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Web Browsers on Video Game Consoles
Video game consoles have a long history with web browsers. From the advent of the World Wide Web, consoles have been trying to get online. Browsers on video game consoles were initially very much an attempt to provide a cheap gateway to the web for a casual audience lacking technical expertise, though as time progressed they’ve become a greater and more integrated part of systems.
This article takes a look at browsers on video game consoles in detail, though only covers official web browsers. Many consoles have browsers installable via custom firmware and homebrew, but they’re beyond the scope of this post, as are non-web systems such as Satellaview and online services that didn’t provide a browser, such as XBAND, Sega Meganet, and Sega Channel.
Game console browsers were of interest to web developers for a period while personal computing devices and mobile browsers were still establishing themselves. Overall, the development of console browsers provides an insight into a juvenile web, slowly growing and establishing itself, as well as an insight into game console user interfaces.
## CD-i
The Compact Disc-Interactive format and hardware created by Philips and Sony was an ill-fated attempt to bring interactive multimedia to the masses. Development on the project started in the mid ’80s, and home players arrived in 1991.
The CD-i’s inclusion as a ‘game console’ here is debatable as it was designed for and touted with much broader capabilities. However, towards the end of its life it was marketed much more as a game console, and it is as a game console that it is best known today – especially thanks to the infamous Mario and Zelda games.
With a modem and a CD-Online disc (known as Web-i in the United States) released in late 1995, users could access the web in a very rudimentary manner. The term ‘internet-lite’ is seen paired with the CD-i frequently, for not only was the internet and indeed the entire World Wide Web burgeoning, but the CD-i was a rather limited machine that wasn’t well equipped for supporting the full-scale web.
The main menu of CD-Online Disc 97-10.
The browser worked and had links to various web portals but was very limited, even given the primitive web of the time. The CD-i’s limited RAM meant that it could store very little, and that simply using the browser would overwrite other values in memory, such as preferences and game saves. The idea was that the CD-i would be a cheaper, TV-based computing device, available at a price point lower than typical home computers that could make it the gateway to the internet for the less technologically literate.
During 1996, the CD-i KeyControl keyboard was released, as were additional CD-Online discs. The idea being that new discs would be released periodically with additional games, software, and peripheral support. Records indicate six discs were released in total, with later versions including the ability to develop and deploy your own homepage. By late 1998, CD-Online was winding down on the CD-i, with a version of the service launching for PCs during the turn of the millennium. Throughout the early 2000s it fizzled out and domains went offline, with everything CD-Online coming to a complete close in the mid-2000s.
## Sega Saturn
Sega’s 1994 console, the Saturn, gained internet access in late 1996 with the release of Sega Net Link – a tiny device with a custom chip and 28.8kbps modem that fit into the cartridge port.
For the Net Link, United States based company PlanetWeb provided their PlanetWeb Browser as the ‘NetLink Custom Web Browser’, an efficient and lightweight browser with a bespoke engine which was tailored and released for various devices in collaboration with manufacturers. Reading PlanetWeb’s frequently asked questions page from 1997, it is clear their browser was built carefully to target television-based devices and existing consoles, making it optimal for the Saturn.
Due to televisions having low-resolution screens compared to dedicated monitors, the PlanetWeb browser made use of ‘proprietary software technology for displaying clear, readable text and sharp images on an ordinary television.’. In other words, ‘the Browser features such advances as anti-aliased fonts’.
For its time, and given it is on an extremely limited console, it is remarkably fully featured. The browser has an inbuilt magnifier that can zoom to multiple levels, image support, history, bookmarks, an address book, the ability to download files temporarily, and full parental controls for filtering.1 That is in addition to all the configurable options and settings available in a menu accessed by pressing `Start`. There is a wide selection of themes with different cursors and sounds – any of which wouldn’t be out of place in Kid Pix, with blips and bloops and springy sounds of all varieties.
The main Net Link page in version 2 of the browser. Each district of the city is a navigable hyperlink.
Each time PlanetWeb boots, a random splash screen is shown. Net Link was tied in to the Saturn’s wider online gaming capabilities, allowing ‘On-Line’ battles. Beyond direct multiplayer, it also built a community around the console. For a while PlanetWeb hosted a game exchange mail-in forum allowing users to email in their Saturn game saves via the browser to share them with other people. PlanetWeb also launched Planet WebMaster, a web development and hosting platform that people could use with their browser.
In the United States of America, two versions of the browser were widely distributed. Version 2 and version 3. Version 3 brought greater optimisation, more legible fonts, and IRC support. Neither of these versions supported frames, however, instead displaying them as text links. Version 1 was pressed but never released due to a flaw in parental controls – all copies were destroyed.
