The Internet Channel is a version of the Opera 9 web browser for use on the Wii by Opera Software and Nintendo. On December 22, 2006, a free beta version (promoted as a "trial version") of the browser was released. The final version of the browser became available on April 11, 2007 and was free to download until the last day of June; the browser now costs 500 Wii Points. The Opera Software company was previously responsible for the Nintendo DS Browser for Nintendo's handheld system.

Internet Channel uses whichever internet connection is chosen in the Wii Settings to retrieve pages directly from a web site's HTTP or HTTPS server, not through a network of proxy servers as in Opera Mini products. Internet Channel is capable of rendering most web sites in the same manner as its desktop counterpart by using Opera's Medium Screen Rendering technology.

History

On May 10, 2006, the Opera Software company announced plans to develop a web browser for the Wii.

Trial version

A trial version of the Internet Channel was released in December 2006, and a full version followed in April 2007. While in the beta stages of the development, this version of the Opera web browser implements some of the most widely-reported features of the prospective final version. For example, it is possible to zoom in on web pages (by one increment) with the "+" button on the Wii Remote and pan around by holding the "B" button, and both Flash and AJAX functions are present. In addition, an alternative single-column rendering mode with large-print text can be toggled by pressing the "2" button on the Wii Remote, similar to the Small Screen Rendering mode seen on Opera's Nintendo DS Browser.

Similar to other web browsers, the trial version has a "Favorites" system to allow users to bookmark sites. The Favorites page can be accessed either by pressing the '1' button on the Wii Remote or the on-screen button which has a star symbol. Favorites can be added, deleted and edited from the Favorites page. The browser displays a thumbnail image of each bookmarked site.

The functionality of the trial version was limited in some respects. Web addresses could only be entered on the home page and there was no browsing history (only the basic back/forward system for accessing previous pages). The browser had a difficult time handling hyperlinks that would normally open a new window via Javascript. There were no user-configurable settings such as custom home pages (the browser has a default splash page), preferences for cookies, or parental control features (although the Internet Channel can be locked out entirely via parental control configured from the Wii menu), and there was no way to hide or "auto-hide" the navigation bar. Also, the total number of favorites a user could save was limited to 21 URLs.

Release version

On March 22, 2007, Nintendo issued a press release stating that the completed release version of the Internet Channel would be released sometime in April and not at the end of March, as they previously said. The full version of the Internet Channel was released in April 2007. Keyboard support was added in an Internet Channel update on October 10, 2007. The update must be downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel and costs no additional points if the Internet Channel had been previously downloaded.