If you're one of those three people who is really into browsing the Web with your television, Cubed3's interview with Scott Hedrick, Executive Vice President of Opera for Devices, is right up your alley. In all seriousness, reliving the WebTV experience doesn't sound that exciting, but the potential uses for Wii games and services has my interest piqued.

There is a surprising amount of information, despite the seemingly far off Wii release date and Nintendo's penchant for smothering NDA's. Some of the highlights:

• Opera for Wii will be embedded on the standard flash ROM, unlike the cart based DS version
• The browser may take advantage of gesture-based navigation and interaction
• No advertisements will be included within the browser, however, don't rule out in-game advertising delivered via Opera

Check out the full interview for more. Michael McWhertor

Interview: Opera's Nintendo Wii Browser

Looks like Master Chief fans will have something more to look forward to in regard to the E3 teaser trailer for Halo 3. After audio director Marty O'Donnell's loose lips let slip that something was coming down the pike, the team decided to make an official announcement.

From this week's Weekly Update:

Some of our sharp-eyed fans may have noticed Marty hinted at an upcoming documentary on Bungie.net. It was supposed to be a surprise, but since the man himself gave it away, we can in fact reveal that we have a documentary short that shows the process and people involved in making the E3 trailer, complete with some never before seen scenes (think angles, really) from the trailer.

If you've ever wanted to know what goes on behind the scenes at Bungie—in the trailer creation department that is—all of your burning questions will be answered. Hopefully, they'll be showing off a bit more than just "never before seen angles". Michael McWhertor

Bungie Weekly Update

Sure, we've all played Strip Fighter II for the PC Engine, and unlocked Tina's infamous half-naked "rape costume" in Dead Or Alive 2 Hardcore, but it's been a long time since we've been given the opportunity to enjoy the peanut butter and chocolate-delicious combination of beating the tar out of eachother while looking at exposed digital boobs.

Thankfully, someone is doing something about it! According to reports from Madman's Cafe, a mysterious game titled Jingi Storm is beta testing in Japanese arcades. Featuring girls of every Japanese fetish, including shy school girl, busty nurse, wholesome police officer, tarty maid, cat-eared minx, the game is obviously expected to be a huge hit with the otaku crowd.

One problem.

What. The. Hell. ?. I'll admit to being somewhat of a noob to the bullet hell-style shooter category, but this is just insane. Ten minutes of eye-drying, bullet-dodging expertise from the doujin game Imperishable Night, 8th in the Toho series of for-the-hardcore-only Windows shmups.

Interested masochists can get the demo at the official site or the English fan site. Michael McWhertor

Thanks for the heads up, Alan!

Celebrating the launch of the ceramic white PSP in Europe, and getting a giant blob of publicity for their hyper-cute PSP platformer Loco Roco, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe held a fancy little soiree in Paris this week. JeuxFrance has pics of the event (check out that adorable DJ booth!), plus details on the Europe only PSP value packs.

• Ceramic White PSP Value Pack with Loco Roco (249 Euros)
• Ceramic White PSP GigaPack with 1 GB Memory Stick and Loco Roco (279 Euros)
• Ceramic White PSP GigaPack with 2 GB Memory Stick (299 Euros)

Hey, SCEA! Get off your ass and give us Americans (and our Canadian brothers!) that pretty white version ASAP! Michael McWhertor

Les LocoRoco s'amusent en soirée

Maybe I'm just too old for this kind of thing, but this Viva Pinata animated series so far makes me want to pick up the internet and smash it on the ground. Spoofing a casting call for the show—sorry, no casting couch, furry fans—the seven minute promo introduces you to the featured pinatas on the show, as well as the creepy psychology of being disemboweled by children with baseball bats and a dash of self-cannibalism. It's an unsettling commercial within a commercial.

The Rare-developed Xbox 360 game ships this fall, alongside the marketing blitz which will feature not only the show, but surely tons of plush and plastic trinkets in the shape of your favorite anthropomorphic pinatas. Parents, I feel your pain.