The final version of the browser was Beta 4.035, which was never released physically and was only available as a downloadable update. Version 4 introduced full support for displaying frames inline, more IRC commands, support for embedded wav and aif audio, more shortcuts, faster input, different bullet shapes, outlined fonts, better image format compatibility, and many bug fixes. Beta 4.035 even introduced SSL for e-commerce.
It is likely version 4 would have seen a complete and full release had Sega not discontinued the Saturn in 1998 after rapidly losing market share to the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation, which dominated the market. Following the discontinuation, some users took it upon themselves to splice bits of version 4’s beta and previous stable versions together to compile a more complete and final browser experience.
## Apple Bandai Pippin
Apple Computer Inc released the infamous Pippin in collaboration with Bandai in 1996. The Pippin is a fairly standard PowerPC computer under the hood and runs software built atop Classic Mac OS. As such, several variants of mainstream desktop browsers were ported. These browsers never saw major utilisation, however, as the Pippin was a failure, and people noted that the Sega Saturn was a far cheaper gateway to the web, even factoring in the additional cost of the Net Link attachment.
For the North American market the @WORLD Browser, based upon Spyglass Mosaic, was released in 1996, bundled with @WORLD branded consoles sold in the United States. @WORLD browser came with plug-ins providing support for QuickTime and Macromedia Shockwave. It had filtering control via SurfWatch ProServer and support for some of Apple’s StyleWriter set of ink-jet printers. In mid-1997, a beta version titled @WORLD Online Suite Premium had an terrifically limited release. In early 1998, version 3 of the browser released, but details on what it changed are scarce, and by that time Bandai were announcing they were dropping support for the Pippin due to extremely poor sales.
The local getting started page of @WORLD Browser.
In April 1997, SurfEZ! (also called the Katz Media browser) was released for the Katz Media Player 2000 – an improved version of the Pippin distributed under licence in Canada and Europe. The console boasted mildly improved specs, and the browser supports HTML, plug-ins and Java, with capabilities for developers to customise the interface for specific solutions.
In Japan, a disc titled ‘Internet Kit’ was distributed with Pippins. Version 1.0 was based on Netscape Navigator 1.12 and released in March 1996. It was superseded by version 1.1 in June of that year, which added support for saving images to floppy disc. Version 2.0 released in December 1996 and updated the browser to a Netscape Navigator 2.01 base while adding support for some StyleWriter printers. A Japanese/English machine translation plug-in was available for this version but required a 2MB memory module to use.
J-DATA, a company that offered internet services for the Pippin in Japan, released NetCruiser (ネットクルーザー) 2.0 in a bundle with other software for the Pippin. NetCruiser was originally a Windows browser, before it was ported to the Macintosh and then to the Pippin via a process Apple called ‘pippinizing’, which was possible due to Pippin’s similarity to the Mac. J-DATA also published a monthly J.D.Press magazine which included listings of website addresses as barcodes, which could be scanned via a barcode reader device (titled the ‘Super Cat’) to bypass the laborious task of typing out a URL.
In 1997, the final Pippin browser for the Japanese market, WebViewer, released in Japan. WebViewer, instead of being built upon Netscape Navigator, was instead built upon Internet Explorer 3.0. It brought much-improved performance but required an 8MB memory module to function. In some cases it was bundled with NetCruiser 3.0, an updated version of J-Data’s browser.
Despite developing it at the same time as the Pipin, Apple didn’t release their own Cyberdog browser for the platform, nor did they release Safari on account of it not being introduced until several years later in 2003, long after they had stopped supporting the Pippin.
## Nintendo 64
The Nintendo 64, as it released in 1996, never received a browser, but the 64DD attachment, which released in 1999, brought internet capabilities to the console and a browser via Randnet Disc (ランドネットディスク) which released in early 2000. Randnet was Nintendo’s dreadfully unsuccessful Japan-exclusive online service. The Randnet Disc includes a general-purpose browser for the system, capable of rendering various webpages. While the browser can be controlled via the system’s normal controller, it also has support for keyboard and mouse input. Details about Randnet, and the browser particularly, are far from abundant.
## Game.com
It is no fault of your own if you’ve never heard of the Game.com, for it was a poorly, dot-com doomed handheld game console from Tiger Electronics, who you may know for their licensed LCD handheld games. In 1997, with the release of the Game.com, they attempted to compete with the Game Boy to dire results one might expect.
A large part of their marketing was that the Game.com had internet capabilities. Indeed, by purchasing the Internet Cartridge and connecting the device to a modem (either an existing one or the Game.com-branded model), you could access a non-graphical, text-only browser. It was very bare bones and feature-poor.
## Game Boy Colour
The Game Boy Colour released in 1998, and in Japan exclusively received what one could charitably call a browser with Mobile Trainer in 2001. Using the Mobile Adapter GB, which is an accessory that connected to mobile phones, the Game Boy Colour could play games online. The Mobile Trainer cartridge, however, provided an email client and web browser.
