mitsubishi big screen (standard NTSC) - Mitsubishi - Standard - (not sure max res) - 4:3 I hadn't even thought about writing for the Wii in Flash. Been having too much fun playing with it to consider writing for it, but now you've lit the fire under me :) Happy New Wii! Satori

  by Satori Canton on 2006-12-27 06:15:19

• Nintendo Wii supports Flash Player 7... Aral Balkan (and others) pointed out that the Nintendo Wii now supports Flash Player 7 via their release of the Opera browser for Nintendo Wii, currently in beta (trial version) and planned for final release in March of 2007 (press......

  by Mike Downey on 2006-12-27 06:17:32

• Actually, I messed arround with the display settings on my TV (because it is a wide screen TV). But even with different display settings like 16:9, the Wii resolution was still 800 x 500. So in standard mode, it's just stretching pixels.

  by Satori Canton on 2006-12-27 06:22:54

• Aral, For reference I did a simple capabilities dump for the WII, PS3, and the PC then did diffs against each other. I posted the results at http://www.kennybunch.com/blogarchives/52

  by Kenny Bunch on 2006-12-27 14:07:22

• Thanks, Kenny, very cool! :)

  by aral on 2006-12-27 14:41:54

• And what about the plugin performance (Wii/PS3)?

  by Philippe on 2006-12-27 15:48:05

• I'm also getting 800x500 with my PAL projector. One rather unusual thing I notice is that I'm getting fractional mouse coordinates in the higher values of _xmouse/_ymouse e.g. 420.95 The only wiimote button that seems to be accessible for Flash is the "A" button - all the others do not report - also not as keypresses

  by Mario Klingemann on 2006-12-27 17:28:35

• Hey Mario, Funny thing is, I'm getting those values (eg. 438.95, etc.) on my Mac too. On the Wii they appear to start at 410.95 on the x axis and 409.95 on the y axis. Anything 409 and below on the x axis and 408 and below on the y is coming up as an integer.

  by aral on 2006-12-27 20:39:33

• [...] Either you don't have the Flash Player installed or SWFObject wasn't able to detect it. Download the Flash Player. // 0)) { document.getElementById('flashPlayerInfo').innerHTML = "You have Flash player "+ version['major'] +"."+ version['minor'] +"."+ version['rev'] +" installed. Detected by SWFObject."; } // ]]> « Flashing the Nintendo Wii [...]

  by Flash performance on the Wii at Aral Balkan on 2006-12-27 21:04:33

• How do you get rid of the white space on top? I put the padding and margins to "0".... Thanks.

  by Mickey on 2006-12-28 22:29:52

• Hi Mickey -- just hacked the following on to the body tag, old-school -- I'm sure I'm breaking every good HTML practice out there so a CSS-based approach would, of course, be recommended instead: TOPMARGIN="0" LEFTMARGIN="0" MARGINWIDTH="0" MARGINHEIGHT="0" hspace="0" vspace="0"

  by aral on 2006-12-28 22:40:01

• @aral Thanks, but on the Opera Wii browser with flash, I'm still getting a 5px top margin or so... Any other thoughts or a link to a flash swf that has a 0 Top-margin on the Wii? THANKS!

  by Mickey on 2006-12-29 00:08:54

• [...] Top 10 RIA events in 2006 99 coolest photo in 2006 Using Wii con Flash Using Wii con Flash 2 Flash dentro de Photoshop CS3 Sony Ericsson Store con Flex IFBIN 2.0 App Apollo para 2007 Virus en red de XServe Sistema de refrigeraciòn para XCBox 360 Reloj de superman con proyector de hora Dìa de los inocentes “iPlay” Nintendo y Apple unen fuerzas Phill Harrison y sus declaraciones Edifico iPod Màs de Phill Harrison Una màs El cinturòn de Ferzon Wii en pantalla de cine [...]

