New Wii U Firmware Available for Download

Adds off-TV gameplay of Wii games and new browser functions, among many other things.

By Kyle England. Posted 10/02/2013 08:00 1 Comment     ShareThis

News Desk Masthead - Wii U 1

A new system update for Wii went live early Tuesday, just before the October 1 Nintendo Direct kicked off. No, it’s not that update, the magical one that will make our Wii U systems load in hyperspeed and add the account system. However, this new Wii U update has some pretty nifty features that came out of nowhere. If you open up your Wii U right now and update it, you’ll get the following features added:

  • Original Wii games can now be played off-TV, using just the GamePad. However, you still need to use a Wii Remote for the controller.
  • The option to automatically receive software updates and recommended demos from the eShop
  • Support for USB keyboard in certain applications (such as the internet browser)
  • Ability to disallow Nintendo Network IDs from signing into non-Nintendo devices like PC and smartphone
  • Dolby Surround Sound on Wii games
  • Ability to split Wii U outputs, so video can go through HDMI while audio goes through AV cable (great for those of you with stereo setups)
  • Headset compatability for Wii U Chat
  • Ability to view PDF files in Browser, and save screenshots from games and upload them website such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.

There’s also some under the hood adjustments being made. All-in-all, this is a pretty beefy update. It’s a shame you can’t use the GamePad buttons in of-TV Wii play though. It seems like that sort of defeats the purpose. Anyways, go to the link below to get the full skinny on the update, and then fire up your Wii U to upgrade!

Source: Nintendo

One Response to “New Wii U Firmware Available for Download”

  • 849 points
    ejamer says...

    Huge fan of the ability to play Wii software on the gamepad. It would have been even better if we didn’t need to use a Wii controller… but that leaves something to hope for from the next firmware update.

    This is going get a lot of use in our household.

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