Given the Game Boy Colour’s meagre 8-bit processor, even calling it a browser is a stretch. It can only access an official Nintendo website, which included news, contests, and information about some downloadable content – arbitrary web addresses cannot be input. On account of the system’s limitations, it only supports a few HTML elements, like paragraphs and lists. Impressively though, it does support images, albeit in black and white.
This system also worked on the Game Boy Advance by virtue of its backwards compatibility with the Game Boy Colour.
## Sega Dreamcast
What would be Sega’s last console, the Dreamcast, released in 1998. It didn’t get one browser like its predecessor, the Saturn, but instead received three distinct lineages of browsers. Dream Passport, various versions of the PlanetWeb Browser, and Dreamkey.
Dream Passport (ドリームパスポート) version 1.01 was bundled with Dreamcasts sold in Japan on launch. It lacked support for many web standards and common formats, so it was quickly obsoleted by the updated Dream Passport 2. Owners of the first version of Dream Passport could exchange their copy at some retailers for Dream Passport 2, free-of-charge, between the 5th and 31st August, 1999. After that time it had to be purchased online via Sega Direct. Very briefly in 2000 a version of Dream Passport was bundled with the Dreamcast LAN Adapter, titled ‘Dream Passport 2 for LAN’, before being replaced with Broadband Passport (ブロードバンドパスポート), a version bundled with the Dreamcast Broadband Adapter. Later in 2000, Dream Passport 3 released, again with improved support for web standards.
The final technically improved version of Dream Passport to release was Dream Passport Premier in 2001. In addition to being usable on the Dreamcast, it can also be used to install versions of Dream Passport on Windows and Macintosh.
There were also variants of Dream Passport produced, such as the themed Hello Kitty Dream Passport 2 (ハローキティのドリームパスポート2), Sakura Taisen Dream Passport 3 (サクラ大戦 ドリームパスポート3), and Dream Passport 3: Urban Style. The latter was part of an Internet Starter Kit aimed at non-tech-savvy folk – particularly, women. In addition to the special version of Dream Passport 3, the kit included a translucent keyboard and mouse, a mousepad, some manuals, and a guide: The Internet for Housewives.
Also in Japan, Microsoft made an attempt to port the first generation of WebTV to the Dreamcast via the Microsoft WebTV Connection Kit (マイクロソフト ウェブ・ティービー接続キット). It was possible by virtue of the Dreamcast’s Windows CE abstraction layer and had an Internet Explorer-based browser. There were only two versions: the initial release version and Microsoft WebTV Connection Kit: 128bit SSL Compatible Version, which added exactly what the title suggests.
In the United States of America, PlanetWeb returned with their PlanetWeb Browser under the name ‘Web Browser’. It first released for the Dreamcast in September 1999. A small version 1.2 update released afterwards, and in 2000, Web Browser 2.0 released with better JavaScript support and support for Macromedia Flash. It also added support for uploading and downloading Dreamcast save games, downloading and playing MP3s, and included a full copy of the puzzle game Sega Swirl. Web Browser 2.62 released in 2001 as a successor to 2.0 and included demos of StarLancer, Speed Devils Online, Typing of the Dead, and 4x4 Evo. It was replaced later the same year by Internet Browser v3.0, which brought support for Macromedia Flash 4, again improved JavaScript support (JavaScript 1.2), and the ability to play Java 1.1.8 applet-based web games with PlanetWeb’s own Java Virtual Machine (JVM).
Internet Browser v3.0 open to FrogFind!
The interface of PlanetWeb on the Dreamcast is very similar to the interface that was on the Saturn, albeit themed differently. It has the same menu, bookmarks system, address book, and zoom tool. Unfortunately the theming functionality wasn’t carried over. PlanetWeb also hosted a Dreamcast Fansite and web portal.
Outside of Japan and the United States (mainly Europe and Australia), rather than Dream Passport or a version of PlanetWeb Browser, Dreamkey was bundled with consoles. Dreamkey was built on NetFront, a bespoke browser developed and provided on license by the Japanese company Access Co Ltd. The first version was 1.0, which was followed by 1.5 to add regional internet settings for the Republic of Ireland. Version 2.0 released in 2001 and updated the browser engine slightly, improved the on-screen keyboard, added support for the Dreamcast Mouse, and for a messaging service called Dreamnote. Dreamnote allowed sending messages, including voice messages via the Dreamcast’s microphone, and had a feature where Dreamnote users could see other Dreamnote users on the same website and communicate with them.
In 2002, Dreamkey 3.0 released, removing restrictions surrounding internet service providers which had been imposed by Sega since version 1.0. A final version 3.1 was released exclusively in Spain and Portugal to fix regional issues in 2003. There is a wide variety of miscellany hidden in Dreamkey, including hidden 3D models, images, videos, demos, ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ listed as a contributor in the credits, and the ability to use the Dreamcast’s light gun controller as a pointer, shooting links to click them.