  by Monopolio Podcast .... el podcast más demandado on 2006-12-31 20:22:33

• this is an interesting link concerning available wii remote keycodes for flash: http://wiinintendo.net/2006/12/27/wiimote-d-pad-works-in-javascript-or-flash-games/ It seems like you can use the other keys on your remote :)

  by friz on 2007-01-02 19:44:47

• oops, I now see that website has probaly copied the info from your blog ... :P they do have another solution that works, and they also mention your site and give you credits. sorry for the double post.

  by friz on 2007-01-02 19:55:48

• I have a 50" Toshiba 720P widescreen plasma and I'm getting 1024 by 500. Does this sound weird? It seems a bit high to me but then again, from just eyeballing the screen, the horizontal length does seem to be twice that of the vertical.

  by Don on 2007-01-21 01:40:22

• [...] The next-generation of gaming (can we call it current-gen yet?) is putting some really incredible, wireless, network enabled hardware in the hands of the masses. Despite my earlier comments, the Wii, in particular, seems to have a lot of potential to change the way we think about gameplay. The inclusion of an Opera browser with Flash Player support has already gotten a lot of Flash developers thinking about how to leverage the technology to create new interfaces for their work. Flash games for Wii are popping up on the intarnets and some traditional flash games are even being ported to Wii or to PS3 giving us a shot at what most Flash game developers dream of. Many other projects are underway to harness the Wii’s hardware for alternative uses. WiiMote interfaces for Mac and Windows have already sprung up. The obligitory community dedicated to making the Wii run Linux has made major contributions to the hacking of the console. For legitimate developers, a more affordable development kit is available (you have to prove you’re a game development studio, believe me, I already tried). [...]

  by dispatchEvent » Blog Archive » 2007 Tech Preview on 2007-01-07 01:59:24

• Hi Don, I got that reading once but haven't been able to reproduce it.

  by aral on 2007-01-21 12:50:46

• Hitachi Hi-Def 1080i 16:9 480p I'm getting 1024x500 consistently. I even uploaded a couple of test images (a 1024x500 and 800x500) to be sure that it was displaying 1024x500.

  by Rusty Mitchell on 2007-02-21 04:05:55

• Hi Aral, Just thought I'd drop a quick note to say "Hi!" I work at a stealth-mode startup near Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA. What are you upto these days? Thx, Dhaval

  by Dhaval on 2007-03-17 01:26:32

• Hi Dhaval, Working on something really cool at the moment that I should be announcing this weekend. Otherwise keeping busy with my consulting, OSFlash, talks, etc. If you'd like to talk feel free to email me at my-first-name@this-domain. Best of luck with your startup!

  by aral on 2007-03-17 08:18:45

• How i can install Opera browser to my wii?? Thanks!

  by Wii FanGirl on 2008-08-04 04:30:06

• [...] http://aralbalkan.com/823 [...]

  by Nintento Wii & Flash | celar.nl on 2008-03-21 16:11:49

• thanks for this... here are the settings i have: TV Brand - sony Hi-def (O) Max res 1080p Wii settings 16:9 - 480p

  by free wii on 2008-10-17 14:55:04

• Super-Duper site! I am loving it!! Will come back again , Thanks.

  by Sam Frank on 2009-03-17 23:01:45

• [...] Flashing the Nintendo Wii [...]

  by Wii Flash Development Resources Collection | diamondTearz on 2009-01-02 13:17:13

• nice post. This what i looking for. Thank for the info I decide to buy wii soon after read your post

  by habibie on 2008-11-29 04:43:31

• [...] Balkan (and others) pointed out that the Nintendo Wii now supports Flash Player 7 via their release of the Opera browser for [...]

  by mikedowney|blog » Nintendo Wii supports Flash Player 7 on 2009-03-27 01:40:59

• May we can do channels with flash? May i use Fscommand() to show my game in full screen? Great post guy! Thanks

  by Marcel on 2009-07-07 18:23:05

• im looking to get my wii flashed and how much dose it cost. thanks chad

  by stephanie on 2009-12-08 18:22:53

• I can't seem to update the flash player on my wii from 9 to the latest just keeps saying not supported what should I do?

  by Shane Gamble on 2012-01-25 13:20:56