Nintendo of Japan has quietly released a new video today, which details some of the miscellaneous features of its upcoming Wii U console.
The majority of the video is in Japanese, but luckily a NeoGAF user named cvxfreak has provided a handy translation of Nintendo president Satoru Iwata’s bean spilling. The video describes how the system will handle backwards compatibility with the Wii, USB Storage, parental controls, and its Nintendo Network Premium service.
Iwata notes that Wii games, WiiWare, and Virtual Console titles will not be playable on the Wii U GamePad at launch, although a Wii U Virtual Console that is compatible with the tablet-style controller is in the works for the future. For the time being, however, backwards-compatible games can only be used on a TV with the system in “Wii Mode.”
As far as storage is concerned, Nintendo revealed that an 8GB Wii U is actually around 7.2GB, while a 32GB system really contains around 29GB of data storage. Up to 2TB USB drives will be usable, but they’ll have to be specially formatted for the console in order to function. Only one flash drive can be used at a time, but again, a future update plans to increase this capacity. Powered hard drives will also be compatible, though you’ll need a Y cable to guarantee that they’ll work.
Iwata then moved onto the Nintendo Network’s Premium service, which, as you can guess, will be available for those who purchase the Premium Wii U Package. Premium members will utilize a point-based system for each of their eShop purchases, which can be used on the Wii U, 3DS, DSi, and Wii.
Finally, Iwata confirmed that the Wii U will feature parental controls for anyone who fears that their children may be browsing for naughty things on the internet without permission. Pretty basic stuff here.
The Wii U will be out in the US next week, on November 18. Europe gets the system 12 days later, on November 30. Just last week, another Nintendo Direct presentation was unveiled, which detailed some of the console’s various online features.
Source: NeoGAF