## WonderSwan
Launching in March 1999, the WonderSwan was a handheld game console that released exclusively in Japan. A tiny 16-bit console with a mere 16KB of RAM. In 2000, the MobileWonderGate launched – a collaboration between Bandai and the mobile network NTT DoCoMo.
Interface of the MobileWonderGate browser.
MobileWonderGate is a physical adapter using a phone connection that provided the WonderSwan with an internet connection and an extra 512KB of RAM. It allowed downloading additional content for some games, email, and an exceptionally limited browser.
Its rudimentary engine has support for only a small subset of HTML 3.2. The browser itself has a bookmark system, and support for displaying GIFs, with settings to disable images, change their display, and configure the overall presentation of webpages. To bypass some of the severe limitations of the WonderSwan, web pages were proxied through a service to improve compatibility, not unlike Opera Mini.
## PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2, which released in 2000, got a fairly substantial web system. The PlayStation Broadband Navigator (PlayStation BB, PSBBN) was available in Japan and, provided the user had a hard drive in their Expansion Bay, a memory card, and a network adapter, allowed users to take their PlayStation online.
The PlayStation 2 only had a very rudimentary system interface, and PSBBN brought many more features. For the time, PSBBN was quite an advanced system. A pre-release version was released in early 2002, being replaced with v0.20 later in the year. v0.20 brought the ability for the software to update itself from the internet and manage save games. In v0.30, which released mid-2003, an email program was incorporated, as well as a service to handle monthly billing for some online games. A final minor update was released later in the year with v0.31 to fix an exploit.
In addition to various ‘channels’ where game trailers, demos, and teasers were showcased in manners similar to websites, PSBBN had NetFront Browser 3.0. It supported HTML 4.1 and JavaScript. NetFront Browser 3.0 was also distributed for Linux for PlayStation 2.
Also for the Japanese market, PlanetWeb produced EGBROWSER, which was released by Ergosoft Co Ltd in April of 2001. It includes Ergosoft’s Japanese/English machine translation and allows playback, though not saving, of MP3 files. It is a continuation of PlanetWeb’s bespoke browser system, functioning much the same as the releases on Sega’s consoles with a slightly tweaked interface. It supports HTML 3.2, CSS 1.0, various audio and image formats, SSL 3.0, Macromedia Flash 3.0, and JavaScript 1.1. It doesn’t support videos, Java applets, or PDFs.
Following the release of PSBBN, an improved version titled EGBROWSER BB was released in 2002. It improved support for CSS and achieved compliance with HTML 4.0 while bumping Macromedia Flash to version 4.0. It also made use of the PlayStation Broadband Navigator to store more data, such as emails and cookies.
In PAL regions, a Network Access Disc was distributed which had a browser that could access Central Station, the predecessor to PlayStation Network. It didn’t present any browser controls needed to access arbitrary websites, but people ‘hacked’ it to display sites of their choosing by pointing its configuration at an IP address other than Sony’s own.
## Nintendo DS
For their 2004 console, the DS, Nintendo partnered with Opera to bring version 8.5 of the Opera browser to the console. Releasing in 2006, the browser was sold with a Memory Expansion Pak required to use the browser, which fit into the console’s Slot-2 and is usually reserved for Game Boy Advance games. It provided 8MB of RAM, increasing the DS’ total memory from 4MB to 12MB.
The browser was released twice, once for the original model of the DS, and again for the sleeker 2006 hardware revision, the DS Lite. The only difference between the two being that the DS Lite version had a smaller Memory Expansion Pack that sat flush with the Lite’s smaller chassis. The original Expansion Pak works in the Lite but is the same size as a Game Boy Advance game and thus protrudes.
Though limited, the DS’s browser fit a niche for mobile internet access in a world where smartphones were not yet ubiquitous.
The DS Browser open to FrogFind!
For a tiny browser on a very limited console, it is reasonably fully featured. It has support for JavaScript, images, history, bookmarks, searching, a reasonable degree of settings, zoom options, and display toggles. It doesn’t have support for videos or other complex multimedia, though. Inputs can be performed using the DS’s on-screen keyboard or by writing characters on the touchscreen to be interpreted via handwriting recognition. The browser lacked any inbuilt filtering system, instead advising people to find and configure a proxy. A password can also be configured to be required on launch. The browser manual notes that the browser might run out of memory sometimes and humorously notes that if it does, you should turn your DS off and then on again.