Keep your big googly Rare-style eyes peeled for more. Michael McWhertor

Viva Pinata TV Series (thanks, Packratshow!)

Semi-famous Kotaku reader and Master Chef Rakka Deer sent in her latest baked creation, a Super Mario Bros-style Mario!

You may remember her previous efforts, including the yummy Katamari cake, the delish DS cake and the recent Intellivision intell-cake.

Man, am I hungry. Michael McWhertor

Rakka Deer's Flickr Stream

Graphics whores, rejoice! If you were left feeling a Wii-bit empty from the polygonal stylings of Nintendos' crop of E3 titles, don't give up hope yet. The ATI folks responsible for the Wii's "Hollywood" graphics chip say you might just be surprised at the graphical tricks you'll see in the future—but it's also not just about the graphics.

I think what you saw was just the tip of the iceberg of what the Hollywood chip can bring to the Nintendo Wii. I really don't think that it's about the [specs]; I think it's about the innovation that it brings to the table—the motion-sensing, the always-on capability—the fact that the chip is powerful enough and responsive enough to be there at a moment's notice, and I think that's pretty cool for the average gamer.

Indeed. But what's up with that "always-on" thing? According to an interview with Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata, Nintendo is going to use the WiiConnect24 platform to send monthly demos to your DS—while you sleep! Scary, but cool! Michael McWhertor

ATI: Wii Graphics at E3 "Tip of the Iceberg"
Iwata: "Nintendo is not working on a next-generation console"

Congrats to Chris Ramstetter for winning the first DS Lite prize pack. Loathe him. But don't worry, even if you didn't win this pack, if you entered, you're automatically registered for the grand prize.

Check back Monday for contest number two. This is fun.

With damage control in full effect, the company's European honcho David Reeves is playing it safe. He says Sony's next-gen goal is not conquering the industry. No no, forty percent is just fine. This console war is about growing.

The name of the game is not market share, it's how fast we can grow the industry—our ambition is to grow 15 per cent a year on hardware and software if we can. We want to try and double digital entertainment in the next five to six years. Whether we have 40, 50, or 60 per cent market share is not that important.

The bar just officially dropped. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Kikizo]

Electronics giant and rock groupie Sony is touring with this year's Ozzfest. The 2006 tour will mark the end of Ozzy's de rigeur appearances (though the event will continue next year). What better way to say good-bye to the bat-eating and ant-snorting Ozzy than with Sony PR? The company's PlayStation bus won't be headlining, but will provide metal-heads with an Eye Toy area, PSP demos and hot Gran Turismo action. Ozzy and the gang kick off festivities on June 29th in Seattle and wrap things up on August 13th in West Palm Beach. Rock on! Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Siliconera]

Ninty blog Go Nintendo has a round-up of insider's opinions on pretty much the Wii. Here are the insights:

Irem's Kazuma Kujo—"Most interesting thing is that these two systems (PS3 & Wii) are launching near-simultaneously." He hypothesizes that developers will only truly succeed in making good games if they focus on one system, and that it will be very exciting to see who decides to focus on which system.

Capcom/Clover's Atsushi Inaba—"This upcoming console race is far different from any console race before it."

Chikako Yamakura, producer for Ganbarion—She is excited about the WiiConnect service for the Nintendo Wii, and says "even if I weren't making games for it, I'd be most excited about the Wii."

Noritaka Funamizu, executive director of Craft and Meister—"(The Wii) has some potential none of us can imagine yet."

Yoshiki Okamoto, of Game Republic—"I asked a lot of my friends their opinions of the next generation of games, and the responses were all over the place. It's going to be interesting. Lots and lots of people were lined up for the Wii. People were waiting four hours!! If you ask me, if you make people wait in line for four hours, you better give them something to do for four hours. That, or just have some more on display."