Those of you looking forward to the Wii U summer update touted to once again speed up load times and add new features will be disappointed that this update isn’t going to be doing that. Those have been pushed back into the fall, most likely September or October. However, that doesn’t mean this update should be forgotten.
Firmware v3.1.0 might not be as flashy as some hoped, but it has some very practical additions that should streamline the user experience for many gamers. First and foremost is Wii U will now be able to download updates for games and firmware while the system is off. Firmware updates will still need to be installed once you turn the system on, but the game updates will also install while the system is in its low power mode. SpotPass will now start working while the system is off, too.
This might not be as big an update as we wanted, but it should definitely make life with Wii U a little bit smoother.
Source: Nintendo World Report