Two presentation modes were available. The overview mode showed the complete page on the bottom screen, which could then be selected to view it on the top screen. The fit-to-width mode made the site take up the entire horizontal width of the display so that the user doesn’t need to pan around the page. In a time before responsive web design – which is a term that would only be coined in 2010 – this made websites designed exclusively for desktop use somewhat usable. While possible to use the interface without a stylus and to navigate using only the buttons or a finger, a stylus is the much more precise control method.
### DSi
The DSi released in 2008 and had a browser included with its system software in most cases and was available to install for free through the DSi Shop if not. It forewent the need for a Memory Expansion Pak like the base DS thanks to the DSi’s inbuilt 16MB of RAM. The browser was much improved from the DS’, being a stripped-down version of Opera 9.50.2
Introduction of HTML canvas support, particularly, was major, and various sites including DSiPaint, DSiCade, DSiPlaza, and Social Neko, were built specifically for the DSi browser, taking advantage of the newly introduced support for canvas and other web technologies to facilitate more interactive experiences. The browser only supports one font and three font sizes, with content transformed to adhere to the limitation.
Reviewers at the time were critical of its lack of support for Adobe Flash, lack of video capability, and its semi-regular errors messages about running out of memory, though they considered it a major improvement from the prior attempt to bring a browser to the DS. It still lacked capability for playing videos. The browser got a single update with version 1.4 in August 2009, which slightly reduced the browser’s size on the system.
Despite having increased RAM, the DSi isn’t compatible with the DS browser due to a hard check for the Memory Expansion Pak, which cannot be installed in the DSi due to lacking Slot-2.
## Wii
Continuing their partnership with Opera, the Internet Channel was the browser for Nintendo’s 2006 console, the Wii. The browser first saw a release for free in a trial capacity in late 2006 before launching fully in mid-April 2007. Starting in July of 2007, it became paid, costing 500 Wii Points.
It remained at this price until the start of September 2009, when it became free once again, and switched from Macromedia Flash Player 7 to Adobe Flash Lite 3.1, based on Flash 8. Starting in October 2009, users who had purchased the Internet Channel during this paid period were offered a free Nintendo Entertainment System game valued at 500 points.
The Internet Channel’s start page.
On October 10th of 2007, the Internet Channel saw an update, which brought USB keyboard support; interface improvements; the ability to favourite 56 pages, up from 48; functions to copy text from webpages into the search field; and further integrations into the Wii system so that users could send links to users in their Wii Address Book via the Wii Message Board.
Interestingly, trying to navigate to `/.` takes you directly to the website Slashdot, a long-standing shortcut in Opera. I’m surprised Nintendo allowed such a thing, which leads me to assume they were unaware. Google released Google Reader Play, a version of Google Reader specifically for use on the Wii, that later expanded for use on other consoles.
As a very brief aside, the Wii’s precursor, the GameCube, didn’t have a web browser per se (at least nothing internet-enabled) but did have a browser engine. Various game demo discs were built with HTML using a browser by who else but PlanetWeb. Research into this is detailed in The GameCube’s Lost Internet Browser Discovered.
## PlayStation Portable
The PlayStation Portable was released in 2005 and gained a free system-integrated web browser in September of that year with PlayStation Portable System Software 2.00. It used NetFront’s browser engine and got additional updates over time. In October 2005, 2.50 brought Unicode character support and the ability to save form inputs. 2.70 in April 2006 introduced support for Macromedia Flash 6. Trend Micro Web Security and Trend Micro Kids Safety were made available on the PSP in April 2009 to allow for content filtering.
The browser was rather fully featured, with support for creating/editing/deleting bookmarks, managing history, changing text sizes and how the page displays, JavaScript, images, using a proxy, cookies, cache management, and up to three tabs. The PSP even had comprehensive support for RSS on a system level.
Three view modes are made available by the browser. ‘Normal’ displays the page as served, ‘Just-Fit’ attempts to shrink some elements to fit the small screen without impacting layout too much, and ‘Smart-Fit’ forcefully wraps any content that horizontally overflows so it appears on the next line.
The life of the PlayStation Portable’s Internet Browser was cut a tad short due to relying on SSL 3.0, which was quickly fled from by the bulk of websites when a major vulnerability was found in the protocol in late 2014.
## Xbox 360
Despite releasing in 2005, the Xbox 360 didn’t receive a browser until 2012, when it got a modified version of Internet Explorer 9. Initially it was only available to users paying for Xbox Live Gold (something that people were very unhappy about), but this restriction was later relaxed.
Microsoft went as far as to publish a full paper about developing for Internet Explorer for Xbox, covering everything from how the input works to design considerations for televisions to browser feature support and testing.
Though the browser has support for favouriting sites to return to later, it lacks any support for tabs or any other similar multi-tasking functionality. In the settings, toggles are present to enable requesting mobile versions of webpages, as well as to enable support for Microsoft’s SmartScreen filter to protect against malicious sites.
