Nintendo Direct: Wii U System Update Brings Virtual Console And More Next W

[compl3x]

Starting next week, it's going to take a little less time to navigate your Wii U. During this morning's Nintendo Direct presentation, president Satoru Iwata shared details about next week's planned Wii U system update.

A number of convenience improvements and features are on the menu, with faster loading and transition times coming. Additionally, Wii U owners will soon be able to move data between external USB drives, automatically install downloaded software (currently requiring manual intervention), update software automatically, and put the console into standby without terminating downloads.

The Wii menu will be accessible directly upon booting up by holding the B button on the GamePad, but those that access that emulation for the virtual console will be glad to know that a Wii U version of that service is on the way. Coming next week after the system update, gamers will be able to play classic titles in new ways.

Off-screen mode will be enabled for all Wii U Virtual Console games, which is an enormous improvement. Additionally, each of those titles will have a Miiverse community.

The bad news is that Wii Virtual Console titles will not transfer to the new Wii U service. If you want to take advantage of the functionality, you'll need to pony up another $1 per NES title and $1.50 per SNES title. No explanation was given for the upgrade charge, and it seems that only a select number of titles will be available at the start. Game Boy Advance and Nintendo 64 titles will be coming in the future. No mention was made of the other platforms that were featured on the Wii's Virtual Console.

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[HawkMan]

hopefully the virtual console for the WiiU will be able to render at 720 or 1080 even if the GUI remains scaled or something. well at least for the 3D games anyway though.

playing old SNES titles on the pad screen while semi paying attention to something on tv is going to be awesome though.

[compl3x]

playing old SNES titles on the pad screen while semi paying attention to something on tv is going to be awesome though.

Damn straight!

[Brian M. Veteran]

hopefully the virtual console for the WiiU will be able to render at 720 or 1080 even if the GUI remains scaled or something. well at least for the 3D games anyway though.

playing old SNES titles on the pad screen while semi paying attention to something on tv is going to be awesome though.

I think it's a bit cheeky charging $1/1.50 to upgrade though.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

i think the direct boot to the Wii menu is a great addition. it takes some time to boot the Wii U, then boot to the Wii menu in its current config.

[HawkMan]

I think it's a bit cheeky charging $1/1.50 to upgrade though.

Doesn't matter to me, I never had a Wii. and why, it's required a rewrite again just like when it was updated for the Wii.

Do you also expect your PSN or XBLA games to work on the next gen for free directly ? granted if rumors of the 360 SOC is true that might actually happen, though I wouldn't hold my breath.

seems fair enough that they get compensated for their work to me.

[thealexweb]

If you played a game on the Wii's virtual console will it be carried over. If not its a ****take that some games will be paid for a third time -.-

[fusi0n]

Awesome :) I hope to pick one up soon.. Only game I want though is New Super Mario Brothers Wii-U

[HawkMan]

If you played a game on the Wii's virtual console will it be carried over. If not its a ****take that some games will be paid for a third time -.-

It already said in the OP that you need to pay a small upgrade fee. and yes, it sucks that you actually have to pay for peoples hard work doesn't it. you should tell your boss about your feelings on the matter ;)

[thealexweb]

snip

I'm a student radiographer so I don't actually get monies yet :p

[Brian M. Veteran]

It already said in the OP that you need to pay a small upgrade fee. and yes, it sucks that you actually have to pay for peoples hard work doesn't it. you should tell your boss about your feelings on the matter ;)

I will bet every penny I own that the only thing required is an extra wrapper of DRM. They don't re-write these games every time.

Would you also like to go and buy all your wii games again to play it on the Wii U? Or how about if Microsoft said "Well, you can play the games you already bought on the new console, but you'll have to pay ?1 per game to play it?". As I said, it's cheeky at best.

[HawkMan]

I will bet every penny I own that the only thing required is an extra wrapper of DRM. They don't re-write these games every time.

Would you also like to go and buy all your wii games again to play it on the Wii U? Or how about if Microsoft said "Well, you can play the games you already bought on the new console, but you'll have to pay ?1 per game to play it?". As I said, it's cheeky at best.

I wouldn't have expected to be able to play my Wii games on my WiiU anyway, that is if I had a Wii, which I didn't. I also don't expect to play my 360 games on the next xbox. why would I, it's a new console.

as for these new games, it's already been stated by nintendo that they have been somewhat redone again to take advantage of the gamepad, which surely justifies the meager upgrade price for them. Be happy they don't charge you full again, they could just as easily have done that.

And if MS said that I had to pay a small price per game because they had to do recoding and some recompiling, yes, that is justifiable. I bought the game for another console.

[MtnDewCodeRedFreak]

Awesome :) I hope to pick one up soon.. Only game I want though is New Super Mario Brothers Wii-U

You should! It's an awesome game - I've beaten it with all 5 stars in the save file from Nov 18th to Dec 9th. :)

[Brian M. Veteran]

as for these new games, it's already been stated by nintendo that they have been somewhat redone again to take advantage of the gamepad, which surely justifies the meager upgrade price for them.

Got a link for that? I'm not sure what re-coding would be needed at game-level for the gamepad.

[jerzdawg]

So is there an actual date tied to this update yet other than "next week"? Cant wait for the faster load times.. jumping between apps (even notifications) has a bit of a wait

[Veiva]

I will bet every penny I own that the only thing required is an extra wrapper of DRM. They don't re-write these games every time.

Would you also like to go and buy all your wii games again to play it on the Wii U? Or how about if Microsoft said "Well, you can play the games you already bought on the new console, but you'll have to pay ?1 per game to play it?". As I said, it's cheeky at best.

DRM is handled at the system level on any modern console. Why would they add extra DRM to the virtual console if the Wii U has yet to be compromised? Furthermore, to better integrate with the Wii U system and services, they would have to rewrite the emulator front end... or at least greatly modify it.

I remember iTunes charging some small amount per song to remove the DRM when they went DRM-free. It's the same concept, I guess.

[Tarvis123]

I hope they update the VC games besides just the gamepad streaming, but in regards to at least adding online multiplayer to some of their titles. A lot of the N64 games were tailored around 4 player multiplayer and it would be great to be able to play the party games online with my friends. The current method via netplay emulation on the PC is just way too unreliable. I'm not holding my breath for it though.

[HawkMan]

Well for one the games will have MiiVerse support. there was some article earlier listing some other optimizations done one a game by game basis. hopefully the pal conversion issue is one of them. unlike the Wii, all WiiU VC games will apparently also have customizeable button layout.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

I was actually asking around to try and sell my WiiU Deluxe, the most I could get for it, including Mario, was $225. Was just to great of a loss for me personally, especially since I hardly touched it.

Perhaps this will get me playing it again, but I have not been so disappointed in picking up a system at launch EVER. And I was pretty damn disappointed by the Wii actually, but this easily beats it. The fact games are being cancelled and/or they are not as good as their current console counterparts (Kotaku just reported on the new fighter game Injustice being gimped compared to the 360 & PS3 versions) just truly adds to the disappointment overall.

Truly wish I never purchased it.

There is always the OUYA to make me regret something even more though. :rofl: