As mentioned with other comment, web browsers on console were often a popular and easy way to jailbreak your console and install custom firmwares, etc. The 3DS one was bonkers, and I think you could directly download games from Nintendo servers without verification?
Web Browsers on Video Game Consoles
51–60 of 87 posts
Re: Web Browsers on Video Game Consoles
#52I am frustrated that my PS5 lacks a browser now. It seems crazy that I have a computer today that does not have a browser when there are computers that are just browsers. We seem to have taken a step back here.
PS5 supports keyboard and mouse, there is no reason why it can't be a browserbox...
Re: Web Browsers on Video Game Consoles
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's funny that this was my first thought, too. I am sure game console browsers were an entry point for whole generations of kids. Mine WOULD have been through the Dreamcast, but because my parents were early adopters of Broadband internet, we never had a dial-up connection to hook the modem up to. I did a bit of curious searching on the family PC, but one time I forgot to wipe the history, and the game was up. The f…
Later in its life, the Dreamcast release the "broadband adapter", a 100mbit Ethernet replacement for the modem. Worked great, but very limited support in games. That plus a DC keyboard and mouse made me BRUTAL in quake 3... until someone worked out how to join DC games from the PC.
I actually had to go check to make sure the DC did originally have a modem before posting. I've been dabbling in Dreamcast modding the last couple of years, and the only network adapter that came to mind was the broadband one which, colored my childhood memories a bit. I remember there being a very specific reason we couldn't get the DC online, and "not having a long enough ethernet cable" definitely wasn't it.
Re: Web Browsers on Video Game Consoles
#54Surprised to see no mention of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game.com a terrible portable handheld that offered a 14.4 kbit/s modem cartridge.
Re: Web Browsers on Video Game Consoles
#55I was chatting to the author and it turned out that it’s not common knowledge that Dreamkey supported the Dreamcast light gun. You used the d-pad on the back to scroll, then shot links to navigate. I think this interaction method deserves a resurrection!
That's pretty good, but what about with the fishing controller?
Re: Web Browsers on Video Game Consoles
#56I skimmed but did not see any references to browser-based jailbreaks simplifying pwning several consoles.
It is mentioned as a reason why the recent Sony and Nintendo consoles no longer have a general purpose web browser.
Re: Web Browsers on Video Game Consoles
#57I was chatting to the author and it turned out that it’s not common knowledge that Dreamkey supported the Dreamcast light gun. You used the d-pad on the back to scroll, then shot links to navigate. I think this interaction method deserves a resurrection!
That's pretty good, but what about with the fishing controller?
I definitely remember trying it, but can’t remember what the outcome was. I went through a phase of trying to play various games with controllers they weren’t designed for.
Re: Web Browsers on Video Game Consoles
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I did a bit of curious searching on the family PC, but one time I forgot to wipe the history, and the game was up. Hahaha that takes me back to the time my friend got hold of a 3.5” floppy with some Playboy pics on it, and then called me in a panic because Windows had helpfully added them to the “recent files” list and he couldn’t figure out how to clear it.
I would like to understand the pedigree of those images. Someone had to go through an awful LOT of trouble to save them to a floppy... This leaves a lot of open questions. Scanners at the time were technological torture apparatus.
This is only tangentially related to early high-quality materials, but since I'm already strolling down memory lane: My dad used to work as an after-hours maintenance tech at a graphic imaging company. For several years my mom worked days and my dad worked nights. Occasionally, my brother and I would get to go to work with either parent to give the other a break from watching us every day.
Going to work with dad was fun. Somehow he determined we wouldn't be able to do any harm, and let us sit at some of the editing stations (Macintosh Quadras of some type, iirc) and mess around in Photoshop (I think version 5.0 or 6.0?). Of course we got to digging through the files. One of them had a couple folders of some pin-up photoshoots. Incredibly high-resolution scans displayed proudly on a 20" Applevision CRT rivaling the size of our home television. Photos that would have taken an hour to download over the web if you could even find a place hosting them. We were too young to really appreciate it, but thinking back, that's an experience I'd be willing to bet none of my peers had.
There was also a folder of promotional monster truck material and some photoshoots from car shows. We were definitely more interested in those.
Sitting in that warm cramped room surrounded by 8 workstations with TENS of gigabytes of spinning rust will forever be a core memory. I miss the old HDD sound.
Re: Web Browsers on Video Game Consoles
#59It's kind of funny that the entire purpose of a browser is to protect the user machine from arbitrary code on the internet and also it's one of the main attack vectors on a console.
Re: Web Browsers on Video Game Consoles
#60I am frustrated that my PS5 lacks a browser now. It seems crazy that I have a computer today that does not have a browser when there are computers that are just browsers. We seem to have taken a step back here.
PS5 supports keyboard and mouse, there is no reason why it can't be a browserbox...
I think the reason is that other consoles were jailbroken because of their browser, so now sony doesnt include it.