Nintendo Pushes Wii U Performance Update to Fall

By Jane McEntegart
published

Planned performance update is pushed back a few months.

Way back in January, Nintendo announced that a spring software update would add Virtual Console software to the Nintendo eShop for Wii U. The company also promised a second update in the summertime that would bring a jump in performance. Unfortunately, it seems the Japanese gaming company no longer plans to release the performance boosting update this season.

Nintendo just pushed out a Wii U update this week. The Verge points to the release notes on the company's website detailing the ins and outs of the update and all the changes it will bring. However, buried in the notes is the following sentence:

"A system update providing further additions to system functionality is planned for release between the end of September and beginning of October."

According to the Verge, Nintendo has confirmed that this update will include a boost in performance.

"This system update includes minor support enhancements, bug fixes and other adjustments to enhance the user experience," the company told the Verge. "The larger system update previously mentioned by Mr. Iwata that provides further additions to system functionality is planned for release between the end of September and beginning of October."

This week's update includes standby functions, as well as further improvements to overall system stability and other minor adjustments to improve user experience.

Jane McEntegart
11 Comments Comment from the forums
  • kinggraves
    At the beginning of the year they promised an update in the spring to reduce load times. That update happened, in the SPRING and reduced load times. They also promised an update after that that would open VC. That update is also out already. The summer update was promised after the Spring one and there was a summer update that you covered in the article. The Fall update is a new update. What your "informative" piece amounts to is Nintendo will continue seasonal updates to improve performance, even though it's written as if Nintendo is delaying something.
    Reply
  • dutchling
    It's probably better performance while your on the OS menu.
    Reply
  • tului
    11154729 said:
    At the beginning of the year they promised an update in the spring to reduce load times. That update happened, in the SPRING and reduced load times. They also promised an update after that that would open VC. That update is also out already. The summer update was promised after the Spring one and there was a summer update that you covered in the article. The Fall update is a new update. What your "informative" piece amounts to is Nintendo will continue seasonal updates to improve performance, even though it's written as if Nintendo is delaying something.

    I will give them the credit of being good about updates. However if they released decently fast hardware they wouldn't need to worry so much about tweaking it via update. An AMD APU powered laptop outpowers the WU.

    PS - This forum software is awful. Where on earth did Tom's get it?
    Reply
  • Arnold Pain
    Yet another misleading article spreading lies and hate about the Wii U.
    Get a real job, and write about real news, you clowns.
    Reply
  • jdwii
    More efficient OS or faster clocks(hot and dangerous).
    Reply
  • SteelCity1981
    a overclock to the gpu and cpu would be nice as an update.
    Reply
  • alextheblue
    11156629 said:
    a overclock to the gpu and cpu would be nice as an update.
    That would mean they had lots of thermal headroom they were sitting on all this time. I highly doubt that is the case - moderate performance has meant developers couldn't really "wow" consumers with superior graphics over PS3 and 360. Between that and lackluster sales, they're losing developers. They really needed to be more aggressive this generation, since they're effectively competing with PS3, 360, AND their own Wii - since those three systems are all heavily entrenched.

    The Wii U isn't a bad system, really. There are some things they did well. Backwards compatibility, for one. But then there are the blunders... first off, the system software was really half-baked at launch, and is still quite immature. This would be forgivable if it was competing with other new consoles with similar issues, and not established ones. Then there's inadequate internal storage vs existing consoles, despite expanded online efforts. Performance should have been bumped up a notch too. A 65W draw when running a game would have been OK, Nintendo.

    Also, I feel that the awkward "Tabletpad" is a liability more than a feature. They're interesting for first-party games, but not so much for cross platform titles, and they are expensive and extremely power hungry. The Wii U Pro controller is much better for many types of games, and should have been the only non-motion option - leaving the existing Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk (which Wii U supports) for motion-friendly games. That would have cut down on the cost quite a bit, both for Nintendo and consumers. They would have lost a good chunk on peripheral sales but that's better than losing customers. The number of control options for Wii U is just bizarre, and adds to the mess.
    Reply
  • tomfreak
    a console is a console, it is build to be an ultimate gaming machine that tablet/phone cant do. Dont try to build a console into a tablet PC. It will fail. Why do I want to buy a tablet gaming PC that isnt mobile when a Ipad just do a better job? Wii U is neither good in console nor tablet.
    Reply
  • dozerman
    That's what you get when you use PowerPC. Should have either gone with an X86 design or, if they have to stick with Power-whatever based hardware, spend the extra bucks and come out with a dual core or quad core POWER7 setup.
    Reply
  • belardo
    The Wii-U is simply not a good value compared to the PS3, much less the PS4 which is $50 more.

    Wii-U = $300~350
    PS3 = $250~300

    They have roughly the same CPU/GPU performance, but considering the PS3 is 8 year old technology... doesn't make the Wii-U that impressive. Especially considering the price-point. Yes, it means Nintendo's Mario games can look spectacular... but... where are they and why not just port them to other consoles?

    Other issues with the WiiU: For a $300 device, it CAN'T play Blu-Ray, hell - it won't even play DVDs. (US version of Wii doesn't play DVDs either) This would be very handy when putting the device in a kids room. The PS3 plays Blu-Ray of course. What size HD does the Wii-U have, oh none. Either 8 or 32GB flash memory Not impressive compared to the 250~500GB drives on Xbox and PS3-4.

    The tablet is causing more problems than its solving. They should have kept the Wii standard controls. It ads a lot of cost and bulk to the system, yes it creates some new game styles - but its now more complicated. Making an APP for Android/iOS that talks to the WiiU would have made more sense and reduce the price down to $250, tops.

    The Wii-U was designed to attract the PS3/360 crowd... who already have the same teach... who are wanting the PS4 today. Being 8 years behind is not good.

    If Nintendo was SMART, the Wii2 (my name for it), should have come out 2-3 years ago, have a GPU that is twice that of the PS3/360, standard Wii controller, DVD only (since they aren't playing Blu-Ray) and sell it for $250 (with 16GB flash).

    PS: oh, I am guessing that the Wii-U is using left-over HD-DVD drives / tech.. bought them for a steal. Makes it much harder to pirate a dead format.
    Reply