Using the SmartGlass console companion app for Windows, Windows Phone, Android, and iOS allowed navigating and interacting with Internet Explorer on the Xbox 360 via a mobile device. An experience much nicer than trying to use the on-screen keyboard. The Xbox’s browser interface is peculiar due to it not entirely fitting the 360’s Metro Dashboard aesthetic and taking design cues from the flatter version of Metro seen on Windows 8.
Being released so late in the console’s life cycle, it was never updated beyond Internet Explorer 9.
## PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 released in 2006 with NetFront’s browser running on NetFront’s proprietary engine, before later being replaced entirely with WebKit.
It has a wealth of features: disableable JavaScript support, the ability to change the page resolution, a zoom function, multiple display sizes so pages could conform to standard desktop sizes or take up the whole screen, website screenshot functionality, options to copy the address, a bookmark and history system, the ability to save images, and tabbed browsing support via windows which can be slid between with the shoulder buttons.
Internet Browser open to r/PS3 on Old Reddit.
In November of 2007, version 2.00 was released which introduced Trend Micro Web Security and Kids Safety as options in the browse settings. Version 2.20 from March of 2008 allowed playback of some videos while they download. In July version 2.40 launched, which added an internet search option in the XMB and search as an option in the browse mode menu of the Internet Browser. However, this version was withdrawn later the same day due to instability, and the changes were more widely distributed a few days later in 2.41.
In October of 2008 support for Adobe Flash 9 was introduced with version 2.50, and in December this was expanded to allow full-screen display of Flash content with version 2.53. Version 2.70 in April of 2009 brought several features pertaining to the system’s web browser. An internet search function was added to the games menu as a shortcut for performing a Google search on the item’s title; the ability to copy and paste text from websites was added; Internet Security was added as an option; and functions to copy the current page’s address and the address of a link were incorporated into the file menu. An estimate of how long a download will take was also added.
In version 3.00 which released at the beginning of September 2009, the ability to take screenshots of web pages in the browser was added, and with version 4.10 in February 2012, the browser got a substantial update in that it moved to WebKit. This brought huge load speed, performance and stability improvements, support for some HTML5 features, and page layout accuracy benefits. In addition to these more notable changes, the Internet Browser also saw occasional performance and stability improvements throughout the console’s life.
The PlayStation 3 also had support for connecting to printers and media servers, downloading content, and other advanced functionality not typically seen in game consoles. It is perhaps the closest a game console got to the ’90s dream of a game console serving as a computer on your television.
## PlayStation Vita
Sony’s second (and far less successful) swing at the handheld gaming sector came in 2011 with the PS Vita. From launch it had a non-uninstallable web browser app. The browser is WebKit-based and has no support for Adobe Flash. Though it lacked tabs, the Vita browser did have support for up to eight tab-like windows, and links on a page could be opened in new windows at will. Attempting to open more than eight closes the last of the existing windows. Images can be downloaded from websites, and a comprehensive bookmarks system is included, allowing the creation, deletion, editing, and sorting of bookmarks, and even a way to keep them organised by filing them in nested bookmark folders.
Some models of the Vita had support for 3G networking, making the browser usable while away from a Wi-Fi connection.
Vita Browser application open to Hacker News.
Open windows appear on the browser’s LiveArea screen, allowing quick access to them. As on the PlayStation 3, a button is present when viewing games in the system menu to perform a search for the game’s title in the browser. Many system apps also have a help action icon in their LiveArea which opens the application’s user guide in the browser. Via the Vita’s Parental Controls app, the browser can be disabled entirely, or Trend Micro Kids Safety and Web Security could be subscribed to for the browser. Alongside the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 services, the Trend Micro services reached end-of-life in June 2022 and end of support a year later.
System software version 1.80 which released in late August of 2012, brought the ability to scroll pages using the Vita’s rear touchpad and added a button to immediately jump to the top of the page. Version 2.00 in November 2012 improved the browser engine, let the browser use more GPU resources, allowed accessing the browser while in-game, and allowed selecting links with a pointer while holding down the shoulder buttons, in addition to via the touchscreen.
In April of 2013, with version 2.10, support for displaying videos was added, provided the Vita has a memory card installed. That update also brought support for viewing HTML emails to the email app. The aforementioned video support was later enhanced in August with version 2.60 to support more videos. The next update came in October of 2014 with version 3.30, which allowed closing all open tabs at once and improved HTML and JavaScript support.
In 2013 Sony released the short-lived PlayStation TV, a variant of the Vita designed as a home console. This brought the Vita experience, including its web browser, to the television.
## 3DS
The Nintendo 3DS launched in February 2011 but didn’t receive its ‘Internet Browser’ until system update 2.0.0-2 in June 2011. Internet Browser uses the WebKit-based Netfront Browser NX v1.0. It is more like the later-released Wii U Internet Channel than the previous DS Browser, with a much more minimal interface that is in keeping with the 3DS’s bubbly, glossy system theme.
