8 Ways to Sunday

Due to the fact that at least 98% of the stuff on “modern rock” radio stations sucks ass, I listen to a lot of classic rock and oldies on my car stereo. On the way back from the grocery store this evening, the local classic rock DJ hit me with a bit of disturbing news: former Bad Company front man Paul Rodgers is standing in for Freddie Mercury as lead singer of Queen for that band’s worldwide reunion tour.

Don’t get me wrong, here. Bad Company was a good band, justly famous for hits such as “Feel Like Making Love.” Queen, however, is legendary; Freddie Mercury is a legend.

Queen’s choice of stand-in singers is comparable to replacing Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator with Elmer Fudd — they may both be single-minded killing machines, but they’re hardly in the same league.

Opera Software’s famously fast and standards-compliant web browser will be performing surfing duties for the users of Wii, Nintendo’s oddly-named next-generation game console. As far as I know, this will make Wii the first console with a “real” web browser built in.

With the Xbox 360 currently retailing at $300 and $400* — and the PlayStation 3 set to sell for $500 and $600* — the $250 Wii is sure to be a hit with cost-conscious gamers and cash-strapped parents. One more reason for web developers to test pages in Opera.

(Props: Digital Trends)

Updates

• 6/4/2006 @ 2:40 AM — More details on Opera’s Wii browser from WiiSpot.com
• 6/6/2006 @ 12:32 PM — Cubed3.com interviews Scott Hedrick, Opera Software’s Executive Vice President in charge of Opera for Devices, about the Wii browser. Opera’s web site has the press release about the Opera–Nintendo venture.