First up, a mandatory 5gig firmware update, then confirmation that this update will actually take up your available flash memory space, meaning your day one 8gig (or 32gig) machine is now a day one 3gig (or 27gig) machine.

Which means Nintendo Land will be unavailable for download on the Basic model, although you can still get New Super Mario Bros Wii-U and still have 1gig to spare.

I'd be pissed about losing 5GB of space more than anything. I've got good internet so the download wouldn't take long assuming Nintendo's servers aren't pre-WWII

I've heard the console barely functions without the update, too.

Reports of the updates taking 8+ hours, most folk choosing to let it update overnight.

Fuck me, and I thought the PS3 was shit when it came to updates...

It is.

Hopefully Nintendo will at least get their service up to the PSN level for download times.

Even then, I'll still be annoyed.

Oh yeah, I know that Sony still have a long way to go before they upgrade from "pain in the ass" to "minor annoyance", but in comparison to this fiasco, they're merely "brb, making tasty sandwich while I wait".

Ugh, just let me know when Bayonetta 2 is out. I'll pick up the game and then play it when the Wii U is dead and I can pick up the console for $50

Incoming facepalms!

MiiVerse social network - down on day one.

Now we just need a confirmation that the stupid tablet controller causes cancer.

To be fair, Nintendo's never really done anything like this before. I think it's fair to expect some bumps in the road early on.

Nintendo has had since the Dreamcast days to figure out how to use the internet.

I found a picture of Nintendo's Network Team.

They've had since then to figure out the theory of the internet, but this is pretty much the first time they've had a real go at execution.

No, I'm not counting this past gen because they didn't actually have a real online system.

Nope.

They tried with their lame network adapter on the Gamecube. They had some online stuff on the DS. Then they decided to up it with the DSi and the Wii. Then they did the 3DS.

Just because their previous online offerings were lame, that doesn't mean that they get a pass for trying to bring it up to the standards of the year 2005.

But thats just the thing. Online gaming has been proving its worth since the days of playing DOOM over dial-up, and they choose NOW to give it a proper try, and knowing just how intensive the need for resource can be, its STILL a failure...

Gamers are a lot more fickle than they were, and shit like this isn't lapped up like it used to. This could be costly...

It's only costly in that the people who already use PSN/XBL that may have taken a look at the Wii U's online stuff will be turned off by it. Then again, those people probably didn't expect much anyway. So it doesn't hurt much.

Those who thought the Wii's friend code system was perfectly fine and dandy will be thrilled and think it's some amazing revolution in online usage.

Third party devs could potentially see it as something they don't want to be associated with, but they ultimately won't care as long as they make money.

If they don't make money, they'll drop it in a second.