3DS Internet Browser’s main menu.
The browser didn’t support Flash, nor video playback, and saw minimal updates throughout the system’s life, beyond patching exploits. The stylus can be slid across the lower screen to scroll pages, and unique to the 3DS Internet Browser is the ability to show `.mpo` image files in stereoscopic 3D on the top screen, though this doesn’t work inline.
The browser offers a choice between Google and Yahoo! as search engines. To allow sharing images from the console, Nintendo provided the 3DS Image Share Service. It made use of the browser’s ability to download to and upload from the 3DS’s System Memory or SD Card.
### New 3DS
The New Nintendo 3DS (a name which time has been rather unkind to) released in 2014 with a variety of hardware changes, though relevant to web browsing are the improved processors (four cores, up from two) and RAM (256MB, up from 128MB). Owing to this improved hardware, it received an improved version of the browser.
Most notably, this improved release shipped with video playback support and a newer WebKit version with support for HTML5. It was based on NetFront Browser NX v3.0. Adobe Flash remained unsupported. It came with an entirely new user interface with options to explicitly request the mobile versions of pages and a toggle to enable more aggressive text wrapping.
For Japanese models of the New 3DS, a mature content filter was implemented that could be disabled by purchasing a small paid verification DLC with a valid credit card.
## Wii U
The Wii U released in 2012, and the launch system software was without a browser. However, the very first system software update, 2.0.0, which released on the same day as the console, immediately introduced the ‘Internet Browser’ application along with other network-connected apps. Initially shipping with NetFront Browser NX v2.1, the version of WebKit provided saw consistent updates throughout the Wii U’s life up until v3.0.4 in 2017. It doesn’t have support for any plugins such as Adobe Flash.
The Wii U’s Internet Browser has a lot of the charm you’d expect from Wii-era Nintendo. The interface is displayed on the GamePad while the television displays spotlights over a stage curtain which can be opened and closed from the controller via a button. If the button is held down, the curtains are opened with a drum roll. If the curtain remains closed for a few seconds, a Mii appears in front of it and cycles through a collection of idle animations with various props. When the curtain is open, the page currently viewed on the gamepad takes up the entire television display.
The Internet Browser shown on the GamePad, with the television output behind.
The bookmark menu is a literal book, and pages of bookmarks can be flipped through. There are sixteen pages with five bookmarks each. The button for the bookmarks page is the user’s Mii holding a book, and as you flip through the pages of your virtual bookmarks book, your Mii can be seen flipping the pages in the bottom left corner of the GamePad.
By depressing the Wii U GamePad’s shoulder buttons and tilting the controller back and forth, the webpage can be scrolled vertically. The GamePad provides complete control independent of the television display, allowing for actions such as adding videos to the queue without interrupting playback. The Internet Browser represents one of the rare few cases where the Wii U’s GamePad is genuinely an enhanced input method and not just a tacked-on gimmick.
The browser only saw one major update, which came with version 4.0.0 in September of 2013. It introduced skipping and speeding up video playback with the shoulder buttons, saving usernames and passwords, PDF viewing capabilities, and the ability to access the browser while a game is suspended, so users can reference it for guides and use it without losing a save, or use the Wii U Image Share service which also launched with the update and brought the ability to quickly share screenshots to social media (it was discontinued alongside the 3DS version in October of 2022).
It also brought an update to the settings. Previously, the settings only provided the ability to choose between Google or Yahoo! for search, manage saved data, and configure a proxy. However, the update added functionality to change the user agent and allow computers on the local network to access the browser’s developer tools. Nintendo even provided rather comprehensive developer documentation for the browser.
For someone so inclined, the Wii’s Internet Channel can be run in the Wii U’s Wii Mode, but only if re-downloaded in the virtual Wii environment, as the Internet Channel can’t be transferred from the Wii to the Wii U with Nintendo’s Wii System Transfer tool.
## PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 released in 2013 with an inbuilt browser referred to creatively as ‘Internet Browser’. The browser uses WebKit, like Safari. It has multi-tasking functionality so that a user can switch between the browser and a game or application without either program fully closing and having to be reopened.
It has web filtering support, bookmark functionality, and support for ‘Frequently Used Pages’ which presents the eight most recently accessed websites, and it can manage up to six windows but lacks support for viewing PDFs and Adobe Flash. The browser does support WebGL and JIT inside the PS4 store and platform content, but it isn’t exposed for external developers.
As with many consoles before it, the PlayStation 4’s browser proved a solid vector for exploits to attack so that users could install custom firmware on their console. The PlayStation 4’s browser is not exposed as a dedicated application in the PlayStation VR (PSVR).
