Remember that joy of opening the Wii U box… only to wait three hours for the update to download? If you were lucky, it might have only taken 45 minutes, but for folks who buy their consoles next year, there won’t be a wait at all.
When Gamasutra spoke to NoA head Reggie Fils-Aime, he said that once the patch has been on the market for a few months it’ll come built-in to the console—an early estimate is Spring 2013. Here’s what Reggie had to say about why we needed the update:
“Nintendo developers want to make sure that the very best product is available to consumers,” he said. “That creates a dynamic where our developers are working on elements until the very last point possible. That’s why the system update was required on Day One – and this is quite similar to what’s happened with other consumer electronic products.”
The update is critical, which we all know—it adds online functionality and the ability to use the Miiverse, which is perhaps the most creative and innovative social experience on a console to date. Fortunately, the necessary update doesn’t seem to be slowing down purchases, but it’s possible that adding it to the system in-box will tempt some otherwise hesitant buyers into picking one up.