## Xbox One
The Xbox One released the same year as the PlayStation 4, 2013, with its own inbuilt browser, an updated version of Internet Explorer. Sporting a modified interface, it – like the Xbox 360 version of Internet Explorer – was designed with support for the Xbox Kinect, keeping an interface that could be controlled with physical gesture controls and voice commands. It also brought the ability to use Internet Explorer in a split-screen view, so the user could display the browser alongside games and applications.
In 2015 Internet Explorer was removed from the Xbox One with the ‘New Xbox One Experience’ update. In its place, the then new Microsoft Edge. This was the version now known as ‘Microsoft Edge Legacy’, built upon the EdgeHTML browser engine forked from Internet Explorer’s MSHTML (Trident) engine. It was no longer designed for the Kinect, instead having the interface of the desktop Windows 10 version.
In 2020, a completely overhauled version of Edge, colloquially referred to as ‘New Edge’ and built upon Google’s Chromium began rolling out. This updated version reached the Xbox One in September 2021. As Edge is on a Windows 11 desktop, Edge is on the Xbox One. The experience is identical, down to the last pixel on the Microsoft Fluent-styled interface. Some specific features, namely browser extensions and downloads, aren’t supported.
## SteamOS
Valve’s SteamOS operating system released in 2013 with an inbuilt web browser interface. This browser could also be accessed via Big Picture Mode on the desktop version of Steam. In late 2015 an update to the browser allowed playback of some DRM-protected content in the browser.
The Steam client is built on the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF), so is itself already a modified browser instance. In addition to the web browser made available in Big Picture Mode, a browser window is accessible in the in-game overlay of Steam’s desktop interface. It supports multiple tabs, bookmark management, and offers minimal browser settings, mainly allowing you to change the browser home page.
In 2022 Steam released SteamOS 3.0, which came with an updated Big Picture Mode interface. However, since the release of 3.0 and as of publication, this updated interface exposes no general browser interface, in-game or otherwise. Being Linux-based, any browser that supports Linux can be installed trivially through external package management but can’t be installed directly via Steam itself.
## Xbox Series
The two Xbox Series consoles, the Xbox Series S and the Xbox Series X, were released in 2020 and initially had Microsoft Edge Legacy – the same as the Xbox One. However, this was replaced with the new Chromium-based Edge at the same time as it was replaced on the Xbox One in September 2021.
* * *
Both Nintendo and PlayStation have refrained from releasing browser applications for their consoles following the Wii U and PlayStation 4, respectively. Neither the Switch, the Switch 2, nor the PlayStation 5 has a general-purpose, user-facing browser. Browsers are present in the systems for the purpose of facilitating login flows, content display, and web applications, such as Nintendo’s eShop, but they are restricted and don’t allow arbitrary navigation.
Despite this, people often configure proxies, follow trails of links, or message themselves URLs to break outside of intended pages. Unfortunately performance using these methods is sub-par, as a result of the browsers not being built for general use.
The Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 both use the WebKit-based NetFront NX browser, though it is worth clarifying that the similarity between the name of the browser, NetFront NX, and the Nintendo Switch’s development codename, NX, is pure coincidence. The PlayStation 5 uses Sony’s own wrapper around WebKit.
While certainly a welcome addition to consoles, especially if wanting an exploit to enable running arbitrary software, general-purpose web browsers on game consoles are no longer as coveted of a feature as they once were. Time has moved on, and with it has brought cheap web-capable devices and budget television dongles with pre-installed browser apps. Developers can still take away lessons from the era of game console browsers, but a game console likely isn’t a person’s only method of getting online anymore, as it might have been in the ’90s with the Saturn.
Instead, it is harder to log off from the web than it is to log onto it in our current era. No longer is the web a place one must venture to, for it is instead with us at all times.
## Footnotes
1. Filtering solutions are common features of game console web browsers, both for protection from malice and to block content deemed explicit. This is reasonable given that consoles are largely aimed at children. However, game consoles were and still remain popular tools for watching pornography. In 2014 Pornhub reported that ‘Millions of visitors come to Pornhub from their game consoles every month.’. Pornhub’s subsequent annual year-in-review posts still indicate that a sizable portion of users access pornography via their game consoles.
This popularity can likely be attributed initially to consoles being one of the few network-connected devices in a household and then to being a convenient device connected to a large screen for viewing. Many parents and guardians are also unaware that game consoles are capable of accessing such content online and neglect to restrict them as such, as many annecdotes can attest to. ↩
2. Despite some claims otherwise, the browser runs on the DSi itself and doesn’t use Opera Mini’s rendering proxy. ↩
*[IRC]: Internet Relay Chat
*[DLC]: Downloadable Content
*[MSHTML]: Microsoft Hyper Text Markup Language
*[DRM]: Digital Rights Management
